Testimony of the Ancients

After a couple of well received albums, Euro death metal legends Pestilence release their third studio full length and genre classic 'Testimony of the Ancients', which title alone strongly hints at what may be conjured within its Machiavelian schemes. This sounds like particularly aggravated thrash, half way between 80's metal and the outright atonality and condensed hatred of death metal. The drums consist of mainly Lombardo beats and the band hasn't fully moved onto blast beats, while the vocalist sounds like a less sulky, more extreme John Tardy (Obituary) or perhaps early Schuldiner (Death).

The first most noticeable aspect is the album is interestingly structured with full songs interspersed with short instrumentals. There's a definite horror element to the music, as the riffs sound distinctly scornful and obscure, added to the atmospheric allurement of the suspended power chords backed by dramatic choirs. Some riffs instantly bring to mind Morbid Angel with bendy grooves ('Prophetic Revelations' notably) and experimental toiling. The short instrumentals are particularly eerie sounding: one introduces shrilling strings a la Hitchcock's Psycho (perhaps even as a homage), another depicts utter distress with plain screams over dissonant key arrangements, and one more is sheer theatrical ambiance illustrated by church organs and bells. Song titles like 'The Secrecies of Horror', 'Lost Souls', 'Soulless', 'Presence of the Dead' are rather explicit with what the band's thematic objective would be here.

The guitar work alternates between the more awe-inspiring steadier moments; some of which even black metal in feel on the minor full chords; and a strong penchant for technical riffage. The music switches that way between reveling in its sombreness and the tension of its complex uptempo contrivances. There's a clear progressive element and common thread in all tracks, as heard partly on the lead guitar breaks with octave harmonies and the bass guitar following the articulated lead patterns, reminiscent of the band Death. Some acoustic guitar breaks appear occasionally, contributing their own dynamic to the overall atmosphere of the record.

The above average soloing, knitted together with tasteful melodic phrasing (both solos on the highlight track 'Twisted Truth' as the obvious example) and more complex neoclassical influenced arpeggios, confers a higher status to the album by making it that much more unique and recognizable, and removed from the generic/formulaic crowd. Some lead work will sound like flat out prog metal in the vein of a Dream Theater (see: 'Stigmatized' lead section).

All in all, there is no getting around the fact Pestilence here put themselves in position for the album to be considered a perennial cult classic. It's got the intimidating album cover and title. It's got a distinct tone between its ritual-sounding choir-backed scenery and rapacious clinical riffage, its trademark song/instrumental counterbalancing architecture, and playing a track off this won't take long before it is identified by the average fan of the genre.

It would seem that the dismissal of such a characteristic member as Martin van Drunen could put an end to Pestilence and subsequent albums after "Consuming Impulse", but no! The other Dutch decided to take the risk and managed to create an album as perfect as before, despite much different means of expression. This should speak enough of the class of this band! "Testimony Of The Ancients" was even more popular than "Consuming..." and turned out to be a unique revelation in technical death metal.

Quite a considerable number of changes is noticeable (and eye-catching) from the issue of the line-up that makes up this album. After van Drunen was expelled, the role of frontman was taken over by the main brain of the band, i.e. Patrick Mameli (from now on permanently being a guitarist and vocalist), and the bassist was Tony Choy, taken from Cynic (which the band himself indicated it in the booklet). The first of them knew very well how to achieve a perfect balance between the manner of his predecessor and his own approach to the growl (a bit lower and less "crazy"), the second, allowed himself to go much more crazy than the bass from the previous two albums or even occasionally throw a solo (such as in "Soulless"). With a slightly different idea of ​​the overall whole of Pestilence's music, such clear personal changes had a meaningful impact.

Stylistically, the music of the Dutch (and Cuban) drifted towards highly technical and...quite sublime death metal. Well, because "Testimony..." apart from a large dose of fast pacing (but without blasting) and shocking twisted instruments, has surprisingly many melodies and moments...stunning with beauty! It's strange in the context of a death metal album, but such unusual associations bring to mind the associations of both Patrick's solos. Fortunately, these are also elements perfectly shot into the other components of this disc, without unnecessary softening. Their melodiousness perfectly complements what death metal is, what's more!, they are played with such sensitivity and ingenuity that not one heavy metal band boasting explosive solos could follow the example of the Dutch. "Twisted Truth" or "Land Of Tears" are the best examples of this.

But, as I mentioned, the melodies of "Testimony Of The Ancients" is not everything on this cd. This album attracts the same amount of awesome riffs (for example those from "Prophetic Revelations", "Stigmatized", "Presence Of The Dead" or "The Secrecies Of Horror", but really...from all!), technique or the overall atmosphere of the album. Well, the last one mentioned is very important here. Because apart from the occasional keyboards in the "right" songs, the band tried to add another 8 intros merging these songs together, giving a momentary respite and a feeling of a horror-like atmosphere. And, as usually I do not approve of such solutions, it fit perfectly here and the whole cd seems to be even more interesting.

