Go to content | Go to navigation | Go to search

Recent updates

Recent discussions

Devour the Domination

Not yet familiar with the bands hosted at Global Domination? Now's definitely the time to check 'em out. And what could be a better place for it than their Myspace-pages? Links below...

Reviews

Pestilence: Testimony of the ancients

26/02/06  ||  Global Domination

This review was written by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Ryan Samuel.

I bought the double disc re-release which includes this album and “Consuming Impulse.” My goal is to review this album objectively, as it stands on it’s own, which I think I can do, but I cannot help but make a comparison to “Consuming Impulse” because it was the album directly before this one and it is held in high regard. If “Consuming Impulse” were a 10 then “Testimony of the Ancients” would be a 5. That’s how I feel about this album given the fact that this sounds like two different bands in the span of two years between releases. 5 isn’t what I will score this album, you probably already scrolled down to see, but read on impatient reader.

Is this death metal? Is it thrash? Is it heavily keyboarded power metal? Is it a damn movie soundtrack? My friends it is all of these and none of these. What the hell do I mean by that; I mean that it incorporates many different sounds and styles into a mishmash of… whatever. “Consuming Impulse” is riddled with badass thrash and death metal riffs. Said riffs almost nowhere to be found here on “Testimony”. That’s not entirely true, there are some really good riffs and blasts. However, for every good thrash/death riff/beat there is an equally inane one. The main riff for “Secrecies of Horror” for example is a good riff but it is way too repetitive. They throw in no varitey in that riff whatsoever. “Twisted Truth” is an attempt at groove but the riff is so slow and simple it couldn’t be passed off as an interesting doom riff. It’s kind of frustrating to listen to this whole album because you can see that Pestilence still “has it” but they’re losing it.

Here’s my harsh summary of the songwriting: it seems like the band forgot how to write a good death metal song. I imagine that someone said “Hey man can you come up with a good riff for this song?” “No, but I do have some overbearing keyboards to use with this melodic solo.” “Excellent! Be sure you don’t have more than two notes per second in your grooves!” “Will do! Hey I think we need another soundtrack interlude!” I guess what came out of all this is “progressive” death metal. Let me just say that even when the band is up to speed, only about half of the full speed riffs are worth your time.

Now I mentioned soundtrack interludes: for every song, there is a keyboard heavy, overly cinematic instrumental that is trying to be an epic adventure movie tune. Ultimately, I think these work to the albums advantage despite what you may have to say about pansy keyboards. The good news is that these never interfere with the actual songs, they are completely independent. In some cases they flow directly into one another. A good example of this is when “Darkening” sounds like the damn Psycho movie score and immediately “Lost Souls” kicks in with a high speed thrash/death blasting riff. It’s quite excellent. “In Sorrow” is a pretty if not simplistic instrumental which is a nice cap off to the album. However be warned that some songs make heavy use of keyboards for a mellow part or a solo.

Damn, I feel like I’ve said mostly negative shit about this album but it’s not that bad. I guess it’s just too big a switch from “Consuming Impulse” for me to fully appreciate it maybe? Honestly though, despite the direction they went with the songwriting (soundtrack vibe, melodic power metal solos, death metal, inane attemtps at groove all rolled up into one) they REALLY could have done a better job with these riffs. Like I said, equal parts cool riffs/silly riffs. That being said, overall it’s still a good album. As I listen to it I like it. As I think about it, I’m not as impressed. Weird. It’s one of those albums that sounds better when actually listening to it I guess. As a sidenote, I’ve mentioned power metal solos; I use the term loosely as I call them power metal because of the melody and the high amount of keyboards which a respectable straight up death metal band wouldn’t be caught dead using. This is far from straight up anything.

When the album ends I get a “should have been better” vibe but I also get a “not bad” vibe as well. It’s overall pretty good just don’t expect anything remotely similar to “Consuming Impulse”. My opinion of this cd gradually went up with listens. My initial thought was a 5, then I was like ehh maybe a 6, it’s worth checking out. Then I said 6.5 hell even 7! Then I thought 7? That’s too high, 6.5. Now I am listening to it again. This album is at least a 7, maybe a 7.5.

7.5 I like the melodic solos, they’re purdy.

P.S. When I can hear the bass, it’s really good. I also dig the cover art.

  • Information
  • Released: 1991
  • Label: Roadrunner
  • Band
  • Patrick Mameli: vocals, lead guitar
  • Patrick Uterwijk: lead guitar
  • Tony Choy: bass
  • Marco Foddis: drums
  • Tracklist
  • 01. Secrecies of Horror
  • 02. Bitterness
  • 03. Twisted Truth
  • 04. Darkening
  • 05. Lost Souls
  • 06. Blood
  • 07. Land of Tears
  • 08. Free Us From Temptation
  • 09. Prophetic Revelations
  • 10. Impure
  • 11. Testimony
  • 12. Soulless
  • 13. Presence of the Dead
  • 14. Mindwarp
  • 15. Stigmatized
  • 16. In Sorrow

Reviews