It’d make sense to step into the realm of a band like Los Angeles, California-area death metal trio PESTILENT DEATH and view their reasonably traditional approach as a bridge between a few different generations of ‘old school’ minded fare. Their latest EP release only just reinforces the chunking, primal step and blasted-at style they’ve been working at for nearly fifteen years where we find ‘Pathways to Infinite Malignity‘ isn’t fully based on the sliding scale of pure ignorance though they -do- indulge in the requisite stack of moshable riffs one’d expect from a USDM band in 2024. Where their approach stands out to my ear lies in just how over the top it takes this sound toward murderous intent, striking at brutal and grinding extremes via a better than average grip on pacing and delivery suitable enough for ugly, mean and fucked up (but never outright stupid) death metal.

Pestilent Death formed circa 2010 but hit the reset button somewhere in between ~2014-2015 eventually producing two full-lengths beyond that point. Their 2019-released second album ‘Chapters of Depravity‘ caught my ear enough to review at the time. For the sake of quick general recommendation their work was well-rounded but ugly, brutal and fundamentally understood the various levels of attack a pure death metal record could retain: “If you share the virtuous trait of appreciating the act of death metal as much as the art of ‘refining’ it there’ll be some great brutal energy, some depraved rotten shit, and plenty of ‘in the pocket’ skull-shaking death mania therein.” and if you don’t mind the spin there it essentially meant they go full gore-blasted brutal a la post-‘Butchered at Birth‘ inspired death metal but also have the sense to lean into a death/doom lurch here and there, movements which have a sort of Coffins-esque step here and there.

Recorded as a trio with guitarist Gabriel Salazar also handling bass for these songs I wouldn’t say a great deal has changed since they’d released that second LP, much less since the 2021 released single/tape “Putrid Vaticination” which we get a new version of here to round out the ~17 minute grind through ‘Pathways to Infinite Malignity‘. For my own taste vocalist Eric Mendoza stands out as over the top, almost to a grindcore level of growled and spoken volatility, here on this EP we get a few moments which especially amp this energy such as standout “Revulsions of Immaculate Flesh”, a song which is a brutal splatterer to start and a chunking, fouled lurch in alternation. This is the most exaggerated version of their original sound yet though these folks’ve always leaned kinda brutal and this song just hammers doubly hard at it.

Over on the first half sludged-up opener “Cemeterial Befoulment” gives us a gnarly, simple as Hell opening riff which steeps us in what I’d consider their best mode, stepping from mid-paced grooves into harried brutality and back again. The effect of thier work is simple enough, four counting out tremolo-picked downtuned shapes which are brutally struck to the point that it has energy, reeks of murderous conviction and… that is about as complicated as it gets. This comes with virtually frills-void presentation beyond a sound clip here and there, such as the Iceman (serial killer) interview quote that opens “Preserved in Agony“. You could consider this approach almost simple to a fault, even, as we rarely find the band reaching for solos either making for a sound the pit happy crews of today could surely hang with and a squarely one-dimensional attack. Like many bands today they’ve got the basic chug-heavy grooves of brutal death in mind but in this case I’d say the drummer is especially proficient in terms of avoiding the groove-hop step which many nowadays bands lean on, this is partially their leg-up and what makes this record kinda pass in all potential scenarios.

Though I am not always the biggest fan of Mark Riddick‘s de facto illustrative style in this case the mortuary depravity depicted in the cover artwork suits the type and subject matter of the lyrics Pestilent Death lead with and the sickly green touch given to the layout helps the result read as pure death metal but also more recent work at face value. I appreciate a death metal record that screams tradition at a glance yet delivers its own version though I’d felt some key points of personality were missing on this EP in terms of few (if any) guitar solos sending these songs into orbit. As such these are pure rhythmic groove-along type songs that entertain but only so much when left to rip on repeat. I can hang with their sound and the throttle of it well enough, and I’d enjoyed this material about as much as their second album in general but I’d say check this one out if you up for some big, dumb death metal but not absolute caveman depravity. A moderately high recommendation.

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