Pestilence – Resurrection Macabre (2009)

When Patrick Mameli decided it was time to bring back Pestilence, he enlisted the services of Tony Choy (Bass) and Peter Wildoer (Drums) in order to record “Resurrection Macabre”, the band’s return to their Death Metal days, and first album in 16 years. Many people where left off wondering what happened to Pestilence with their very good (and for some atrocious) release of “Spheres” an album that saw the band change their musical style considerably.

“Resurrection Macabre” in a few words is: A fucking brutal and technical release. This album is something we were expecting from Pestilence back in 1993, however this release still sounds good for this time thanks to a superb production. Patrick has brought back the full aggressive Pestilence sound that we all loved from their beginnings and the technical aspect of “Spheres” combined together into a brilliant release.

As you can expect the riffing is top notch and very diverse, there are no filler riffs here or excessive re-hashing, you can always tell which DM bands have quality guitarists by their riffing, and Patrick Mameli has never lost his touch. The overall song structures are very well defined featuring very catchy riffing, brutal vocals, massive bass guitar line and perfect drumming.

Featuring 11 tracks and 40 minutes of music we can’t really find anything wrong with this release, except that it took 16 years to be made. Patrick Mameli still has the musical genius in him (we are not counting the terrible C-187). Moreover the band’s current lineup (no the one that recorder the album) includes Patrick Uterwijk and Jeroen Paul Thesseling back in the band. We can’t wait to listen to Jeroen’s 6-String Fretless Bass on tour with the band and in future releases, because with Obscura, he kicks ass.

If you never heard of Pestilence before, this is a great introduction to the band. If you are a old-school fan, you will not be disappointed since this release is brilliant. We can’t wait to listen to this band take the stages and play their older material with their current musical skills.

Release: March 16th, 2009

Country: Netherlands