So there can be only one summary. "Testimony Of The Ancients" handled the weight of (hehe) "Consuming Impulse", and at the same time showed perfectly that in a much different style (ie. more technical), the Dutch were able to record another outstanding release. Usually, strong reshuffles in the line-up and taking a slightly lighter direction do not come into such excellent music.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2021/06/pestilence-testimony-of-ancients-1991.html

By the time the 80’s were over, several death metal bands tried to take death metal one step further and although bands such as Atheist and Death managed to do so with success (to a certain degree that is), things just unfortunately didn’t turn out too well for Pestilence. Testimony of the Ancients isn’t an awful album by any means, but it’s seriously flawed, especially when compared to its predecessors.

First of all Scott Burns produced Testimony of the Ancients and while he did a great job with several albums, this unfortunately isn’t one of them. There’s something about sterile guitars that just doesn’t work for me although this album features new bass player Tony Choy (who clearly is a man of skill), his bass is hardly audible...that is, except during the interlude that goes by the name of ‘’Soulless'' - quite a shame if you’d ask me, but so be it. Patrick Mameli had taken over the vocals at this point and although it would be easy to criticize him for sounding more generic when compared to his predecessor, I don’t mind his vocals. Sure, he sounds somewhat one dimensional, but I’d compare Patrick Mameli to a more restrained John Tardy or a more muscular sounding Chuck Schuldiner and that’s good enough to me.

My main issue with Testimony of the Ancients comes down to its half-baked approach. It’s as if Patrick Mameli tried too hard to release something distinctive – but distinctive doesn’t always mean something good! You end up dealing with 8 (!) random interludes that range from random guitar licks to pseudo-gothic sound effects and more bizarre stuff, but most importantly: they all feel completely out of place. In terms of actual material, several unexpected breaks occur that prevent compositions from becoming too predictable and elaborated guitar leads have been injected that demonstrate Patrick Mameli and Patrick Uterwijk's talents. You'll end up hearing several thoughtful, detailed yet restrained guitar solos that I'm certainly fond of. Make no mistake though, to call Testimony of the Ancients a transitional record would be farfetched, even if it's hardly effective when it sounds pretty straightforward. ‘’Lost Souls’’ manages to picks up in terms of intensity and pacing thanks to its violent main riff, yet hardly manages to compete with earlier Pestilence classics such as ‘’Subordinate to the Domination’’ and ‘’Out of the Body’’. Then again, listening to the generic main riff of ‘’Twisted Truth’’ and that sluggish main riff of ‘’Stigmatized’’ doesn’t really recall a band that loves to play death metal anymore either, does it? It’s almost as if Patrick Mameli himself couldn’t wait to get to play one of those elaborated jazzy solos, because the riffs hardly sound passionate anymore.

It's not until the last few songs before the album picks up to a certain degree, which seems rather strange to me, but so be it. ‘’Testimony’’ has the advantage of being led by that whirlwind of a riff that’s convincing enough (even if the goofy keys on the background feel out of place) and that impressive, yet suitable guitar solo in between makes the icing on the cake. ‘’Presence of the Dead’’ foreshadows the direction Death would take circa Human here and even though I could have done without that ambient break in between, it’s an acceptable song with some progressive touches to it. Ending the record on a high note, ‘’Stigmatized’’ seriously kicks off by the time that flexible Iron Maiden-esque tendencies appears out of the blue and I guess you could call this one of the earliest examples of melodic death metal before the subgenre was even a thing.

Although you could do a lot worse, Testimony of the Ancients just doesn't cut it and there's no way I'd recommend it. Just give Malleus Maleficarum as well as Consuming Impulse a try if you haven't already - those albums are the real deal.

This review was originally written for antichristmagazine.com

Looking back, I have to say that "Testimony of the Ancients" was the last interesting Pestilence album from my point of view. The development of Mr. Mameli and his colleagues strongly reminds of that of Mr. Schuldiner (R.I.P.). Both bands hit the scene with a primal force and then became victims of their own technical capabilities. In the end, the question arose whether a name change would not have been appropriate at the right time. On the positive side, however, the 1991 work is still stylistically comparable to the sounds on the superb debut - at least if you don't take it too closely.

Of course, from today's perspective, details like the partly dreamy solo in "Twisted Truth" are harbingers of the stylistic aberration that marked the follow-up work "Spheres". I also doubt that it did the flow of "Testimony of the Ancients" any good to include an atmospheric intermezzo after each track. Nevertheless, to this day I still like the basic aggression of the eight full-fledged songs that still shines through everywhere. "Lost Souls" represents a particularly clear example of the fact that Mameli was not yet too shy for rather straightforward, fast and deadly neckbreakers. Admittedly, there are also some bulkier compositions where the band does not always strike the right balance between song-serving structures and demonstrating technical qualities. But in 1991 I was still willing to grant Pestilence a pioneering role and trying out new ways did not seem reprehensible to me.

The production of "Testimony of the Ancients" has strengths and weaknesses. I like the sharpness of the guitars, the high level of transparency and the fact that the bass lines are also well audible. The lead vocals, on the other hand, sometimes come up short. Mameli acts somewhere in a crypt in the background. In addition, his yelping is simply one-dimensional. It becomes clear why he had previously left the vocals to his ex-colleague van Drunen. In contrast, the integration of the sporadically used keyboards turns out better. As soon as they appear, they give titles like "Prophetic Revelations" or "Testimony" a different shade and flavour. All in all, the record can be said to have a good sound.

