By: Richard Maw
Album Type: Full
Length
Date Released: 05/03/2018
Label: Hammerheart
Records
As early as the third track, “Multi Dimensional”, it is certain that
Pestilence are well and truly back and firing on all cylinders. “Hadeon” is business as usual and for Pestilence,
business is good
“Hadeon” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Unholy
Transcript
2. Non Physical Existent
3. Multi Dimensional
4. Oversoul
5. Materialization
6. Astral Projection
7. Discarnate Entity
8. Subvisions
9. Manifestations
10. Timeless
11. Ultra Demons
12. Layers Of Reality
13. Electro Magnetic
The Review:
Since
2013's “Obsideo”, Pestilence
has once again become defunct and been reactivated. The Dutch troupe that made “Testimony Of The Anicents” and “Consuming Impulse” have their place in
death metal history assured, so why continue at this point? Well, Patrick
Mameli obviously still feels that he still has something to say in the genre,
despite his protestations that he no longer listens to metal.
It would
be fair to say that this picks up where “Obsideo”
left off. The band (or Mameli and cohorts) retains its angular and technical
sound. “Astral Projection” is a
somewhat unusual example of something different in that it features a robotic
sounding voice and some almost jazz like verse sections. The album is not all
experimentation, though. “Manifestations”
sounds much more like business as usual for Pestilence. There are a couple
of extra tracks on here in comparison to “Obsideo”,
but they are instrumental interludes and the main tracks such as “Materialization” remain as focused as
ever. Once again, Mameli has focused on short running times, bags of riffs and
loads going on in each three minute piece. It certainly makes the album easier
to listen to from a fan's perspective. You can engage with the sound and songs
(or not) fairly quickly.
There are
really riffs galore and Mameli has retained the distinctly Euro-death feel that
the band has always had- along with a technical approach. One thing to note is
that to these ears Pestilence sound nowhere near as extreme as
they once did. Maybe this is because times have moved on and extreme metal has
only got more extreme, or maybe it is because Pestilence have always been
quite a listenable band- even early on. I'll leave that for you to decide.
There are
enough adrenaline inducing tracks such as the closing “Electro Magnetic” to keep the die hards happy, while there are
enough textures to keep more progressive or tech death fans content as well.
The shredding solos of “Layers of
Reality” are a joy, the all out assault of “Timeless” a visceral delight. As early as the third track, “Multi Dimensional”, it is certain that Pestilence
are well and truly back and firing on all cylinders. The mix is much better
than “Obsideo” with the snare in
particular being much less intrusive, but overall there is not too much to
split the two records to my ears. I think this is superior to “Obsideo” and sounds more pleasing to
boot. “Hadeon” is business as usual
and for Pestilence,
business is good
“Hadeon” is available here
