Pestilence were one of the most influential technical death metal bands on the scene back in the early 90's, but broke up in 1994 after the release of Spheres to pursue other musical directions. Their influence has been long lasting, as many of today's younger bands mention these Dutch legends when speaking of older acts that helped shape their styles and careers. Well, Pestilence decided to reform back in 2008, and went into the studio to record their first new album in over 15 years, the result being Resurrection Macabre for Mascot Records. The current line-up is founder Patrick Mameli (vocals, guitar), the well known bassist Tony Choy (Cynic/Atheist) and drummer Peter Wildoer (Darkane, Non-Human Level and others).
The music on Resurrection Macabre is a mix of the more brutal death metal material of albums like Consuming Impulses with their tech-metal/jazz influenced Testimony of the Ancients and Spheres period, though this one is easily heavier than any of those three albums. The band has done a good job here of upping the brutality factor, yet still relying on plenty of technical riffs and intricate drum work. Tunes like "Neuro Dissonance" and "Fiend" contain plenty of monstrous riffs, blinding solos, , intricate arrangements, and nimble drum blasts. Mameli's growls are excellent (he hasn't lost a step all these years) and will remind of his vocals on the latter Pestilence albums, as well as Chuck Schuldiner's growling on those first few Death albums. The pace is pretty fast paced throughout this CD, so you can expect plenty of pummeling, speedy death metal in the form of "Dehydrated II", "Hangman", and the blazing title track. Strongest cut here though has to be the bombastic "In Sickness & Death", a crushing old school death metal number, Mameli's guitar and Choy's bass lines perfectly in synch, and Wildoer flailing away with reckless precision. At 5-minutes, it's the longest piece on the CD, and quite epic sounding with huge riffs and commanding vocal growls.
Also included are re-recordings of classic Pestilence songs "Chemo Therapy", "Lost Souls", and "Out of the Body", done by the current line-up, and they do these tune proud here. All told, Resurrection Macabre is a triumphant return for these technical death metal legends, a CD so strong it's as if they never left to begin with. Welcome back guys!
Track Listing
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 & Death
12. Chemo Therapy-bonus track
13. Out of the body-bonus track
14. Lost Souls-bonus track
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