It makes little sense to single out any of the eight complete pieces. Pestilence perform on a high level, both technically and compositionally. They offer strict high-speed outbursts, technically playful, partly very melodic interludes and morbidly howling guitars, but also a Maiden-esque guitar line that appears twice in "Stigmatized". However, Mameli and his cronies managed to cleverly integrate the influences from the different directions into their own work. Somewhere between traditional metal schemes and the technically complex, sophisticated approach of their contemporaries from Morbid Angel, Pestilence found their niche on "Testimony of the Ancients", which they were able to fill with life thanks to their distinct craftsmanship and enthusiasm. I must confess that I miss the raw brutality, the directness and the clearly structured riffing of "Malleus Maleficarum", but nevertheless it was and is easy to become friends with the album reviewed here.

Dutch Death clones do nothing memorable here, and whole lot worth forgetting!

Many praise this recording for "stepping it up". Many will claim it's actually an early technical death metal affair. Compared to what Death, Atheist, and Gorguts were doing in 1991 - this comes across as little more than a glorified thrash record with some tacky filler tracks. Take away the filler, and unfortunately, there's still no killer here. An uninspired, lack-luster riff fest with a boring concept and an even more boring execution.

The only track that's an exception is Twisted Truth. How they managed to craft such a dynamic, melodic piece - and then come up with nothing but endless, boring speed riffs - is beyond me. Pestilence wouldn't really come into their own until the much-hated "Spheres" record two years later.

For me, ToTA exemplifies "thrash attempting to sound like death" tenfold; it's simply the worst early Pestilence recording by far. How are the riffs uninspired? Just listen to the opening track. This is the definition of a stock riff. I jokingly call this one Secrecies of Bore-er, because the riffing patterns, structure, and vocals will put you right to sleep.

This pattern doesn't let up, either. The entire album is a collage of "riff A, B, C, solo, repeat" song structures that feature anything but technicality and originality. Death was already doing this, and they were actually excelling because the riffs were inspired and original. Not so here. Sprinkle in a sad attempt at "progressive" diversity via the filler instrumental tracks, and you've got an overrated mess of an album, even by 1991 standards.

Outside of the wannabe-death-metal-but-still-just-thrash riffing, Mameli's vocals are barely passable here. They sound very rushed, strained, and under practiced. For such a cool concept, they manage to botch it and put the listener right to sleep. The only plus outside of Twisted Truth, is the production. Crystal clear so we can unfortunately hear how second rate this band actually is.

I'll be blunt here: outside of "Consuming Impulse" and "Spheres", Pestilence hasn't done anything very memorable. They will eternally be a second-tier extreme metal band, whom these days appear more obsessed with simply sounding "weird", versus actually putting out anything of consistent quality. While those two former records have some very memorable songs and riffs, the rest of the discography doesn't.

Throw this one in the trash where it belongs, and listen to Death, Atheist, or Gorguts instead.

One of the debates most commonly brought up when discussing death metal relates to that of Holland's PESTILENCE. Which is better, "Consuming Impulse" and the debut or the albums after (this and "Spheres")? Who is the better vocalist, Van Drunen or Mameli? Opinions seem pretty divided on the matter, with rarely any opting for the middle ground of "I like both". I think "Consuming Impulse" is a great slice of old school death metal and a classic everyone should hear, but I also think with "Testimony..." this band really showed what they were capable of, with more experimental song structures and a slight injection of Jazz Fusion influence as was happening with a lot of this music at the turn of the 90s...mostly thanks to Death and their groundbreaking album "Human", this and other albums that began pushing the envelope at the time.

The most significant difference here is that vocalist and bassist (who never actually played any bass lines on "Consuming"...) Martin Van Drunen is departed, replaced on vocals by lead guitarist Patrick Mameli and the legendary Tony Choy on bass (borrowed from Cynic and who would later play in Atheist). When I first heard this album at a younger and more intolerant age, I hated it mainly because the vocals were "weaker". Let's face it, Van Drunen's vocals on "Consuming..." is one of the nastiest, most caustic performances captured on a death metal album and would be hard to follow up for anybody, yet upon reflection Mameli provides a perfectly good substitute, less extreme but more suiting to the music here...which is also slightly less extreme, but more dynamic and introspective as opposed to the sheer blunt force trauma of a track like "Out of the Body" from "Consuming...". The production quality is smoother and substantially cleaner on this album, which gives it more room to breathe and explore atmospheres. The bass is nice and audible and occasionally provides additional melodies to the guitars although the main feature is Choy's undeniable skill at the instrument, effortlessly matching the technical and thrashy riffs.

The structure of the record itself is also different, with 16 tracks of which half are interludes of various kinds used to break up the main songs, such as the weird heartbeat/insect noise of "Blood" and the Choy bass solo in "Soulless". The main highlight of this album for me has to be "Land of Tears", where a fast technical riff gives way to a breakdown using chords that seem uncommon for death metal, leading into a brilliant melodic solo almost reminiscent of Iron Maiden before falling back into the thrashy main riff again over a demented jazz lead. In fact a lot of this album comes across as almost like technical thrash (akin to early Cynic) as opposed to death metal, the guitars aren't down-tuned like on the previous album and they are a lot more melodic. Any flak aimed at the band over this or "Spheres" is completely unjust in my opinion, this is a prime example of great musicians experimenting with a formula that was already beginning to run a little bit dry, and is one of the great progressive metal albums of its time.

