### Pestilence: Consuming impulse

#### 03/09/10 || Khlysty

##### Introduction

If there’s one record that I’m extremely happy that da Lord, during one of his, ehm, moods, decided to delete its review from the venerable Class 6(66) section of GD, that’s Pestilence’s 1989 meisterwerk “Consuming Impulse”. Of course, my happiness does not derive from the fact that now I’ll be able to inundate this timeless record with as many adjectives as one might use to signify “brootal” and “death metal” in one sentence, but, mainly because I’m gonna shock you readers of GD by telling you that “Consuming Impulse” is one of the catchiest, most groovy, most made-for-mass-consumption death metal records EVAH! And, please believe me when I say that I don’t use any of these characterizations in a derogatory manner; no, I sincerely believe that if the Great Unwashed had even one ångstrom of good taste in its collective brain, “Consuming Impulse” should have pushed double the number of units that Metallica sold from “Black Album” onwards.

See, I might be talking shit here, but I think that of all the oldies-goldies of early death metal, “Consuming Impulse” is the only record that was really fucking catchier than AIDS among a group of homo junkies who collectively use the same hypo, when not having unprotected sex with each other. Yes, yes, yes, I know that it’s heavier than all shit. Yes, I know that it’s brutal to the fucking core; I mean, it’s got Martin-fuckin’-van-Drunen doing the vocals, so what the hell can one expect, except brutality? Yes, I know that the guitars are a perfect combination of extremity, technicality and pure bestial force. Yes, I know that the fucking songs are ex-fuckin’-tremely aggressive.

Nevertheless, fuck you all and you preconceptions about Pestilence. This shit’s as groovy as all fuck. Also, it’s as approachable as one can ever hope for, given the time it came out. Also, underneath the crunch of the guitars and van Drunen’s raspy hatred lie pure, smart melodies that sometimes approach even fucking humability! Let me tell you, boils and ghouls, these are some of the most happy-go-lucky, entertaining and extremely user-friendly 38-minus-change minutes of death metal that yours truly has been afflicted by. I won’t pretend to be a death metal aficionado, so I cannot tell you if Pestilence was the real McCoy when it comes to the early days of the genre. But, as a fun-inducing, headbangingly-satisfying and enjoyable record, in my mind “Consuming Impulse” has no match.

##### Songwriting

9. Oh, it’s death metal alright, through and through. But, boy, is it one hell of an easy early classic death metal record to listen to! Even my girlfriend –a rabid Mozart fan, sigh…- admitted during one late-night afterglow session of “Consuming Impulse” that she can “almost bare it”. See, the songs are fast, the guitars are approaching atonality dangerously, the vocals are as aggressive as it gets, BUT the song structures are not as convoluted as, say, Morbid Angel, or as perilously close to pure brutality as, say, early Obituary or da Corpse. No, instead, even when the songs change speed, tone or time signature, there’s a sense of smoothness, not easily found in death metal. Also, every change seems logical, as opposed to death metal’s tendency to sacrifice continuation for jarring aggression and/or technicality. I might sound naïve, but what the songs remind me the most is a more beefed-up, testosterone-steroids-and-hatred-pumped Slayer and if that’s not a good thing to say, I cannot imagine what else might be. Even the penultimate instrumental track sounds pretty ace within the context of this record and I generally hate instrumentals in song-oriented records…

##### Production

8. Raw, raw and a bit more raw. Obviously a small-change production, and it shows, especially where bass and drums are concerned. No matter, though. We’ve all been assaulted by far worse production jobs by supposedly more renowned producers than Harris Johns who had far more money and studio gear at their disposal. Anyway, the production is okay and proper for the kind of music the band plays here, so fuck off anyone with a different opinion. I’m doing the review, I like what I hear, so fuck you all, okay? Goody, then.

##### Guitars

9. The two Patricks (Mameli and Uterwijk) obviously know their shit inside and out. They are great riffers, they display a serious amount of technicality, their leads are as hot-nail-in-the-brain-chaotic as it gets and their interplay –even a bit marred by the production is exemplary. Also, they have a great penchant for writing riffs that are as smart as they are catchy and groovy. And I always have a soft spot for a death metal band who’s not afraid to groove.

##### Vocals

9. (wipes spit from face, making horrified grimace) Martin van Drunen spends almost 35 minutes shouting/screaming his lungs out here. And he fucking rules all kinds of shit. Whether dominatingly aggro or hate-maddened desperate, he gives a harrowing performance AND manages never to let it disintegrate to growl-burp unintelligibility. So, more points for that AND a killer performance.

##### Bass

7,5. I think that I might be able to find it. That is, if I had an aural scalpel and much too much time in my hands. As it is, though, and given that it’s supposedly been played by Martin, I can deduce that it exists somewhere in the recording. Hopefully…

##### Drums

9. Marco Foddis is one of them drummers that you listen to and ask yourself “how the fuck isn’t this guy more known? Why isn’t he up there with all the death metal greats? And why does da Lord like Evanescence? And why the fuck can I not find my keys? Have I lost them? And, if so, where the fuck am I gonna spend the night?”. Or something…

##### Lyrics

9. It’s death metal. It’s got lyrics about death and all its permutations. “The Hollow Men” it is not, so you gonna have to live with it.

##### Cover art

7. Endearing. I really like one of the ants, although now I cannot remember which one. Oh, well…

##### Logo

6. Readable=one point up.

##### Booklet

?. I cannot comment on it, since I never got to actually acquire the record. Thing is, a friend who has the old vinyl edition –which he bought, if memory serves well, based on the ugliness of the cover- taped it for me and I only have an old cassette on which I base this review.

##### Overall and ending rant

If I haven’t made it clear enough, I mucho like “Consuming Impulse”. I really think that it’s one of them records that, even if one doesn’t like death metal, can easily enjoy, since the songs tend to be less convoluted in structure and more “agreeable” on the ear than most of the genre’s output circa 1989. The fact that it came out of Holland, a place not exactly festering with death metal hellholes at the time, is surprising in a most satisfying way. The music is great and catchy, the performances exemplary, the balance between brutality, technical prowess and fun is perfect and all of this, plus the realization that I deigned to deal with a 21-year-old death metal record and not with a 21-year-old female death metal fan, should be enough to persuade you that “Consuming Impulse” is an indispensable record for your collection. Look, look, I even gave it a fucking…

- Information
- Released: 1989
- Label: Roadrunner
- Website: www.pestilence.nl
- Band
- Martin van Drunen: vocals, bass
- Patrick Mameli: guitar
- Patrick Uterwijk: guitar
- Marco Foddis: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Dehydrated
- 02. The process of suffocation
- 03. Suspended animation
- 04. The trauma
- 05. Chronic infection
- 06. Out of the body
- 07. Echoes of death
- 08. Defy thy master
- 09. Proliferous souls
- 10. Reduced to ashes