Pestilence, the Dutch pioneers of Death Metal, has returned with their first new record in over 15 years appropriately entitled “Resurrection Macabre”. Breathing new life into the long dead band, Patrick Mameli (lead guitars/vocals) has written his most brutal and technical album of his career.
In the late 80’s/early 90’s, Pestilence was one of those bands that was not only pushing the boundaries of speed and brutality, but they also managed to combine their adrenaline fueled aggression with laid-back harmony and melody, often incorporating Jazz/Fusion and synth-guitars into their complex orchestrations, a technique that for back then was ahead of it’s time. After 4 successful studio albums, Patrick Mameli felt the band had reached their creative climax and called it quits in 1994 due to irreconcilable differences between band members.
Fortunately the recent trend of old-school Death Metal returning to the forefront of the extreme music scene inspired Patrick Mameli to start writing Death Metal again and “Resurrect” the Pestilence name. Calling on bassist extraordinaire Tony Choy (featured on their “Testimony Of The Ancients” release) and powerhouse percussionist Peter Wildoer, the 3 musicians set out to create an album that would top anything Pestilence had done in the past, yet retain a lot of the original brutality that had set them apart in the early years. The resulting release, “Resurrection Massacre,” has achieved just that and proves that Pestilence is not only back from the grave, but alive and kicking ass in full force.
“Resurrection Massacre” lyrically is more in the vein of "Consuming Impulse", focusing on real-life topics, while musically the new CD tends to sound more like a progression from “Testimony Of The Ancients”. “Resurrection Macabre” is available in a limited edition first print which includes three bonus tracks of re-recordings of classic Pestilence songs chosen by the fans (“Out Of The Body”, “Chemo Therapy” and “Lost Souls”). Additionally, there’s a track entitled “Dehydrated II” which plays like a re-envisioning of the well known opening track off of “Consuming Impulse”.
This new CD comes highly recommended for old school fans of Pestilence, and is a good place to begin exploring this band’s impressive catalog if you’ve never experienced their brand of brutality before.
Rating: 3 ½ skulls
Track listing:
1. Devouring Frenzy
1. Devouring Frenzy
2. Horror Detox
3. Fiend
4. Hate Suicide
5. Synthetic Grotesque
6. Neuro Dissonance
7. Dehydrated II
8. Resurrection Macabre
9. Hangman
10. Y2H
11. In Sickness and Death
Bonus tracks:
12. Chemo Therapy
13. Out of the Body
14. Lost Souls
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