Pestilence (band)
Dutch death metal band
Pestilence is a Dutch death metal band founded in Enschede in 1986. Despite various lineup changes, guitarist-vocalist Patrick Mameli remains the sole constant member. After disbanding in 1994 to pursue other musical directions, Pestilence reunited in 2008, but was put on "permanent hold" in July 2014. The band reunited again in October 2016. Pestilence has released ten studio albums, and are one of technical death metal's "big four", with Death, Atheist, and Cynic.
History
Early career (1986–1990)
Formed in the Netherlands in mid-1986, Pestilence was a thrash metal band consisting of Patrick Mameli (guitar, vocals), Randy Meinhard (guitar), and Marco Foddis (drums). They recorded two demos; after the first, Martin van Drunen (bass, vocals) joined them. After signing with Roadrunner Records, Pestilence released their debut album, Malleus Maleficarum, in 1988.
Pestilence recruited guitarist Patrick Uterwijk. Their 1989 second album, Consuming Impulse, shifted toward heavier, more haunting death metal.
The public source identifies “Pestilence (band)” as dutch death metal band. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pestilence, band and Dutch.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1066740. VIAF identifies the subject as 122773841. The Library of Congress control number is no98016818. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1986, 1994, 2008 and 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pestilence (band)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.