THE PENANCE (DEMO)

"The Penance" is the second demo cassette tape released by Dutch death/thrash metal act Pestilence. The demo was self-released in late 1987. Pestilence was formed in 1986 and on this release consists of Patrick Mameli (guitar, bass), Randy Meinhard (guitar), Marco Foddis (drums), and Martin van Drunen (vocals). The latter is new in the lineup compared to the lineup who recorded the "Dysentery (1987)" demo.

Stylistically the music is old school thrash metal with a death metal edge. So there are signs of the band´s near future death metal journey, but it´s still only hinted at. Compared to the material on the "Dysentery (1987)" demo, there´s been a significant improvement in compositional quality. The 4 tracks ("Into Hades" is a short intro) on the 15:15 minutes long demo are powerful, aggressive, relatively well played/sung, and above all much more memorable than the the case was with the material on "Dysentery (1987)". The addition of Martin van Drunen to the lineup has given the vocal part of the music a needed lift and although he hasn´t yet found his unique haunted/desperate growling vocal style, his more thrash metal oriented raw vocals on this demo are still well performed, featuring both bite and passion.

The sound production is relatively well sounding for a 1987 thrash metal demo, although it´s both raw and unpolished, but that´s only charming in this case. So upon conclusion "The Penance" is definitely a step up from "Dysentery (1987)" although there´s not even a full year between the two releases. It shows a band in a positive development process, and that´s always praise worthy. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

THE PENANCE is the second demo by Dutch thrash masters PESTILENCE released shortly after their first. While the instrumentalists remained the same, the band found a new member exclusively dedicated to vocal duties. Martin van Drunen helps the band step it up a little bit beyond the generic sounding "Dysentery." Sounding a little more seasoned THE PENANCE is still very much rooted in late 80s thrash metal. It has the classic Metallica influenced guitar riffing. In fact "Before The Penance" at times sounds waaaaaaay too close to "For Whom The Bells Toll." Well, at least they had great heroes to worship. That said, the band deliver a more brutal approach to thrash metal on THE PENANCE and an obvious gateway to death metal.

Once again though, despite the progress in their development, PESTILENCE still sounds like an odd mix of early Metallica songwriting, Motorhead inspired punk attitude and some Exodus features as in the vocal phrasings, Slayer and Possessed type brutality. Yes, they stand out a bit with the new singer but ultimately this still sounds like a hodgepodge of metal ingredients sewn together and not properly boiled down into a broth. Pretty much for enthusiasts and not something that will make your stars aligned if you haven't experienced the thrash metal universe as of yet. Still though, not a bad demo. The production is much better than "Dysentery."