This is Pestilence's most interesting album, I cannot say if it is the best because “Consuming Impulse” is one of the best death metal albums ever, but its way more conventional. Composition wise it is entertaining but this album is even more edgy, it has a wider sense of progression. The production is way more polished than on their past albums, especially “Consuming Impulse” that is raw and heavy as fuck; on this album they coined a cleaner sounding atmosphere, that fits the new concept perfectly I think. Every instrument can be fully heard and appreciated, and the keyboards and guitar synth blended nicely with the traditional metal instruments. The line-up changes –Mameli taking the vocal duties and the addition of Tony Choy on bass guitar- worked good with the “softening” of the band’s sound towards a more progressive and elaborated brand of DM, without losing the aggression and violence as their main arguments.

Vocals aren't as deep as Van Drunen's, more mid ranged and raspy. The words can be heard clearly but still with a horrified tone all over them. Guitar’s distortion isn't as raw as on their previous album -it’s acid and thin- giving the bass guitar a lot of breathing space. There are some riffs that explore higher notes and mysterious vibes rather than just the average dark and heavy DM atmosphere; hints of melody and weird dissonant chords that contribute to the intriguing “open space” atmosphere that reigns over the album. Bass guitar tone is very organic, Tony Choy's preference for finger picking can be noted in the rounded low end, that is present all the time but I would have it even louder on the mix… guitars aren't that noisy and the bass is just there chilling –with lots of class of course- so there’s some punch missing, not in the songs themselves but in the sound.

Even if I would have liked it a little heavier; the distressed, jazzy production gives the album a different and fresh sound compared to what almost everyone was doing in 91’. And it brings the cymbal work to the front row in the percussion department, giving a quiet setting to the passages that need it. The drumming is tight, very aware of the riffs and thought out. The whole drum kit sounds extremely acoustic, as if you were in the same room. Fast parts are fierce and the most elaborated beats sound interesting as well as the numerous fills that bedizen the main riffs.

“Testimony of the Ancients” features a meditated investigation in different textures that go beyond the heavy metal comfort zone but its journey is led by DM, it’s always the base. That’s what makes this record important, and better than let’s say “Spheres”; which is too progressive and kind of loses the fire. I find the tracks in between songs kind of boring, except from the bass solo “Soulless” that fucking rules, and maybe “Free Us from Temptation” that sounds very sinister. Lyrically there’s a subtle change towards a more meaningful direction rather than just the classic negative imagery, but I still don’t love them. And regarding the songs there are no highlights really; the album is pretty constant in quality!

I don't like doling out perfect scores, but Testimony of the Ancients deserves it. Out of the whole death metal movement, I find that Pestilence really hit the nail on the head with this album.

Let's look at the individual components. Quality riffing. There's tons of heavy all over the place, a lot of it displaying a fair degree of Possessed worship, but it goes far beyond that. The melodic parts are fantasic (the guitar solos on "Twisted Truth," the midsections of "Land of Tears," "Presence of the Dead" and "Stigmatized"). Patrick Mameli's growing interest in jazz music really payed off on this album; it's not the overt weirdness of the follow up, Spheres. No, on here, it's evident in the subtle changes and expert compositions. Chords unorthodox for metal are used fairly often, recalling Killing Technology era Voivod, yet used in a reasonably straight forward context. This keeps the songs memorable and instantly recognizable, something which more technical bands have lost. And the guitar solos themselves are everything from stunning melodic composions to whammy bar frenzies without discernible aim.

The little intros placed between every song act as segues, setting up the mood for the following track. These enhance the Lovecraft lyrical themes. Keyboards are not as commonly used as on Nocturnus' work, but quite extensively. And these, once again, work in Pestilence's favour.

Tony Choy plays bass on here, so you know that it will be well done. The bass is placed rather high in the mix, much to my delight. Marco Foddis' drumming is tight. Not flashy, but very solid.

I'm admittedly not a huge fan of Scott Burns' production jobs. They feel a bit too compressed and polished. And to a degree, Testimony of the Ancients doesn't have the nastiness of say, Death's Human or Morbid Angel's Covenant. What it does have, however, is a strange, almost alien feel, with the loud bass, and choppy, not-very-downtuned guitars. When taken into context, it makes more sense, and Scott Burns is spared my wrath this once.

On a final note, I'd like to add that Patrick Mameli's vocals are excellent. A bit deeper than Chuck Schuldiner, and with a bit of the drawn out screaming of Obituary's John Tardy. I honestly can't understand why people get so upset about Martin Van Druen not being on this album. Yes, he's great, and yes, he has one of the most unique voices, but Patrick Mameli is far from bad.

Testimony of the Ancients is certainly not a high water mark of orthodox death metal. Rather, it shows perhaps the outer limits of the genre, the point at which experimentation still permitted the nastiness its role in center stage.

