UMUR "Hadeon" is the 8th full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Pestilence. The album was released through Hammerheart Records in March 2018. It´s been 5 years since the release of "Obsideo (2013)" and from the interviews with band leader/guitarist/lead vocalist Patrick Mameli I´ve read in the intermediate years, it sounded like he had once again put Pestilence on hold. This time to concentrate on his new project Neuromorph, but apparently Mameli has changed his mind because we´ve heard nothing from Neuromorph as of yet, and here we have another Pestilence album. Since the release of the predecessor Mameli has changed the entire lineup except for himself. Guitarist Patrick Uterwijk has been replaced by Santiago Dobles (Council of the Fallen, Aghora, Cynic), drummer David Haley has been replaced by Septimiu Hărşan, and bassist George Maier has been replaced by Tilen Hudrap.

Stylistically little has changed since the predecessor (and the one before that) as Pestilence still play technical/progressive death metal and they still sound unmistakably like themselves (major lineup changes or not). The tracks are maybe slightly more catchy and immediate than the material on the two relatively similar sounding predecessors, but it´s not a major change of sound. The number of sharp and powerful death/thrash riffs and rhythms have increased though and the use of dissonance and progressive ideas have decreased some. Listening to a track like "Astral Projection", which features an atmospheric section with a spacey vocoder voice, it´s obvious that Pestilence still are a progressive oriented death metal act. The many jazz/fusion type guitar solos and occasional dissonant riffs point in that direction too. Mameli´s intelligible death/thrash growling is the same as always. He has a fairly distinct sounding voice and vocal style.

"Hadeon" is a well produced, powerful, and detailed sounding album, and the sound production suits the material perfectly. The whole thing reeks an odd spiritual abstract sci-fi atmosphere. An atmosphere which is further enhanced by the lyrics and song titles like "Non Physical Existent", "Multi Dimensional", and "Layers of Reality". Upon conclusion "Hadeon" is another high quality release to the Pestilence name, and while this one (and the other post-2000 Pestilence releases) aren´t quite as groundbreaking as the late 80s/early 90s releases by the band, they still prove that Pestilence are relevant and can produce quality music. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Nightfly Pestilence has not had the easiest of rides over the years, from fans and critics alike. It could be argued that this is their own doing as they have shifted styles almost on an album by album basis. From their early critically acclaimed death/thrash days they moved into a less raw sounding and more technical form of death metal with Testimony Of The Ancients. They then alienated a lot of fans with the jazz laden Spheres with mainman Patrick Mameli being highly influenced by the guitar work of Alan Holdsworth and other jazz/fusion players. A split followed but a return in 2008 led to the 2009 album Resurrection Macabre which seemed to signal a return to less experimental days. However, it was short lived with following album Doctrine lacking direction and re-introducing the jazz elements to a certain extent though less successfully than on Spheres. The more cohesive Obsideo followed and whilst not ditching the jazz/tech aspects entirely was a far more satisfying collection of songs and one of my favourites from the band.

Roll on to 2018 and Hadeon, studio album number eight. Perhaps they’ve grown tired of the critics but for whatever reason Hadeon is their most straight forward death metal album for a quite some time. It’s certainly doesn’t have the raw sound of Consuming Impulse having an up to date production. Nor does it ditch the technical aspects altogether and with players of this calibre I wouldn’t want them too. Old school death metal it ain’t but they focus more on delivering a collection of songs with great riffs and groove. The riffs are tight and they occasionally throw in a bit of thrash into the overall death metal sound. There’s a healthy dose of dissonance in many of these riffs as well, Oversoul being a prime example which drives along with a strong mid pace groove. All the songs are pretty short with nothing reaching the four minute barrier but they manage to inject plenty of changes into them. There’s still the odd moment of jazz creeping in like the bass led instrumental Subvisions and on some of the guitar solos too which generally have a strong melodic sensibility. Mameli is singing in a slightly lower register to my ears and far more satisfying than the screeching on Doctrine. My only gripe, which is minor, is I could have done without the robotic vocals that appear on a couple of songs like Ultra Demons though they are short lived.

Hadeon should keep most Pestilence fans more than happy (unless you only like Spheres) which doesn’t mean it smacks of compromise. Myself, I thought Obsideo was a great album, but this is equally so, just a more streamlined version of the band.