The Metal Crypt on Facebook  The Metal Crypt's YouTube Channel
Review: Pestilence - Levels of Perception
Pestilence
www.pestilence.nl
Levels of Perception

Label: Agonia Records
Year released: 2024
Duration: 46:16
Tracks: 12
Genre: Death/Thrash

Rating:
2.75/5


Review online: April 5, 2024
Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 3.5/5 (70%) (4 Votes)
Review

This is not a new Pestilence album, really. This is, instead, a kind of compilation featuring re-recordings of songs from their previous albums, and despite what I expected it is not solely off their lauded early works, but includes songs from the more divisive revival albums like Resurrection Macabre and Hadeon as well as classics like Consuming Impulse. I think it's actually a bolder move to redo songs from their heyday, as those are going to be held to a higher standard, but on the other hand, it's a bit indulgent to include songs recorded 3 years ago. This is, as usual, an almost entirely new lineup aside from Patrick Mameli.

This has always been a precise band, so the playing is solid and flashes the requisite technicality. The production on this is not bad, but it is a little weird. The bass is upfront, which I like, but the guitar tone is a bit variable, on some songs it sounds pretty good, while on others it is mushy. The mix favors rhythm over anything else, despite the fact that the drums do not sound that good.

The real test of a compilation like this is listening to the classic tracks like "Dehydrated," "Twisted Truth," or "Out of the Body" and deciding if they sound like worthy versions of those songs. I have to say they don't really stack up. Mameli is doing a more guttural, almost pukey-sounding vocal style that is overprocessed to an egregious degree—not to mention mixed too loud—and while the recording job and the mix are certainly louder than those old tracks, they don't have much of the appeal of the originals. It's not good when even acknowledged classic songs sound bland and unexciting. Pestilence's reunion albums have been very hit-or-miss, and this one is a miss.

See below for more reviews and interviews... ↓
More about Pestilence...
Review: Consuming Impulse (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Doctrine (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
Review: Doctrine (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Exitivm (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Mallevs Maleficarvm (reviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
Review: Mallevs Maleficarvm (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Resurrection Macabre (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Spheres (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Testimony Of The Ancients (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Interview with vocalist/guitarist Patrick Mameli and bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling on December 18, 2011 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
Click below for more reviews
Latest 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Various Books/Zines 



The Metal Crypt - Crushing Posers Since 1999
Copyright  © 1999-2025, Michel Renaud / The Metal Crypt.  All Rights Reserved.