It is undeniable that when you start to listen to all three albums that Pestilence has recorded between 1988 and 1991, you realize that within these three years the band has constantly been changing and none of these three parts of their death metal trilogy sounds the same. The constant evolution, along with revolution that came with the third album, was this band's trademark sign. And "Testimony of the Ancients", is by far their greatest achievement and finest hour, in my opinion. This was also the very first death metal album with Death's "Leprosy", that I've listened to and it was in 1991. So looong ago, but the best thing and something what only confirms the quality of "Testimony..." is that after 20 years, this album still sounds unbelievably fresh and devastating to my ears, each song still is able to crush my ears and honestly I still cannot find any signs of boredom! This is PERFECT album.

"Testimony of the Ancients" is very specific album, one which I think at the time of its release must have arise a lot of controversy. Not only the album brings much more technical style of playing, clearly influenced Cynic and Atheist, but also it fuses death metal with the atmosphere of progressive music. I don't even know if something like progressive metal existed then, but there were albums which were slightly changing the narrow barriers of death metal – I’m talking about the bands like Tiamat, Nocturnus, Paradise Lost... And also Pestilence, who not only used keyboards in so many parts of their third album, but also had some riffs with almost kind of melancholic feel, which differs so much from the usual brutal and extreme death metal playing. Finally, "Testimony of the Ancients" is kind of concept album and all songs are basically connected together with each track preceded by a short instrumental passage - some of these interludes sound really weird, but nicely develop and underline the overall atmosphere of the album, so they do fill up the album well.

Speaking of the death metal, "Testimony of the Ancients" offers some of the best tracks of this genre I've ever heard! I must be honest with you, the riffs and melodies Pestilence played here are immortal, they'll never get old and also what I like about them are the emotions they bring. Some riffs may be just pure aggression, but some other parts are truly emotional and visionary, very melodic and harmonic. The best example is I think the song "Lake of Tears", an undeniable hit from this album, which some of you may recognise from excellent video that was aired on MTV years ago. It starts with an aggressive and fast, purely brutal riff, but somewhere in the middle the song turns into something completely different, it slows down very much and the riffing turns into very deep and emotional, wonderful melody - one, which I find as breathtaking!

"Twisted Truth" is slightly psychedelic at times, but it also has wonderful, melodic guitar leads that are so memorable and engaging! What I like about it, is that even if this song is slower and more experimental, it is also aggressive anyway, due to harsh vocals of Partick Mamelli, who took over the role as the vocalist and turned out to be a fuckin beast, his voice is savage and raw, damn aggressive, but also quite understandable. I must say I like it a lot and am not even able to tell whether van Drunen was better or not, as both growlers had their own and unique style of “singing”.

But to make it clear, this album is not only about the progressive and melodic playing. "The Secrecies of Horror" will hit you with vicious riffs and this is one of the fastest and most energetic songs on the album - and even the keyboards are rather fillers to the riffs rather than play the main role. This is excellent song really, but my favorite from the whole album is "Presence of the Dead". Fuck, what an awesome track, what killer riffs! They're so damn catchy and possessing I can't stop listening to it and banging my skull is just necessary. Pure excellence. "Lost Soul", "Prophetic Revelations" or "Testimony” are another songs worth to be mentioned, but I can be honest and say that truly the whole album deserves to be mentioned, as everything here is amazing and none single riff or whatever are masterpieces. And they all surprise with some excellent and memorable parts.

I think there are no words that I can use and which would really be able to describe this album’s all details and give them a justice. Too much is happening here and there are too many layers in this death metal cake. So I think the best thing to do is just listen to "Testimony of the Ancients" – switch the lights off and let the atmosphere of it possess you. I must advice to open the mind a little bit, as some of the parts of "Testimony of the Ancients" may sound too progressive to the orthodox death metaller, but that’s what this album has done in the time of release… it was breaking the death metal skeleton and all the limits. And it did it perfectly. Truly "Testimony of the Ancients" is one of the best albums ever.

Standout tracks: “Lake of Tears”, "Presence of the Dead", "The Secrecies of Horror", "Lost Soul"

When news arrived that Pestilence had parted ways with Martin Van Drunen, I admit my heart skipped a few beats. What the hell were they thinking? This was one of my favorite bands! How dare they do this to me? Well, it turned out that I was not the center of the universe after all, and they probably had a pretty good reason for the split, but I was loathe to hear what the band might become sans those bloodied, hostile, unforgettable vocal tones. Patrick Mameli was to replace Van Drunen, manifesting his destiny as the multi-tasking frontman, and Drunen's almost nonexistent bass skills were assumed by Tony Choy of Cynic and Atheist, a rather excellent choice for the progressive direction Mameli had planned to take the band in, with a fusion of jazzy principles and guitar synth. However, this transformation would not be fully manifest in Testimony of the Ancients. Only hinted at. Once I caught an advertisement for the great new cover art and album title, I allowed my hackles the chance to recess back into their lair, still poised to strike out in desperation.

The first thing one might notice about this album is that there are 16 tracks. Sixteen whole new songs? Well, not exactly. There are eight new death metal tracks and then eight interludes which alternate between the songs, most labeled with simple titles like "Blood", "Bitterness", "Soulless", "Mindwarp", "Darkening", and so forth. The purpose of these bits and bytes is twofold: to create some poignant scenario that lends additional weight to the real tracks, and to showcase the band in their new found extravagance. Their 'open minds'. A willingness to temper their masterfully crafted, if brutal metallic core with all manner of experimentation. Surprisingly, many of these work, despite the girth of their variation. For example, "Bitterness" is a scintillating flourish of angelic synth and acoustics that perfectly sets up the hard and slow "Twisted Truth". "Impure" offers morbid smut. "Darkening" creates a chaotic tension. "Soulless" allows Tony Choy to take flight, his hammering finger spasms adjoined to a subtle, well plotted ambiance. Unfortunately, they're not all that great, and many are so short that they might better have been saved for full length songs on a more experimental album, post-Spheres, perhaps. After a few of the better breaks like "Bitterness" and "Impure", the rest seem pretty scattered and distracting.

