Pestilence – Levels Of Perception

Dutch death metal heroes Pestilence have been around for almost four (!) decades and are still active with guitarist and frontman Patrick Mameli as the only remaining original member. A new album is in the making and the band hopes to release it this year. As an appetizer to this and to a European tour, a best-of album was released at the end of April.

With Levels Of Perception, a long-cherished dream of Mameli’s is fulfilled: presenting a cross-section of his career that should show that songs that have been recorded in the past have a value for eternity. Pestilence has chosen to re-record all songs with the current line-up. Remarkably the drums for this album were recorded in 2021 during a live stream during the COVID period. And there is something to be said for that.

Pestilence is a band that has always developed throughout it’s career. It never mattered that this was accompanied by varying (commercial) success. Levels Of Perception builds a nice bridge between the past and present, because the drums have that typical ’80s feel while the guitars and vocals have a much more modern sound. The bass guitar takes on all opportunities to fill in every musical gap in a pleasant way.

Some minor differences were brought during the recording of Levels Of Perception. For example, the solos on Land Of Tears and Twisted Truth have been slightly adjusted and the arrangements have been changed here and there. However, these are not major changes and the whole thing sounds fine. The collectors have once again been taken into account because Levels Of Perception was released in various forms, so fans can have fun with this album while eagerly looking forward to the new creation. If that sounds as good as the songs re-recorded on this album, all things will be fine.

Label:

Agonia Records, 2024

Tracklisting:

  1. Horror Detox
  2. Mvlti Dimensional
  3. Mobvs Propagationem
  4. Sinister
  5. Dehydrated
  6. Dominatvi Svbmissa
  7. Land Of Tears
  8. Necromorph
  9. Deificvs
  10. Twisted Truth
  11. Sempiternvs
  12. Ovt Of The Body

Line-up:

  • Patrick Mameli – Vocals, guitar
  • Rutger van Noordenburg – Guitar
  • Joost van der Graaf – Bass guitar
  • Michiel van der Plicht -Drums

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