Pestilence - Consuming Impulse (1989)

In 1989 three of thee most colossal extreme metal offerings ever were bestowed upon mankind. Wrought with sin and forged in the very bowels of hell the names of these creations were; Slowly we Rot, Altars of Madness and Consuming Impulse.

Pestilence's, 'Consuming Impulse' was the last of these three massive albums, which was official released on December 25th, no doubt in defiance of all things Christian too. Although where Slowly we Rot and Altars of Madness were debut releases for Obituary and Morbid Angel, Consuming Impulse was the sophomore release for this Netherlands based band who had previously established themselves through an album called, 'Malleus Maleficarum' the previous year, though this one was slightly more thrash related whereas Consuming was bludgeoning full force death metal in all its relentless supreme glory.

Before continuing on I must point out that this album means the world to me, in fact I may very well go on to say that its my all-time favorite death metal release along with those mentioned above and Entombed's, 'Left Hand Path,' which surfaced in 1990.

Consuming Impulse is lead by Martin Van Drunen's sadistic throaty hoarse growls and are still to this day some of the best and most unique ever laid down (and will always be a personal favorite of mine), while the two Patrick’s proved to be a powerfully punishing thrashy/death combination with guitar riffs/solos that contain an ass load of variation and with so many ideas happening. Not to forget drummer Marco Foddis did an unbelievable job obliterating the skins to near nothingness and the inclusion of some keyboards on a few tracks also gave the album a very dark atmosphere, which gelled perfectly with their abusive music. What’s also interesting is that in a few places the band even slows up and briefly includes doom-ish elements in their music, which not many were doing before them.

The production of the record is also perfect allowing the guitars to be fully heard and heavier than hell, while the bass is effective and thick and the drums roar a way in thumping mad fury. With songs like, ‘Dehydrated,’ ‘Chronic Infection,’ ‘Echoes of Death,’ and ‘Deify Thy Master’ it was obvious right away that few could match Pestilences intensity, brutalism and technical abilities, but the best part of this album is that every single song stands out, even the short instrumental, 'Proliferous Souls' is godly!

It's a shame Pestilence wasn't from Florida, because had they been they may very well have been bigger than Obituary, Morbid Angel, Deicide and even Death and best of all you wouldn't be learning about this album for the first time here, no, like me you would have been head banging with this one for years now. I have a consuming impulse to play this one until my final breaths leave my lungs and if you know what's best for you you'd give this classic a chance.