Testimony of the Ancients
Testimony of the Ancients is the third album by Dutch death metal band Pestilence, released on 6 September 1991. It arrived on Roadrunner Records and marked a change of line-up: Tony Choy came in on bass in place of Martin van Drunen, while guitarist Patrick Mameli took over the vocals as well.
It sits between the rawer attack of Consuming Impulse and the more adventurous territory the band would explore on Spheres. Here the approach is that of a concept album, with philosophy among the themes it explores, and the tags of technical death metal and progressive metal give a fair sense of the ambition at work. It was later reissued alongside Consuming Impulse in Roadrunner's Two from the Vault series, which suits a pair of records from the band's early years.
Testimony of the Ancients: tracklist and credits
16 tracks · 42:58Tracklist
- 1The Secrecies of HorrorMameli, Uterwijk, Foddis4:56
- 2BitternessPatrick Mameli and Patrick Uterwijk0:30
- 3Twisted TruthMameli, Uterwijk, Foddis4:02
- 4DarkeningPatrick Mameli0:30
- 5Lost SoulsPatrick Mameli and Marco Foddis3:40
- 6BloodPatrick Mameli0:28
- 7Land of TearsPatrick Mameli and Marco Foddis4:47
- 8Free Us From TemptationPatrick Mameli0:31
- 9Prophetic RevelationsPatrick Mameli and Marco Foddis5:21
- 10ImpurePatrick Mameli0:59
- 11TestimonyPatrick Mameli3:51
- 12SoullessTony Choy0:32
- 13Presence of the DeadPatrick Mameli and Marco Foddis5:50
- 14MindwarpPatrick Mameli0:25
- 15StigmatizedMameli, Uterwijk, Foddis5:23
- 16In SorrowPatrick Mameli1:11
- Produced by
- Scott Burns, Pestilence
- Recorded at
- Morrisound Recording
- Recorded
- March–April 1991 in Tampa, Florida (USA)
- Mixed by
- Scott Burns
- Mixed at
- Morrisound Recording
- Engineered by
- Scott Burns
- Labels
- R/C Records, Roadrunner
- Length
- 42:58
Line-up
- Tony Choy · electric bass guitar
- Marco Foddis · drums (drum set)
- Patrick Mameli · electric guitar, lead vocals
- Kent Smith · keyboard · guest
- Patrick Uterwijk · electric guitar
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
Released the same week
Also released on 6 September
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + musicbrainz; also seen: 1991-09-03 (wikidata)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 6 September 1991 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 6 September 1991 | |
| Wikidata | 3 September 1991 | |
| US release | 1991 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 6 September 1991 | earliest UK or European date |
10 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | XE | R/C Records | 016861928520 | other |
| 1991 | NL | R/C Records | 016861928513 | other |
| 1991 | NL | Roadrunner Records | other | |
| 1991 | US | R/C Records | 016861928544 | other |
| 1991 | US | R/C Records | 016861928520 | other |
| 6 September 1991 | XE | R/C Records | 016861928520 | original |
| 2003 | NL | Roadrunner Records | other | |
| 24 November 2017 | NL | Hammerheart Records | 8715392171529 | other |
| 24 November 2017 | XW | Hammerheart Records | 191773777753 | other |
| 2022 | — | Agonia Records | 5908287132108 | other |
Cover art sources
deezer · upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25)
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1200×1200 | upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25) |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |