Pestilence - Hadeon (EN)

Here they are again, is what you could say, as the in 1986 founded Pestilence are like an on-off relationship. Now, they present us their first longplayer in the last five years.

Especially in the early years they started from the genre Thrash, "Malleus Maleficarum" (1988), went towards Death-, "Consuming Impulse" (1989), and afterwards to something, which you could still label as Progressive-Death Metal, "Spheres" (1993). Or not, depending on the definition.

Since their new foundation in 2009, however, there is only death metal with a technical side to hear. And the new album does not change this either. It should be clear that frontman and Pestilence-commander Patrick Mameli always achieves to troop together good musicians. Furthermore, you really get something on the hear here. Thus the drums nails you right on the wall and the guitars are always on the go. There is some typical Death Metal stuff in the style of Master when they were more technical, e.g. "Non Physical Existent", but there is also some messy stuff such as "Timeless".

The riffing ranges from sinister death riffs to thrashy echoes, found on "Multi Dimensional". That the drummer is able to more than simply accelerating, he proves within the sluggish "Oversoul". The bass is already very present for this kind of music. Small outliers, such as the terrible vocoder voices in "Astral Projection" or the jazzy (short) instrumental "Subvisions", are not further tragic, but rather belong to Pestilence. You have to get along with it.

There are several things you have to be okay with. For one, the sound is rather modern, so very clear and a bit clinical. Secondly, everything sounds very, very similar or well known. Now, in Death Metal, you're not exactly keen on getting your hands full on something innovative, that's pretty clear. But everything is a bit uniform here. Well played, no question, but it lacks some soul for me. And I find that a pity after such a long time. The ingredients are all right, there is darkness, brutality and sometimes that certain something that makes the Death Metal cake tasty. Nevertheless, the spark does not jump over completely.

Conclusion:
We are not talking about a bad album here. The compositions are far too successful for that. I can also have a good time with the album, it just does not touch me that much. A "wow that's cool!- feeling" is missing here. But you won't do anything wrong by purchasing this album.

Rating: 7/10

Recommendations: Non Physical Existent