Testimony of the Ancients

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.