Another distinction to this album is the production, which sounds quite a lot cleaner than Consuming Impulse or Malleus Maleficarum. This is because the band decided to record the album with Scott Burns in his legendary Morrisound studio. Having already met with two excellent producers in their career, why not a third? Burns was already responsible for work with Atheist, Cancer, Death, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, and other acts from Florida and beyond, so he seemed a pretty natural choice. As one who preferred the harsh, grinding tones of Consuming Impulse to almost any other metal album ever recorded, I was dismayed by the level of polish on this album. It does make a few of the better songs on this album seem a little sterile, though it's probably a better match for the band's increasing jazz tendencies and Mameli's desire to move outside the 'safer' parameters of brutality that were spawning a thousand new bands into the death metal fold internationally.

Fortunately, this is a Pestilence album, and the band still knows how to write a damn fine song. In fact, almost every one of the full-length tracks on this album is good, even though they might not be nearly at the level of the first two albums. "Secrecies of Horror" has an excellent fade in intro, before the circus-like, clunky rhythm of the verse arrives. Not one of my favorite riffs, but it does transform into a string of serious octave chords, an atmospheric bridge with a synth, and a pretty sick lead segment followed by a more mechanical, thrashing rhythm at about 2:10. "Twisted Truth", on the other hand, is pure fucking greatness, with one of those super simplistic riffs that will have you scratching your head, wondering why it hadn't been done before in quite that way. That the band creates such momentum through such a slower pace is a marvel, and the bass is quite good throughout, in particular as it struts below the proggy sounding solo sequences, of which there are two. "Lost Souls" bristles with a faster beat and thriving energy, replete with escalating, simple chords and further excavations from Choy, resolving in large, atmospheric chords that suffocate the listener like rust-tinged clouds of acid. "Land of Tears" opens with another bouncy, circus-thrash riff, but then breaks into one of the better sheer death metal rhythms on the album, a fairly powerful charge despite the sterility of the studio sound.

The second half of the album took a little more acclimation than the first, for the songs don't feel as immediately memorable. "Prophetic Revelations" starts with a slow, lunging half-groove before it picks into a verse rhythm similar to that of "Lost Souls". Again, there is an extremely polished and almost mechanical subtext to the writing, as if the band were afraid to get their hands dirty beyond the vocals. Ultimately, the song is a winner due to its furious lead break at 2:15, and the return to the sluggish dementia of its intro. "Testimony" is a chugging horror that mutates into a decent floe of progressive thrash metal, with sizzling leads and an excellent, atmospheric bridge. "Presence of the Dead" is one of the better overall songs on the album, with another of the simple sliding octave chord patterns that would reappear often on the band's 2009 reunion effort Resurrection Macabre. However, the true strength is the jazzy bliss of the bridge, the mystique of the leads and the tight, playful thrashing that reminds me of something which might have appeared on Consuming Impulse, albeit in a much cleaner form here. But it is perhaps the final full-length track "Stigmatized" which most closely resembles the band's past albums, at least until the extended fusion of the bridge, which I might add features one of the best lead licks on the album just before 2:30.

One thing I must admit is that, while he's no Van Drunen, Patrick Mameli does manage to somehow pick up the vocal slack and offer a distinct performance here. It's honestly the most brutal element of the album, though it's got a more reserved tone a la Chuck Schuldiner or a less passionate Chris Reifert. I was fully expecting to hate the vocals, and yet I wound up impressed that he could pull it off (turns out he can also pull it off live, as I found out when the band toured North America on this particular album).

In the end, Testimony of the Ancients is just too tidy and 'ambitious' to compete with its predecessors. If you're a sucker for a very sterile, procedural tone to the guitars and mix of your death metal albums, then you'll still be a sucker for this one. And to be totally fair, it's a very interesting record. The cover art is cool, and the 16-track setup intriguing, even if several of its constituent pieces are rusting at the hinges. The actual metal songs here are almost all very good, barring a few lackluster riffs that made me feel like I was at a carnival. While I greatly prefer the spontaneous violence of the band's earlier solos, the leads here at least accessible and catchy. I feel like there is an obvious parallel here to Death. Both bands got their heads out of the graveyard and into the clouds, deciding to expand outwards of their genre without wholly abandoning it. I feel like Testimony of the Ancients was the more successful of the band's first 'breakout' albums, as I believe Human to be a tedious bore with a few pretty solos at best (Remember kids, stoning is illegal here in my country.) At least with this album Pestilence retain a little of their menace.

The lyrics are not as good. The songs...not as good. The production all too underwhelming. But Testimony of the Ancients earns its stripes for the attempted cohesion of so many wandering parts into a streamlined progressive death metal experience, and I still listen to the album rather frequently these days. Far more than I would listen to Human, Atheist's Unquestionable Presence, or Cynic's Focus, at any rate. There was very little chance that Pestilence would surpass the power of their first two albums, which remain flawless to these ears over two decades later, so the forging of this new path was hardly a slap in the face to the fans that so idolized their work.

