Pathogen - Lust of Evil

PATHOGEN - Lust of Evil (OLD TEMPLE - CD 2012)

I usually am very prejudiced towards the death or black or any other metal bands from Asia, as their quality is mostly not that good, so this is why I also didn’t expect to find anything extraordinary in the music of Philippines’ Pathogen. But I got lucky this time - maybe nothing extraordinary I got, but for sure this Asian band turned out to be good enough to give it few listens and add their name to the short list of Asian bands, which I have respect for. Good, I like such surprises! “Lust of Evil” is not actually a debut release for Pathogen, as it turned out that the band, formed in 2001, has previously recorded several other demos and splits and more so, they have also released two full length albums: “Blasphemous Communion” in 2007 and “Miscreants of Bloodlusting Aberrations” in 2010 (and their third album “Forged in the Crucible of Death” was recorded after “Lust of Evil”). So Pathogen are not greenhorns and surely already an experienced in bloodshed band, but this is the first time I have a chance to listen to anything from them… “Lust if Evil” demo was released originally in 2011, but Polish Old Temple has released it professionally on CD in 2013 with some bonus songs added to the tracklist and with new layout.

So far my favourite Asian bands were Anatomia and Impiety, but Pathogen doesn’t sound like any of these two, although some similarities to Anatomia can be traced here and there. Musically it is old styled, rough death metal and some of their main influences probably are bands like Autopsy, Repulsion, Death, Asphyx, Nihilist… Sometimes I also have a feeling of resemblance of this music to the old Dutch band called Mourning from their “Greetings from Hell” LP. But the music of Pathogen, despite its lack of originality and its rough production (which actually is a positive thing for me) is really damn cool and I must say that I really like that obscure atmosphere and nasty, morbid feeling, which those maniacs have created. The riffing is great, the vocals are also really damn cool… Such track like “Sa Landas Ng Diablo“ has a strong vibe of Autopsy / Anatomia and I really do like it. “Lust of Evil” contains just four songs plus a couple of covers – and these covers are also quite a surprise for me. First we have “Rites of Tyrants” originally performed by Malaysian death metal band called Brain Dead and it is really damn awesome song. And later Pathogen introduced me a song from old punk / thrash band from Philippines called Intoxication Of Violence with a song “Another Destructive Century” – and it also sounds really nice. So, in the end “Lust of Evil” offers about 25 minutes of really damn great obscure death metal. If you’re into the bands, which I mentioned above then check Pathogen out; also because Old Temple did an excellent job with releasing this CD (for instance I love the idea of putting the graphical frame on the edge of written side of the CD; very original and damn effective). Get it now!

Standout tracks: “Sa Landas Ng Diablo“, “Rites of Tyrants”

Final rate: 70/100