Pestilence - Consuming Impulse

Pestilence - Consuming Impulse (ROADRUNNER - LP 1989)

Do you know the feeling of incredible pain from the multiple stab wounds or your flesh slowly torn to pieces? Or maybe I should say the pain of slow death from dehydration, because this is what I think you'll suffer, when you get hit by the riffs of "Dehydrated", the opening song from Pestilence's second album, 1989's "Consuming Impulse". The riffing in it will pierce you, will open your body and bring torments you’ll never forget. And they'll continue when "The Process of Suffocation" and rest of the album will sound. After such a malevolent creation which was "Malleus Maleficarum" debut - a strong and memorable thrashing LP, Pestilence came back heavier and more brutal than earlier and ever, as even in the future I think they haven't recorded such massive and aggressive death metal album.

Yeah, I think it must have raised some eye brows, when this Dutch crew turned into one, fuckin rhino of death metal, which "Consuming Impulse" is. The production of the album is much better than the one on the previous LP and the music has much less thrashing influence. Of course there are still some of these twisted solos and riffs, that may remind you the previous album, but most part of "Consuming Impulse" is played in either faster or totally slower way, and is more brutal, obviously influenced by Death's "Leprosy" and other such LPs that were released at that time. The vocals of Martin van Drunen are what you'll recognise immediately – his growlings are very raspy and cruel, shrieking and angry as maniacal beast and this is why I think he's one of my favorite death metal vocalists - it's his original way of singing... He's one of the kind and no one sounds like him! And never will!

The album is nothing more, nothing less but a collection of excellent death metal songs, some of which belong to the best tracks Pestilence has composed. I already mentioned "Dehydrated" and "The Process of Suffocation", which are excellent pieces. There's also "Chronic Infection", which actually sounds very similar to the songs from the first LP and my personal favorite, "Out of the Body" - wonderfully brutal, intense and savage track, one which once heard will never be forgotten and which belongs to the best death metal songs in the history of death metal. Its opening, main riff is just brilliant, so damn catchy and infectious... This is the reason why I love this kind of traditional death metal - because it has memorable, dark and brutal riffs while this technical modern shit is usually erased from my head once I stop listening to it.

But that's not everything, every bit of this album is great, like "Suspended Animation" with its great slow part in the middle of the song, where the keyboards (!!! yes!!!) wonderfully underline its emotional, dark atmosphere. Or "Echoes of Death", which is very similar to "Dehydrated", but it also has some keyboards in one fragment... Yeah, this is pure death metal, but I think it already has that experimental edge. Anyway, I could easily list here the entire album, so great and even this LP is ("Deify Thy Master", another killer slab, with great chorus part!) and truly I think Pestilence was in their prime form then and if it wasn't for the fact that "Testimony of the Ancients" is so perfect, this would definitely be my favorite Pestilence album... But it's not he, he, but it's not far from their 1991's masterpiece.

If there's anything I don't like about "Consuming Impulse" it's probably the artwork; I really don’t like this cover hehe!

Standout tracks: "Out of the Body", "Dehydrated", "The Process of Suffocation"

Final rate: 95 / 100