Testimony Of The Ancients

About

Testimony of the Ancients is the third album by the Dutch death metal band Pestilence, released in 1991 on Roadrunner Record. This was their first release with a new lineup, with Tony Choy replacing Martin van Drunen on ba, while guitarist Patrick Mameli filled in for the latter on vocal. Following the departure of former bassist/vocalist Martin van Drunen, guitarist Patrick Mameli took over vocal dutie. Mameli steered the band towards a more melodic and technical approach, expanding on the death metal sound of its predecessor Consuming Impulse. The resulting concept album, Testimony of the Ancients contrasted brutal death metal riffs with melodic interludes and tackled what John Serba describes a, "strangely philosophical, and oddly compelling, subject matter". After each song on the album, there was an instrumental outro track. This attempt to push the boundaries of death metal, at a time when the scene was saturated with copycat "one track minded" band, mirrored the efforts of fellow progressive bands Atheist and Death who released Unquestionable Presence and Human respectively in 1991, the same year as Testimony. The album can also be seen as a stepping stone on the way to the following Pestilence album Sphere, which departed still further from traditional death metal and headed towards jazz fusion. Testimony of the Ancients was reissued, along with Consuming Impulse, on Roadrunner Records' Two from the Vault serie. Patrick Mameli - guitar, vocals Patrick Uterwijk - guitar Tony Choy - bass .

via Last.fm

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