Pestilence - Hadeon: Album Review

You know Pestilence, I feel pretty bad for you.

Seriously, every new thing I learn about Pestilence just makes them even more sad. Almost as if they are serving some kind of... punishment. They got their start with some solid if unsubstantial death metal albums, followed by “Testimony of The Ancients” considered by many to be a death metal classic, then followed that up with “Spheres”, a death metal album so bad it requires a hazmat suit just to shield you from the pure bad as you load it into your CD player. Then after a hiatus, the band comes back with the most unfocused discography in the death metal scene right now. “Resurrection Macabre” stripped the band's more thrashy roots in favor of a heavier brutal death style, and then there's “Obsideo” which I just plain don't have a clue whats going on there, and then this year's “Hadeon” not only brings it back to that thrash sound, but before this album's release it was found that the company they had ordered the initial artwork from had plagiarized large parts of it. And now for some reason, this album which is still scheduled for a physical release in March somehow got a digital release in January. I just don't really know anymore.

All that being said, I was actually really looking forward to this album. The initial singles “Non Physical Existent” and “Multi Dimensional” were incredibly strong, so I figured checking out the whole thing may not be a bad idea, regardless of how it may fit in the band's overall discography. So with a heavy sci-fi theme and a refreshed sound, just how is “Hadeon”?

As mentioned previously, “Hadeon” strips away many of the more harsh and aggressive tones of the band's early work. This means a less brutal sound and overall tone, and an emphasis on speed and technique rather than aggression. Normally I'd be all for this but where “Hadeon” really started to loose me is in that “technique” part. The songs all play out the exact same way with a fairly competent and speedy riff bursting into another fairly competent and speedy riff and then the songs end. I know brevity is the soul of wit but this seems less about tight focus than it seems about getting it over with. I actually appreciate a metal album not feeling the need to bloat itself out to an hour and a half with 14+ tracks, but the thing about having a short album is that you are supposed to spend that time bumping the quality of your remaining tracks. There isn't much in the way of nuance or style in these riffs, and that's what keeps them from being anything more than bland. They feel like demos with filler riffs in place of breakdowns or any real hooks. It's like a sandwich made from dry bread and paste, all filler, no flavoring.

I pick on “Hadeon” but in all seriousness, what it lacks in complexity it at least makes up for in consistency. Patrick Mameli's vocal performance may not be complex (stop me if you heard this one before, he growls a bit and screams) but I can at least tell he's excited about what he's singing and trying to make it all come together. Similarly, the album's production is remarkable, with nice guitars and a solid bass. Some of the more flashy sci fi riffs really pop, and there's a track in here that is essentially the band just jamming for two minutes showing that the band is full of people with actual talent who were seriously misemployed for this gig.

“Hadeon” is another sign of a band not knowing what exactly it is they want to do with themselves. Between all the bullshit I can see it has some real potential but with writing this bland I expect to get more stimulation out of a well cooked grilled cheese.

6.5/10