Pest Over Europe Tour sees PESTILENCE launch on a crushing circuit across the continent, with 18 shows in 18 days, bringing to mind the proverbial phrase "There's no rest for the wicked". It has been quite a long tour for a band that has been known for its technical, but also traditional, Death Metal outputs over the years.
 

First up on stage was ANCIENT ASCENDANT, a British Blackened Death Metal, playing in front of an underwhelming sized audience, it would have been better if more folks would have appreciated this band's efforts, especially due to their great performance and style. Having just released their second full-length album "Echoes And Cinder" this year via Candlelight Records, much of the setlist was drawn from this album. These four men definitely succeeded in captivating the audience, myself included, and I will most certainly make a point of checking out their music in the future. With a vocal style verging more on Black Metal, but with a more Death Metal type of guitaring, ANCIENT ASCENDANT put on a blistering set of dark and powerful songs that set the pace for the night ahead.
 

Setlist:
1. Fuelling the Flare
2. To Break the Binds
3. Caged in the Tunnels of Time
 

Picking up where the former left off was SETH, a French Black Metal band that was originally founded in 1995, with a six year hiatus between 2005 and 2011. Having released their fifth full-length album "The Howling Spirit" last year, SETH nevertheless played several songs from their back catalogue, such as "Die Weihe" off of their 2000's "The Excellence" album, much to the delight of their fans. Despite having some technical difficulties with playing the recorded intro to one of the songs, SETH put on an excellent performance, showing their veteran nature and professionalism, with the crowd visibly disappointed when SETH's set came to an end as their showcase was so thrilling that it was hard to let these guys go. Amid unheeded calls for an encore, the stage was prepared for the ultimate band of the evening, and you know who it was.
 

Setlist:
1. In Aching Agony
2. Die Weihe
3. Acid Christ
4. Mort-luisant
 

Although the number of people in the audience had tripled to roughly 150 people by this point of the show, the size of the audience was still somewhat disappointing, considering that both SETH and PESTILENCE aren't on tour all too often. Generally, it is unknown why Metalheads nowadays can't appreciate such an early 90's Death Metal icon such as the headliners PESTILENCE; I really would have expected more people to commemorate another show of the Dutchmen. Everything about this band is somehow larger-than-life; from the two guitarists with their 8 string guitars, to their bassist with a 7 string bass, to the machine-like drummer. Perhaps somewhat disappointing for fans was that the encore was just one song, "Resurrection Macabre" out of the album by the same title, with most bands typically playing three songs as their encore; however, given that the main set was longer than the average band's set, this did balance itself out time-wise. Nevertheless, with a highly engaging frontman as Patrick Mameli, anthems of pure Death Metal brutality, and experienced and talented musicians, PESTILENCE delivered a thunderous set containing their newer material, as well as some very much beloved anthems that had the crowd going wild. I would encourage Metalheads to head on to celebrate with these Death Metal old schoolers as their shows are like a delicacy that is somewhat rare.
 

Setlist:
1. Intro
2. Obsideo
3. Echoes of Death
4. Displace
5. Prophetic Revelation
6. Horror Detox
7. Amgod
8. Laniatus
9. Devouring Frenzy
10. Soul Search
11. Necromorph
12. Hate Suicide
13. Superconcious
14. Sinister
15. Aura Negative
16. Twisted Truth
17. Resurrection Macabre

 

With PESTILENCE being on a rare tour through Europe, I took the opportunity to chat with the band members before their Munich show, covering everything from the tour, to the new album, to the band's history.

So how has the tour been so far?

Patrick Uterwijk: It's getting better every day. It's been a long time since we did a tour, and this is the seventh or eighth show, so first we have to get used to each other, but it's getting better and better.

I can imagine it must be tiring, with 18 shows in 18 days.

Patrick Uterwijk: The most tiring thing is the waiting. I don't mind playing for an hour and 15 minutes, but the waiting. Most of the time we arrive here at noon, and then have to go on later at night, like at 10 or 10.40; that's a long wait.

Patrick Mameli: It was like that. We hadn't played for years together and all of a sudden we have to kinda do that stuff. Like practicing in two days, and learning the new material, and going up on stage. We don't want to play all the oldies, we want to play the new stuff as well.

Are there any highlights on this tour? Any new places?

