The Roadrunner remasters from Metal Mind Productions continue with the 1988 debut from technical death/thrash metal icons Pestilence, titled Malleus Maleficarum. While certainly not on the same level as subsequent releases Consuming Impulse or the great Testimony Of The Ancients, Malleus Maleficarum was an extremely strong debut from this Dutch metal machine, who combined the early death metal sound with raging thrash, much like other acts of that era such as Death and Possessed. While still fairly intricate at times, the music here is not nearly as technical as it would become just a few short years later. The lead vocals of bassist Martin Van Drunen are your standard thrash growl/bark that was very popular in the 80's, complemented by the raging guitar riffs of Randy Meinhard & Patrick Mameli, and the jackhammer drum fills of Marco Foddis. Despite the band still finding their way at this point, there are still plenty of meaty thrash nuggets here to enjoy, like the crunchy "Commandments", the raging riff-o-rama that is "Chemo Therapy", the Slayer-ish "Cycle of Existence", and the intense guitargasm "Systematic Instruction". On later releases the band would inject some jazzy & progressive passages into their songs ala Cynic, Believer, and Death, but there's very little of that here. Regardless, this is a fine debut from a band that would sadly only deliver four albums before calling it a day. Metal Mind has once again done a nice job here on the remastered sound, and the overall package is very appealing.
Track Listing
1. Malleus Maleficarum/Antropomorphia
2. Parricide
3. Subordinate to the Domination
4. Extreme Unction
5. Commandments
6. Chemo Therapy
7. Bacterial Surgery
8. Cycle of Existence
9. Osculum Infame
10. Systematic Instruction
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