Pestilence | Artist

Pestilence is a Dutch death metal band founded 1986 in Enschede, The Netherlands, by Patrick Marmeli (guitar, vocals), Martin van Drunen (vocals, bass), Randy Meinhard (guitar), and Marco Foddis (drums). There have been numerous lineup changes with the band over their 36-year career, with guitarist and vocalist Patrick Mameli as the only constant member. Pestilence are often known as part of "progressive death metal's Big Four" along with bands Death, Atheist and Cynic. Their debut album, Malleus Maleficarum, was released in 1988, setting a new standard of brutality and became a definition of European death/thrash metal. After the release of another strong album, vocalist and bassist Martin van Drunen departed to front new band Asphyx. With the release of their third album Testimony of the Ancients, Pestilence gained international attention, and became highly regarded worldwide by death metal fans. The band embarked on a tour to support the album, playing a series of dates with other big names, Celtic Frost, Death, Carcass, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel and Bolt Thrower. The band has gone on to release nine studio albums to-date, but it's fair to say they have not surpassed the quality of their stand-out first four albums: Malleus Maleficarum (1988), Consuming Impulse (1989), Testimony of the Ancients (1991), and Spheres (1993). Many Death metal fans worship Pestilence's early works. In the glowing words of one reviewer: "Pestilence are of course famous for their Death Metal. The ridiculous riffarama of Consuming Impulse, the Death-like progressiveness of Testimony of the Ancients and of course the “What the fuck was that” progressiveness of Spheres. But before all of that, they had quietly released Malleus Maleficarum, one of the best Thrash Metal albums of the 80’s. There are more quality riffs here than most bands stumble across in their entire career".

Artist Website: pestilence.nl

Featured Albums: Pestilence

Related Artists: Patrick Mameli, Cynic, Asphyx

Video Clips: Out of the Body, Morbvs Propagationem, Live in London 13-10-91