Pestilence - Consuming Impulse

The Best Old School Death Metal album from the Netherlands gets a well-deserved re-issue! Crushing, aggressive, abrasive, pounding, bone crunching... In an age when blast speed drums were still mostly used by grindcore acts (and some pioneers such as Morbid Angel) and now classic bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Deicide were still tiny demo acts, Dutch masters Pestilence released one of the best old school Dutch death metal classics ever to be unleashed upon mankind, the album that made a huge impact upon its release. "Consuming Impulse" is one intense album. one could say this album is definitely up there with classic death metal albums such as Death's "Leprosy", Obituary's "Slowly We Rot", and Morbid Angel's "Altars of Madness". With "Consuming Impulse", Pestilence created their greatest, most complete album, successfully marrying the primitive brutality of their previous effort 'Maleus Maleficarum' with the technicality of their later releases. Whereas their debut album "Malleus Maleficarum" had some hints of thrash metal, this was gone on "Consuming Impulse" although the up tempo beat was still of course very much present. The production was heavy yet remarkably transparent. The riffs of Patrick Mameli on "Consuming Impulse" are simply mind-blowing. Even though quite simple at times they still prove extremely deadly. Try the main riffs in the verses of 'Process of Suffocation' and 'The Trauma' for starters. Speed monsters like 'Dehydrated' and 'Reduced To Ashes' were simple compositions but the intensity of this material just oozes out of your speakers. The presence of these straight forward raging death metal tracks was perfect to balance the dynamics and variety of the album. Songs such as 'Chronic Infection' and the classic 'Out Of The Body' incorporated some great interacting differentiating guitars and much more diversity in pace and riffing. On the entire album the leads and solo's of both Mameli and Utterwijk were perfectly written to serve the compositions, incorporating technique and aggression or atmosphere when needed. On top of that, let's not forget the vile, dirty and understandable vocals of Martin van Drunen which were the icing on the cake. The album had everything a 1989 death metal fan could ask for. Speed, diversity, catchy tunes and riffs one could also enjoy humming or playing along. Apart from the sheer quality of this album, it also proved to be one of the most important and influential early Dutch death metal albums. Lots of Dutch bands have tried but none have ever achieved getting close to the grandeur of Pestilence. The only small disappointed back then was the poor album cover, which was not chosen by the band, but by now the artwork is iconic
TRACKS
Dehydrated
The Process Of Suffocation
Suspended Animation
The Trauma
Chronic Infection
Out Of The Body
Echoes Of Death
Deify Thy Master
Proliferous Souls
Reduced To Ashes
City Of The Living Dead/Antropomorphia
Parricide
Echoes Of Death
Subordinate To The Domination
Commandments
Out Of The Body
Chemotherapy
Cycle Of Existence
Suspended Animation
The Trauma
Subordinate To The Domination
Cycle Of Existence
Extreme Unction
Chemotherapy
Bacterial Surgery Systematic
Consuming Impulse (Demo)