Highlights: Twisted Truth, Land of Tears, Lost Souls, Presence of the Dead, Testimony

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

If the fact that Scott "Dr. Death" Burns produced this album isn't enough to convince you that this album is a masterpiece, try listening to it. Despite being a departure from the band's previous two albums, Testimony Of The Ancients is able to break ground and give the listener a new definition of death metal. With Patrick Mameli taking over vocal duties and Tony Choy handling bass, the removal of Martin Van Drunen wasn't that bad of an idea...not that Martin's time in the band was bad, but Patrick was able to make it better.

The album opens with "The Secrecies of Horror", a very powerful track with a cool solo. Following this song is one of the things that this album trademarked: intermission tracks. Some found these tracks to be somewhat annoying, but to me they are an excellent way to build up atmosphere and get the listener further into the album. One of the more notable aspects of this album is that Mamali'sand Uterwijk's guitar work is about half-and-half between more expressive playing (another reason this album varies from their older works) and fast shredding solos, which is a sign that the band was growing and improving in the areas of composition and musicanship.

If anything describes this album best, it's that it's an interesting union of death metal brutality and progressive metal beauty. An example of this is the guitar harmony in the pre-solo section of "Land of Tears", as well as the high-string riff on "Stigmatized" that starts somewhere in the middle of the song. Some parts of this album may also TRIP YOU OUT if you're eating the wrong type of mushrooms, like at the end of the solo in "The Secrecies of Horror" when the whammy-dive has a few studio effects added to so it sounds a bit crazier and more extreme. Also to be mentioned regarding the "trippy" parts of this album include the end of "Stigmatized", where the guitar has a flange effect added to it.

The only downside...er, not-so-above average aspect about this album is the recording quality. I don't judge music by the quality at which it was recorded, but the least Burns (the producer) could have done was make the drums--especially the bass drum---not so weak and monotonous sounding. Other than that, this album is a must have for any metal fan, regardless of preference. Like death metal? Buy this. Dream Theater your taste? Buy it.

Pestilence, Netherlands best progressive death/thrash metal band period. Having released such classics as Consuming Impulse and Spheres, the now more progressive and atmospheric release, Testimony of the Ancients attacks on all spectrums featuring nice vocals reminiscent of Evil Chuck or possibly John Tardy of Obituary. Either way they’re done very well and are probably the highlight of the album, tied with the awesome guitar attack of both Patrick’s. Bassist Tony Choy makes his appearance here and this is when Pestilence starting moving into the jazzy prog death realm and it’s probably because of him and his time spent in Cynic, that’s my guess.

Whatever the reasoning was it still worked here, Testimony of the Ancients is a great slab of jazzy, progressive, thrash influenced death metal. The musicianship here is what you should expect and all that you could ask for, great lead guitar parts mixed with a well done bass that is very prominent as well as being more than just an accompanying guitar follow up. Drums here are still fast and furious, typical thrash influenced drum work varying with more traditional death metal styles. A lot of bands try do this with being overly technical, overly brutal, or overly fast and become absolute failures but Pestilence works it all out without being overly anything (other than possibly the overdone eerie interludes) and still retain a sense of being heavy fucking metal. Just listen to Land of Tears (listen to 3:50 and onwards and tell me you can’t headbang to that!) and you’ll realize how the rhythm section keeps itself in a full forced balance of fast paced drumming and intense riffing and still at the same time has a progressive structure with atmospheric elements. Another thing more prominent on Testimony of the Ancients is the atmospheric or odd little segues between songs being kinda creepy or mesmerizing but in the end is completely pointless for a thrash/death album; especially when it’s not even a concept album. Especially Impure, which essentially is a gong being banged and some chick having an orgasm and breathing heavy while there are like really deep and ‘oooohhhhh’ and a weird ass organ. At least Soulless is a decent little interlude with some hyper fast acoustic picking, something that I remember Krisiun doing once really, really insanely fast.

The songs on here are all decent in their own right, some of them lag back and tend to fall a bit into semi-boring/filler while others just plain kick ass and slay like the first few songs. Testimony is a full out awesome thrash/death mix that from the get go kicks ass all around with speedy riffing and fast double bass drumming as well as featuring an awesome guitar solo. The best part of all though, is having the odd atmospheric/symphonic element added to the whole of the album, that especially makes it’s prominence known here and it totally works, which kicks so much ass! It seems that the first couple songs start off the album perfectly and then it hits a snag with a couple filler songs, then starts right back up with Testimony, Presence of the Dead with the killer main riff that is ultra-headbang-worthy, and Stigmatized which is probably the fastest and most brutal song on the album, as well as technical. I feel like the song structures are made in a the same manner as Heathen on Victims of Silence or Metallica on …And Justice For All, being a progressive and lead guitar driven balance with flashy type fantastic leads, as well as having a fairly slickened production value highlighting the instruments fairly well, which actually works when relying on atmospheric value on the album.

