Pestilence "Testimony Of The Ancients (2017 Reissue, 2CD, Hammerheart Records, Slipcase, Remastered)"

Testimony of the Ancients is the third album by the Dutch death metal band Pestilence, released in 1991 on Roadrunner Records. This was their first release with a new lineup, with Tony Choy replacing Martin van Drunen on bass, while guitarist Patrick Mameli filled in for the latter on vocals.

Following the departure of former bassist/vocalist Martin VanDrunen, guitarist Patrick Mameli took over vocal duties. Mameli steered the band towards a more melodic and technical approach. The resulting concept album, Testimony of the Ancients contrasted brutal death metal riffs with melodic interludes and tackled what John Serba describes as, "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" bands, 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 Spheres, 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 series.

Tracklist:

Disc 1

1. The Secrecies of Horror 04:56   
2. Bitterness 00:30   
3. Twisted Truth 04:02  
4. Darkening 00:30
5. Lost Souls 03:40
6. Blood 00:28  
7. Land of Tears 04:46
8. Free Us from Temptation 00:31  
9. Prophetic Revelations 05:21
10. Impure 00:59   
11. Testimony 03:51   
12. Soulless 00:31   
13. Presence of the Dead 05:50   
14. Mindwarp 00:24  
15. Stigmatized 05:22
16. In Sorrow 01:14   

Time:  42:55

 

Disc 2

1. Chemotherapy 04:30  
2. Presence of the Dead 05:55  
3. The Process of Suffocation 02:55  
4. Lost Souls 03:54  
5. Twisted Truth 04:24  
6. Testimony 04:17  
7. Chronic Infection 03:45  
8. Stigmatized 05:29  
9. Out of the Body 04:27  
10. Darkening 04:04  
11. Presence of the Dead 05:48  
12. Prophetic Revelations 05:41  
13. Suspended Animation 03:40  
14. The Secrecies of Horror 04:55  
15. The Trauma 03:29  
16. Land of Tears 05:05  

Time:   01:12:18  

CD2 bonus tracks:

- Tracks 2:1 - 2:9 recorded live at Dynamo Open Air, 1992.

- Tracks 2:10 - 2:16 recorded live at Nighttown Rotterdam, 1992.

Recording information:

- Co-produced by Pestilence.

- Recorded and mixed at Morrisound Recording, Tampa, FL.

- Mastered at Future Disc, Hollywood, CA.

- Remastered at Toneshed Studio, Horst, Netherlands, 2017.