PESTILENCE Is Back With New Lineup Feat. PATRICK MAMELI, TONY CHOY

Veteran Dutch extreme metallers PESTILENCE are back with a new lineup featuring vocalist/guitarist Patrick Mameli alongside Santiago Dobles (AGHORA) on lead guitar, Tony Choy (ATHEIST) on bass and Septimiu Hărşan (DISAVOWED) on drums. The band is currently booking shows for 2017.

Said Mameli: "Only for a few shows in Mexico was the first idea. Then it got a bit bigger. At first I was a bit hesitant, but my good friend Tony Choy convinced me that there would be people wanting to hear the golden oldies in its original form. So there will be no new material written for PESTILENCE but rather playing great tunes from 'Malleus Maleficarum' to 'Resurrection Macabre'. No eight-string guitars. Just a nice trip down memory lane just for the fans."

He added: "The lineup is really great again. Choy, Dobles and Hărşan. Awesome to have these guys perform the good old material."

As a guest musician, Choy played bass for PESTILENCE on the 1991 album "Testimony Of The Ancients" and took part in some live gigs. He was also involved with Mameli's project C-187 on the album "Collision". Choy joined Patrick in the reformed PESTILENCE in 2008 and played on the "Resurrection Macabre" album and subsequent tour but left the band in October 2009 to focus on his other projects.

In July 2014, Mameli announced that PESTILENCE was "on a permanent hold" while he concentrated fully on his new NEUROMORPH project, which he said would be "more brutal, more crazy, more tech, more futuristic and more death" than his longtime outfit.

PESTILENCE's seventh album, "Obsideo", was released in November 2013 via Candlelight Records. The CD was produced by Mameli and featured ten new songs. According to Mameli, the album's overall lyrical theme was "the journey of the human soul."

In a 2013 interview with Live Reviewer, Mameli said that it was his "passion" that motivated him to keep PESTILENCE alive after all these years. He explained at the time: "I think we can still contribute to the death metal community. PESTILENCE has always been my passion since I formed the band. It feels like a child that's grown up now. If I would run out of ideas, that would be the end."

Mameli also dismissed constant calls for a reunion with early PESTILENCE bassist/vocalist Martin Van Drunen, who sang on the band's classic albums "Malleus Maleficarum" (1988) and "Consuming Impulse" (1989). He said: "It's been 25 years. We try to become better musicians all the time. I think we deserve some credit for always looking ahead and trying to be innovative."