Kev Rowland I must confess to have never seen an album so universally slammed as this one, and while I do understand where the reviewers are coming from, I do believe it has been somewhat over the top. Encyclopaedia Metallum has had 11 reviews for this album, average rating 0%. I had to go and look at the individual reviews to check there wasn’t an error as seeing a score like this was new to me, but yes, that is what people are saying. But why such horror at this? Firstly, for those who do not know the history of the band, they were formed all the way back in 1986 and their first two albums are very highly regarded indeed. They then broke up in 1994, with guitarist/vocalist Patrick Mameli reforming the band in 2006. The current line-up includes Michiel van der Plicht (drums), Rutger van Noordenburg (guitar) and Joost van der Graaf (bass), with the longest serving being Rutger who joined in 2019. Mameli decided it would be a good idea to re-record the band’s “greatest hits” with the current line-up.

The main issue here, and the most obvious one, is that of production, particularly with the bass which sounds as if it belongs on another album altogether given how clean it is. Mind you, the none of the other instruments hang together as they should either, with the result being a feeling that everything was recorded separately and with a major argument going on as to which instruments should be up in the mix, so none of them are. Add to that the vocals which are not as threatening or powering as they should be, and the inclusion of some songs from their latest album (which featured the same line-up) one has to wonder what was really the point?

This is death/thrash which is not nearly as bad as some would want you to believe, but with only two other studio albums in more than a decade one must wonder if these guys are running out of steam. If you want to hear Pestilence at their best that probably seek out ‘Mallevs Maleficarvm’ or ‘Consvming Impvlse’ as this is not really a true representation of them or their music.

UMUR "Levels of Perception" is the tenth full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Pestilence. The album was released through Agonia Records in April 2024. It features twelve re-recordings of tracks which have appeared on some of the band´s earlier releases. Not all preceding albums are represented (there are no re-recordings of tracks from "Malleus Maleficarum" (1988) or from "Spheres" (1994)), but all other Pestilence studio albums are represented with at least one track each...

...and the tracklist is up for debate. It seems a bit odd to me, why Pestilence would chose to re-record no less than four tracks from their last album "Exitivm". Re-recordings are usually done to show how a current version of a group plays older classic material, but it seems Pestilence had another vision with "Levels of Perception". "Consuming Impulse" (1989) and "Testimony of the Ancients" (1991) are represented by two tracks each (I guess they didn´t dare leave out "Out of the Body") but that´s the only pre-reformation material featured on "Levels of Perception". It´s not that Pestilence more current material isn´t decent, but it just seems a bit strange to re-record material from 2021 on a 2024 release.

When that is said, there are unfortunately much, much worse things to say about "Levels of Perception" which is through and through a horrible release. I can´t call it anything else than an abomination and a terrible misstep in the discography of Pestilence. The material is what it is, but the performances and some of the new arrangements are tame and uninspired. Honestly it almost made me cry listening to the re-recordings of "Twisted Truth" and "Out of the Body", which are two of my absolute favorite Pestilence tracks, both of which are butchered here (Patrick Mameli how could you?).

But the performances and the weak vocals from Mameli aren´t even the worst here...it´s the production values. The drums were recorded live at one studio in 2021 and everything else was overdubbed at other studios during the next couple of years. Many artists have made live recordings of drums in the studio and have gotten great results from it, but that can´t be said about the drums on "Levels of Perception", which sound like they were recorded at a rehearsal space (and not at a studio like they are) using an old fashioned four-track tape recorder. This is demo quality sound production values. And it´s not just the drums. The guitars feature an odd high end tone which is grating on the ears, Mameli´s voice is distorted and you can´t always make out the words he sings (which usually isn´t an issue on Pestilence albums), and the bass is completely disconnected from the rest of the instruments in the mix...and bass player Joost van der Graaf often sounds like he is playing another song than the rest of the members of the band.

A pretty harsh critique, which I´m not happy to deliver since Pestilence have long been some of my heroes, but I have to call it like I see it. Honesty and full disclosure. Pestilence have some work to do, to drag themselves back from this disaster. Their next album better be the best album they have released since reforming in 2008 or they may find themselves a fan or two short. You don´t come back from something like this without some careful consideration and reflection in terms of what went wrong, and what should we never do again...a 1.5 star (30%) rating is warranted. I´m tempted to give an even lower rating, but I´m trying to be fair and at least give Pestilence some sort of credit for existing, but there really isn´t much to give them credit for after listening to this album.