PESTILENCE - TESTIMONY OF THE ANCIENTS 1st Press 1991 DEATH EMPEROR SLAYER

	£		65
	$		86

PESTILENCE -

TESTIMONY OF THE ANCIENTS

RC 9285-1

1st EU Press 1991

Notes

Barcode and Other Identifiers

• Barcode (Printed): 0 16861-9285-1 3
• Label Code: LC 92310
• Rights Society: BIEM STEMRA
• Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, stamped): 08 30666 20 1A1 9285-1
• Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, stamped): 08 30666 20 1B1 9285-1
• (From: discogs.com)

Superb original legendary death metal album from 1991 with its original inner lyric sheet. The LP is probably unplayed. Inside the spindle hole some vinyl debris from the manufacturing plant is still present.

Pestilence drastically changed their style and sound on Testimony of the Ancients. When Martin van Drunen was at the helm, these lads played a stellar death/thrash style that any old-school fan would love. However, with Mameli becoming the primary songwriter for the band, what had been a fairly traditional death metal group started evolving into a tech-death group. 

The biggest differences lie in the record's tightness and deliberate atmosphere. Pestilence had less of a focus on a clean and defined guitar ton on Consuming Impulse. However, the switch to a tight, staccato guitar style is evident right from the first fade in on The Secrecies of Horror. The abandonment of death/thrash guitars is fine, though. Pestilence refrain from over complicating their guitar rhythms and allow enough flexibility in their guitar tones to remain breathable.

Consuming Impulse is certainly an atmospheric record. However, Mameli indulged heavily in the cosmic sounds of synthesizers and soaring guitar sounds that make this seem more calculated in its atmosphere. In fact, it feels so cosmic that sometimes I imagine myself in the middle of some sort of dark, lovecraftian science fiction piece. However, this happens to be one of the albums' strengths. Atmosphere is essential to giving any death metal album personality. A lot of tech-death trades atmosphere for technicality. Thankfully, Pestilence managed to find a balance between the two, never giving way for to the other.

One other major difference, and something that this album is known for, is the litany of interludes. While they are relatively pointless, I think that they push that deliberate atmosphere the limit (something they'd go well beyond on their follow up, Spheres.) Ultimately, though, Testimony is a great record. For what it lacks in sheer brutality (likes it older brother, Consuming Impulse) it makes up for it by being a relatively unique death metal record with a great blend of non-pretentious technicality and entertaining atmosphere. (From: rateyourmusic.com)

Vinyl: EX++.  Not even one single spindle trace. Audio is phenomenal and this vinyl sounds out of this world, a majestic classic. Played on my Project Debut deck with Ortofon cartridge and B&W speakers.The audio has beautiful separation and there is no background noise. There are no marks and  no hairlines, this vinyl looks and sounds great with a beautiful sheen. Under a strong light there are a couple of paper retraction traces, these are completely invisible in normal daylight and even new vinyls will have these. I played this in full and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I was even tempted to keep this as it will be impossible to find this ever again, it is indeed mega rare these days. Only two or three went up for sale this last year. Needless to say NO jumps or clicks. This is a real stunner, upgrade and in museum like conditions.

Sleeve: EX+. Fantastic looked after single sleeve without any issues. Beautiful deep unfaded colours. A superb iconic sleeve with the fantastic artwork. NO creases. A  superb  spine without any wear on the edges. NO tears and NO splits The album has been kept in a protective sleeve all its life!!  No writing, NO tears, NO splits etc. Only extremely light wear on the corners and a fully legible spine.

Super crisp opening.  Please let the pictures fully inform you of the quality at hand. Probably one of the best you will ever find for this insanely rare album. A phenomenally scarce album and rumoured to only have been pressed in a quantity of a couple of hundreds. How many would have survived over the last 27 years??

The superbly rare insert is still there and in splendid shape without creases or splits, no writing etc. A solid EX++/NM

This still retains its original lyric inner sheet.

International postage will incur an extra fee for tracking if over £30.00. Please wait for me to send you an adjusted invoice before paying. The tracked fee will be at actual Royal Mail grade. I do not profit from postage and actually undercharge.

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

• Death metal
• technical death metal

• 1986–1994
• 2008–2014
• 2016–present

• Roadrunner
• Mascot
• Candlelight

Pestilence is a death metal band from the Netherlands founded in 1986. After disbanding in order to pursue other musical directions in 1994, Pestilence reunited in 2008, and was put on a "permanent hold" in July 2014. However, the band reunited once again in October 2016.[1] To date, the band has released eight studio albums.[2]

Contents

• 1Biography
  • 1.1Early career (1986–1990)
  • 1.2Success and breakthrough (1991–1994)
  • 1.3Post-breakup (1995–2007)
  • 1.4First reunion (2008–2013)
  • 1.5Second breakup and reunion (2014–present)
• 2Members
• 3Discography
  • 3.1Studio albums
  • 3.2Demos
  • 3.3Compilations
  • 3.4Live albums
• 4Notes
• 5References
• 6External links

Biography[edit]

Early career (1986–1990)[edit]

Pestilence started in the Netherlands in the mid 1986 as a thrash metal band. The lineup, consisting of Patrick Mameli (guitar, vocals), Randy Meinhard (guitar), and Marco Foddis (drums), recorded two demos before gaining the attention of Roadrunner Records. After the first demo, Martin van Drunen (bass, vocals) joined them. These two demos – Dysentery (1987) and The Penance (1987) – are raw, sounding mostly like a cross between Possessed and Schizophrenia-era Sepultura. After signing with Roadrunner, Pestilence released their debut album, Malleus Maleficarum, in 1988, further refining their approach to thrash metal. The new material was tighter and more focused than the demos. It set a new standard of brutality and became a definition of European death/thrash metal.

Meanwhile, Pestilence recruited a new guitar player, Patrick Uterwijk. In 1989, the band released their second album, Consuming Impulse, a turn toward death metal. Musically, things became heavier and more haunting. Vocally, Martin van Drunen moved away from cleaner vocals in favour of a more acidic growl. With its release, Pestilence gained international attention, and became highly regarded worldwide by death metal fans [3]. But before a follow-up album was released, the lineup changed once again; vocalist and bassist Martin van Drunen departed to front Asphyx.

Success and breakthrough (1991–1994)[edit]

Pestilence were faced with the challenge of replacing another member once again, being now without a vocalist and bassist. For their third album Testimony of the Ancients, they enlisted bassist Tony Choy from death metal band Cynic while Patrick Mameli took over the vocal duties. A more technical and progressive approach, Testimony of the Ancients co-defined early progressive death metal alongside Piece of Time and Human musical and lyrical-wise, with "Land Of Tears" getting heavy rotation on Headbangers Ball worldwide.

However, Tony Choy was never a permanent member, and ended up going back to Florida to eventually play with Atheist. In the meantime, Pestilence enlisted the talents of Jeroen Paul Thesseling.

Over the years, Pestilence members were getting into other forms of music, primarily jazz fusion. The band's fourth album, Spheres was an even more complex affair, mixing jazz elements into their death metal style while also incorporating guitar synths throughout the album.

Pestilence's popularity had risen with the release of each album, but unfortunately, so did tensions between the members. After a short period of time, the band unanimously decided to split up, feeling they had reached their creative climax. (wikipedia.com)