Title: Mallevs Malleficarvm
Catalog number: ARMC014
Format: Tape
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Origin: The Netherlands
Release date: 2023
Availability: Order here
Limited tape.
2023 re-release, remastered to significantly improve on overall audio quality. The remaster was done by Satanic Audio (Behemoth, Azarath).
?Malleus Maleficarum? is the debut album of PESTILENCE; a band?s whose input ? that stretches across nearly 40 years ? blazed the trail for generations of progressive death metal artists.
Every journey has a first step, and PESTILENCE has taken its in 1986, as a trio comprising Patrick Mameli (currently sole original member; at the time bassist, guitarist and vocalist), Randy Meinhard (guitars) and Marco Foddis (drums). With a 1987 demo ?Dysentery? to their name, they were joined by Martin van Drunen, who took over vocal duties from Mameli; and, who - similarly to Mameli - is nowadays the sole original member of Apshyx. The fourpiece recorded a second demo, ?The Penance?, and then moved onto completing the material for ?Malleus Maleficarum?, which surfaced a year later, in September of 1988.
The album was originally released in cassette on RC Records (a sub-label of Roadracer Records, which later changed name to Roadrunner Records) and today, stands firmly as a monument of early-day death metal heavily mixed with thrash. ?Malleus Maleficarum?s? history traces back to the beginnings of the genre; the album preceded Death?s ?Leprosy? by a month, while Morbid Angel was yet to release its first album.
A must-have for all PESTILENCE fans, and a perfect looking glass into the dawning of a legendary group!
Commented by Patrick Mameli: ?As we were still very young and unexperienced with recording an album in a studio, trying to find our own style, we managed just fine here. Very Thrashy style with some hints to Possessed, Slayer and Infernal Majesty?.
Tracklisting:
1. Malleus Maleficarum / Antropomorphia
2. Parricide
3. Subordinate to the Domination
4. Extreme Unction
5. Commandments
6. Chemo Therapy
7. Bacterial Surgery
8. Cycle of Existence
9. Osculum Infame
10. Systematic Instruction