Patrick Mameli: Well, we've seen many places in the world. We've played this venue before, but that was a long time ago. Every show is special to us, especially when you haven't toured for so long. The crowd is getting younger, we're getting older. As Patrick says, the waiting is terrible, it's like "Urgh, let just play already!" And there are long stints that we have to do to get to the next venue from the other one. So yes, it is a little tiring. And after the show you just want to go to your bunk or have a shower and just sleep.

I hear this tour is pretty exclusive with no plans yet to return to Europe this year?

Patrick Mameli: We don't have too many days off, and touring is like two and a half, three weeks, which is already a lot for us. And to do festivals, we were too late. With these festivals, you have to book a year prior, so we wanted to keep this pretty exclusive.

Patrick Uterwijk: And plus we have to fly in Dave.

Patrick Mameli: Dave comes from Australia.

How is it that a band from the Netherlands ended up with a drummer from Australia?

Dave Haley: Well, these guys just contacted me and said "Would you like to do it?" and I thought it sounded like a good idea.

Seeing as you also play in other bands, like PSYCROPTIC, how is it trying to schedule everything?

Dave Haley: I rehearse by myself for the many different bands, so that works out fine.

Patrick Mameli: Actually, we get vids from him that will be on the internet or whatever, so that we know the code. And then he checks if it's good enough, and we'll do it, keep it that way. We use his videos to practice, as he does it with click track, so it's always on the dot. So it's easier for him and also for us to use these clips. We just follow him with the click track nowadays, and that's it.

And how does that work with song writing process? Do you send Dave the guitar riffs and he works from those?

Patrick Mameli: Yeah, that's how it works.

Dave Haley: It was a different way for me to work, but I'm always open to new and different ways. The guys were very much involved in the actual construction of the drum parts themselves. I'd send takes over, then they'd say "We like this part, we don't like that, do that", so it was very much a mutual effort.

Patrick Mameli: Which makes it more fun for him. Because what usually happens is I pre-programme the drums, then I'll send it to him. But an actual drummer thinks in a different way to how I programme the drums. That would be too robotic. So I've given him the total freedom in doing what he does. But the actual carcass of the song, in how it's shaped, that's the way we want it to be. Otherwise it wouldn't be PESTILENCE, it would be PSYCROPTIC 2 or something.

Dave Haley: I really enjoyed working that way, as it's something new for me. In the studio, even though there was a lot of pressure, I liked it. We'd record something, and I'd be really happy with it or I'd think it was cool, and the guys would say "No, it's not what we envisioned, let's try this". So it was different for me, but it was very exciting. It was fun. I'm very happy with the result because it's not just my creative vision, it was everyone's. With the new album, I went into it with the idea of trying to keep it as close to the PESTILENCE sound as I thought, but then the guys also guided me.

How have the reactions been to the new album?

Patrick Mameli: The reactions have been astonishing. With PESTILENCE, you never know what to expect, coz we always try to do new stuff, and the fans most of the time are Old School, and they want to hear the old PESTILENCE stuff. The thing is that puts much pressure on Patrick and me. I try not to listen to my own music, and music in general. If I do that, I'll be messed up. There's just too much music going on these days. To keep it pure PESTILENCE from the riffing-wise, you will always here "This is PESTILENCE". The whole processing of how we did it this time was awesome, in letting everyone just do their own thing. The expectations were high, and I think we did a good job, kinda filtering the old PESTILENCE and the new. You don't want to sound like a rehash of your old stuff, and you want to go on to the future, whatever the future is. Plus the age: we're getting old, too old for this stuff. The age is really kicking in. It's terrible when people always keep on watching for the old songs. Why would I record a new album?

It must also get boring playing the same songs over and over again.

Patrick Uterwijk: Of course!

Patrick Mameli: That's part of the process, letting go. We played the "Testimony of the Ancients" album for many many years, and now we are doing "Twisted Truth" on the set, and people are asking about "Out of the Body" all the time, and it's only the beginning riff that makes it so popular. People just want it. I've had the longest stretch with that song. Evolving as a musician, that's not just me. The other bands also have to play their old stuff all the time. SLAYER has to play "Raining Blood", but they get a little bit more money for it! I'd be laughing to the bank with my "Out of the Body", let me tell you!

And what about the album title? Seeing as Obsideo is Latin for "to sit, to frequent, or to besiege", why did you choose this word as the title?

