Mind Reflections is part of the recent Metal Mind Productions remaster series of late 80's and early 90's Roadrunner metal classics. Pestilence were a death metal band from Holland who took their queue from the burgeoning Florida extreme metal scene in the late 1980's, specifically bands like Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Obituary, all of whose influences can be felt throughout this compilation. Roadrunner Records originally released this CD in 1994 after the breakup of the band, who had previously released four albums. Most of the tracks are taken from those four releases, plus one from a metal compilation, and seven live tracks.
While the seven live tracks are very cool (and a must have for the Pestilence fan) I think they take away from what could have been a stellar "best of" collection for those new to the band. Take out these seven live cuts and you basically have a ten track collection here, which, considering the band had four full-length albums, that's selling the band a little short. Three tracks are taken from the band's excellent sophomore release Consuming Impulse, those being "Out of the Body", "The Process of Suffocation", and "Dehydrated", all killer cuts of late 80's death metal, and sure to please fans into Death circa Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy. Why not a few more though? Same thing with the featured tunes from their third release Testimony of the Ancients, which is also represented by three songs here, but considering how influential that album was (a must hear if you like technical death metal), you really don't get the full picture. Let's not even ask why the band's last and most experimental album Spheres is only exposed through the one tune "Mind Reflections".
That being said, Mind Reflections at least gives a snapshot of a fiery band that certainly made their mark on the death metal world. With raging drum beats, pummeling and at times technical guitar work, evil death growls, and heavy tunes with lots of groove, Pestilence unfortunately broke up before they had a chance to reach legendary status. While their music, technical for the time, might seem sort of basic compared to some of the more complex bands of today, they had a charm and style that certainly stands the test of time. Instead of the songs being listed in the order they were recorded, Roadrunner mixed the tracklist up, so it almost sounds like a different band is on each track, considering the group changed singers for every release. One bit of trivia-bassist Tony Choy, who also played in Cynic and Atheist, also filled in the bass slot fo Pestilence for their Testimony of the Ancients album in 1991.
With all of these Metal Mind/Roadrunner remasters, the sound is great, and the whole package is housed in a nice digipack filled with commentary, band bio, full lyrics, and photos.
Track Listing
1. Out Of The Body
2. Twisted Truth
3. Process Of Suffocation
4. Parricide
5. Mind Reflections
6. Dehydrated
7. Land Of Tears
8. Hatred Within
9. Secrecies Of Horror
10. Subordinate To The Domination
11. Dehydrated (Live)
12. Chemotherapy (Live)
13. Presence Of The Dead (Live)
14. Testimony (Live)
15. Chronic Infection (Live)
16. Out Of The Body (Live)
17. Mind Reflections (Video)
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
