pestilence from the netherlands were one of europe's most renowned death metal acts in the late eighties/early nineties. their name was mentioned in one breath with heavyweights like morbid angel, sepultura or almighty death. their first four records were all released on roadrunner records and original copies in good condition sell for quite a penny. this is the case with most of the classic death metal records from that time and therefore re-issue business is booming nowadays. so it seems like no surprise that hammerheart records from the netherlands re-issued the classic four of pestilence.
they started with their re-issue series at some point in spring last years, i believe. at the time i wasn't really interested. my old school death metal obsession was kickstarted a bit later on that year plus i wasn't really into the band's post reunion stuff. so i let the first re-issue of "malleus maleficarum" pass me by. when the second came out - "consuming impulse" - i was more interested but missed out on the colour vinyl. so other stuff gained my focus. i gave up on "testimony of the ancients" and "spheres" right from the start. when hammerheart announced a second colour press for all four records at the end of 2017, i began to entertain the idea of getting them all in one fell swoop.
now i was knee deep into all classic death metal and thus it was pretty much clear that i was buying all four re-issues. hammerheart did a splendid job here. they stood true to the original roadrunner artwork and layout but graced the cover and back cover with some lavish spot gloss print. it doesn't show too well in the pictures but the whole centre piece on the front and the band shot on the back are printed in this fancy way. musically this a great slab of early death metal. the album was released in 1988 and it can't deny its thrash roots but one can feel where it leads. nice clear with swamp green splatter. 300 copies made. hammerheart records. 2017.