All the songs are fun in their own separate right, but some actually stand out whilst others are more filler material and don’t necessarily work as being a ‘great’ song but they are all still fun to listen to. That’s probably the only drawbacks on Testimony of the Ancients, having some filler songs and some weird and a bit annoying symphonic type interludes that don’t fit the album. The symphonic and atmospheric elements work perfectly in the actual fast and structured songs, but in the end the short little interludes are just annoying and totally skipworthy. Overall though Pestilence has struck gold with a perfect blend of jazzy progressive as thrash influenced death metal. I strongly recommend this to any fans of earlier Pestilence, Death, Cynic, as well as traditional death metal; it’s just straight up solid heavy metal.

Pestilence is one of those bands that don't have the biggest following but deserve and recieve a ton of respect. After the onslaught that was Consuming Impulse the band went through not only some personel changes, their sound shifted completely as well.

Consuming Impulse was fast and brutal, but wasn't a thinking man's monster necessarily. Testimony of the Ancients is definitely a thinking man's record. Patrick Mameli delivers an awesome vocal performance that is as worthy as anyone's really. The sound is reminscent of some of Chuck Schuldiner's early vocal work. As marked a change as this was at the time, the songwriting and musical approach the band took on was more progressive and at times very atmospheric due to the use fo keyboards. One need only to listen to "Twisted Truth" during the song's lead sections to get a grasp of what I'm talking about.

The songwriting is great. Pestilence can throw a curveball just as they can hammer a riff home for an extended period. "Lost Souls" has some great moments but really there are no bad songs here. "Stigmatized" is a great closer, although technically there is an instrumental outro.

The playing on here is not overly technical but tasteful and executed to perfection. The guitar tandem of the Patricks Mameli and Uterwijk complement each other telepathically it would seem as it is often difficult to distinguish who is doing what. Tony Choy delivers a fine performance, albeit a more subtle one than his stint with Atheist. Marco Foddis also suits the band well, without standing out over either of the dynamic guitar duo.

My only problem with Testimony of the Ancients at times is the record's structure. I've never been keen on segues and instrumental transitions and there are a ton on here. Some of them are cool, some of them are a bit of a waste of space, but if you can get by that this records stands as one of progressive death metal's innovative pioneers.

Two years after releasing one of the best death metal albums ever to surface from The Netherlands, Pestilence hit jackpot again with their 1991 album ‘Testimony Of The Ancients’. The biggest differences with their previous effort ‘Consuming Impulse’ are simple: The production is more clean, short intermezzos between all the songs, the average pace is lower and Patrick Mameli has taken over lead vocals.

The album is once again filled with those typical Mameli riffs which weren’t always too complicated or original. His song writing skills however are still very strong here. The average song on ‘Testimony’ is less furious and are almost AOD (adult-orientated-death metal) in a Schuldiner-light kind of way. Most catchy tunes are ‘Twisted Truth’ (the main riff has been copied and imitated by many, many other bands in the years to follow) and ‘Land Of Tears’ (to which a video was made). Fortunately there was also plenty of up tempo raging death metal to be found like on the songs ‘The Secrecies of Horror’ and ‘Stigmatized’

The clean production works most of the time but not always. Specifically on the faster material one would’ve preferred a dirtier sound. Same goes for the vocals. Mamelis vocals sound good on mid tempo material but they aren’t powerful enough for raging death metal. Secondly the omnipresent intermezzos between songs aren’t all of the same quality. It gives the album the impression of a concept album but it doesn’t always work out equally good. ‘Testimony Of The Ancients’ is a superb album but lacks the rawness and intensity of ‘Consuming Impulse’, therefore finishing second in the Pestilence discography.

Pestilence has had a well-deserved place in the first wave death metal elite, mentioned in one breath with the likes of Death, Sepultura, Cynic, Atheist and the likes. Rightly so, because their progression up untill this album is comparable to, say, Carcass. With every album they developed their sound so no release sounds alike but still stays Pestilence undeniably.

Their previous album 'Consuming Impulse' was unprecedented in brutality and morbidness. 'Testimony of the Ancients' is less relentless, but it makes up for that with an onimous dose of morbid melodies, great lyrics and an all out Lovecraftian atmosphere. Thanks to Tony Choy, the band has never sounded more technically accomplished. The drums aren't exactly Sean Reinertlike fast, but they hit all the right breaks. But the highlight of this cd is definately the guitars. Patrick Mameli and Patrick Uterwijk are a great tandem, combining melodic (twin) soloing with screeches and crashes of tremolo filled chaos.

Take for example the song "Land Of Tears". The guitar solo starts out very emotional, almost ballad like and then switches into high gear, so that all listeners who were dreaming away immediately abbandon all hope for solution of the saddening first guitar part. Noteworthy also are the supportive keyboard samples, never obnoxious, always morbid.
Other album highlights are the title track (with truly frightening and insane lyrics), 'Twisted Truth' with its catchy dynamics, 'Profetic Revelations' (excellent chorus) and well, basically the whole album is perfect.
Special attention to the final 'real' track (just like all Roadrunner releases from that era, this album sticks together with samples, which are all great by the way) 'Stigmatized'. This is death metal perfection, combining Slayer, Death and even Iron Maiden to create a masterpiece of metal.

Concluding, this is a must-have for all progressive death metal fans and for all who want to know who the true masters and originators of the genre are.