For those of you who are not in the know, Pestilence were one of the most highly regarded death acts in the early nineties, and possibly one of the best European extreme acts of that era. So when it all went to pot after their variably received Spheres opus, I was one who could never see a reformation on the cards. Well, I’ve been proven wrong, and am about as excited as a grown man can be about a forthcoming album. The driving force behind Resurrection Macabre is the long serving and main songwriter Patrick Mameli. Now with Tony Choy (bassist) back on board, things could very well be looking good for the Dutch outfit once again.
So what about Resurrection Macabre and what about the comparisons to the other albums because, let’s face it everyone is going to do it? Is it a Malleus, a Consuming, a Testimony or is it totally individual and separate from those albums?
Well it’s a mix of old and latter era Pestilence and to be honest, it’s not surprising when the band has been out of the scene for the length of time that they have. The re-establishment of exactly what identity you are trying to find can take a while. Resurrection Macabre is a good album. Similar in quality to Obituary’s hiatus-breaking “Frozen in Time”, nothing will really blow your socks off, but then again, there is enough here to truly excite fans of old for what might come in the future and enough quality that you know it’s going to worth shelling out money to see them perform the songs live!
The music on this record has some very nice rhythms, typified by songs such as the opener ‘Devouring Frenzy’, ‘Synthetic Grotesque’ and ‘Dehydrated II’; Mameli’s ability to pen a good song structure has not been lost I can thankfully say!
There are quite a few solos on display here which are more in the style of Testimony era in terms of their pace and fluidity, although I’m guessing that in the future with the returning Uterwijk we may hear a few more trade-offs!!
As I have already mentioned, Resurrection is what you might call an amalgam album (rhymes) in the sense that some of the sound, gruffness and attitude is coming from the earlier albums whereas a lot of the structuring, soloing and harmonics still has the latter era feel to it. Mameli’s vocals are gruff and aggressive but maybe a little muddy at times, and I think this is where the album could have been a lot better. If the sound had been that little bit crisper, then I think that the songs would have carried a bit more weight, as they are not bad at all.
Tracks such as Hate Suicide and the title track have some very good dynamics and with a clearer production would have had more impact. Saying that, this is a good comeback album and this, along with some touring should provide the foundations for Pestilence to re-launch their assault on death metal – Dutch style. Guys......it’s good to have you back!
http://www.pestilence.nl
http://www.myspace.com/pestilenceofficial