Patrick Mameli: Well, the whole idea behind it was that besieging is like a getting a grip on. And with this album, we are getting a grip on death. The guy is obviously having some problems with his respiratory, he is dying, and in his final moments, we feel that death is an energy form that is seeping away from him, and he is going towards the abstract. You really don't know what happens after that. We take you on a journey with our music, and it's the highest standard at this point that we can do.

Does it have any personal meaning to you?
Patrick Mameli: I have the lyrics right here and just going through them, I feel that there is something going on there with it. Since the good old days, there has been a link between death and life; with my personal life and my way of thinking about it, not just music, but life in general. And this time we want to approach a little bit more the astral and the journey of the human soul.

PESTILENCE started out as a Thrash Metal band. What made you switch to a Death Metal style?

Patrick Mameli: Back in the day, everyone was trying to find themselves musically. And that was just the best we could do musically at that time. It's like who you work with; that's why we had so many lineup changes. That's what we've always done with PESTILENCE: try to be better musicians, and to try to top whatever we do. But it's been difficult. Patrick has been the only steady member of the band. I've had high expectations for PESTILENCE. For bands that have been together for more than 20 years, they tend to have their style and that's their style. With every new musician in the band, you have a new character in the band. You don't know who you are when you're hooked in a genre. We just wanted to play more extreme. What is Death Metal? We never evolved into a Death Metal band. That would indicate that we are stuck in a time-frame. And I bet that no-one in that time-frame said "This is pure Death Metal". What I considered pure Death Metal is the time when Chuck came with "Scream Bloody Gore". Even with "Human", they had musicians in the band that came from CYNIC, so even then, you can't consider them to be Death Metal anymore. So when are you Death Metal? You can't really say.

The sphere has been adopted as the band's icon. Can you tell me more about it?

Patrick Mameli: We wanted the sphere in the band as a symbol, as it has no beginning and no ending. It has been there when we did "Testimony of the Ancients" album. It was done by Dan Seagrave. I just gave him a few pointers what we wanted, and he just did the sphere. Back in the day, if you wanted to be in PESTILENCE, you had to have a tattoo of the sphere. Patrick has one; our old drummer Marco has one; Martin has one, our old singer. It was always there. And folks that are so crazy about PESTILENCE that they have a tattoo of the sphere on their body.  It has become a thing with PESTILENCE: on "Resurrection Macabre" you see the mummy, he was holding the sphere. On "Obsideo", again there is the sphere. So it's become a symbol for our music.

You don't hear of too many Dutch Death Metal bands. Do you think that coming from the Netherlands had any influence on your music?

Patrick Mameli: There was no real Dutch metal scene. And if there was, it was more of a "Look how good I am". There was no bonding with the other Dutch metal bands that I know of. We got to be the first well-known Dutch band, and we got a record deal. That wasn't even through a Dutch label, that was through a German label. We got signed to Roadrunner, which other bands at the time didn't like, because it was an open door for us. Of course, there were some Dutch bands which were known, but that was either a jealousy or an animosity type of thing.

Patrick Uterwijk: In other words, there were a few bands in Holland, and we were the luckiest to get a deal, and to get to do the things we wanted to do.

Patrick Mameli: It tends to get more jealousy than friendship. They're like "Yeah, we're happy for you, but we're still here". As the Death Metal scene started to evolve, bands like GOREFEST were starting to get bigger, with a different touch to their thinking of what was Death Metal. But as far as the Old School bands in that time-frame go, we didn't learn much from other bands, there was not a real scene.

My final question, seeing as you are an experienced band: what advice would you give to young musicians?

Patrick Uterwijk: Don't try to sound like a band, but try to create your own sound.

Patrick Mameli: And my advice would be don't, just don't try to become famous in a band, especially in Metal. I think a lady like Rihanna really has her shit together and gets money and fame. She can travel and just see the world. There's a lot of practice and a lot of good luck. It's a type of a genre that from what I see is dying; you had an uplifting of Death Metal, but now… It's just like the timing of the sea, there's an ebb and a flood. You have to be a little lucky to get into the scene and get a record deal. But then, what does a record deal nowadays even mean? Nothing. People are so scared in the market. The internet is taking away from the effort that the bands are trying to put in. And ripping CDs now is a big problem. Only the hardcore fans want to go out there and get the CD. If you want the music, you go on the internet, and it's there already.

Yes, it's a real pity, but that's the way of the world
currently... Well, thank you all for your time, and I hope you have a great show tonight!

Everyone: Thank you!