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Because of the release of the latest album Doctrine of the dutch deathmetal pioneers Pestilence we had the opportunity to ask them some questions. Of course one doesn't need to think twice to take this opportunity.

The average metalhead has already heard of you long ago and since you've started with the new Pestilence you've put out two albums. How do you look back on the past 2 and half years?

It were some heavy times. First the comeback after all those years with Ressurection Marcabre and after that immediately another lineup change. During this we also hoped that the fans would see us as a validated Pestilence and now is Doctrine already a controversial album. Because if it's not the cover then it is my vocals or the 8 string guitar we'd used. But all we did was listen to the fans and turn back to our roots of Consuming Impulse and Testimony Of The Ancient combined with elements from Spheres and Resurrection Macabre.

You've just released Doctrine. How do you look back on the recording process?

It was great ,everything was taken care of in a professional way including our producer/ engineer Victor. It was really great working with him in a small town village near Landshut.

The recording process went smooth and everybody gave 100%. It definitely felt as a band effort, which was fine compared to the clinical approach on Resurrection Macabre. During those recordings there wasn't one moment where the band was together to give feedback on the songs. The first time we all saw each other together in real life was during the fotoshoot.

What moves you to writing new songs

I guess that's the big mystery in the music business. I think that it is impossible for a musician to explain where a song comes from. There are of course certain points of view and influences that a musician has but overall it's for me impossible to explain. During the writing period I don't listen to my favorite bands because I don't want to get influenced by those bands. So to me it sounds a bit strange when people say that Pestilence sounds like Meshuggah or something like that. I try not to copy a band or a person. The only musician that do inspires me a lot is Holdsworth!

4. The entire album is recorded with an 8-string guitar. Was it the right choice to lift the sound to another level or did it gave only a lot of more problems?

The only main problem we had was the collision between the guitar sounds and the bass sounds. That is why Jeroen Paul Thesseling had to downtune is B-string to f#. But as we speak is Warwick building a fretless 7 string bass for him.
But although it gave some problems the effect it had on the sound was amazing. It definitely turned out to be a new ingredient in the sound of Pestilence. We're going to evolve this even more on the next album, especially since more strings gives more possibilities. I also believe that a band has to evolve all the time.

5. If you compare this lineup with the previous one we see two new faces. Of course Jeroen is also a previous member of Pestilence but Yuma van Eekelen is completely new. How did he end up in Pestilence?

The first time I met him he was supporting Pestilence with another band. I noticed him immediately since he is a very talented musician. He also turned out to be a really nice guy. I only had to ask him and after a short audition he was the right man to fill the spot. He's not only very technical but also a hardhitter, which is quite an addition to our sound.

With Spheres you were way ahead of your time. What do you think that would have happened when it was released ten years later?
Those are just speculations. We think that Spheres is still the worst Pestilence album ever. It was more of a fuck you statement regarding the record company. The sound sucked because the guitarsound was horrible, same goes for the guitarsynths we'd used. Of course a lot of fans will hate me for saying this because Spheres is their favorite Pestilence album. But he everybody got a different taste and the last time I’d checked we're also allowed to have our own.

Do you have any goals that you want to achieve with this album or are you just aiming to play the album?

Playing these new songs will be hard enough although it could sound very easy on the album. But on the other hand we are aiming to set a new standard in the extreme metal and still keep our own face. I do hope that this album opens some doors since it is our last album for Mascot Records. We do like to thank Mascot Records for this opportunity and great cooperation.

Do you still follow the metalscene and check out new bands or are you just doing your own thing?

No, I stopped following the metalscene and reading bulletin boards like Blabbermouth. There are so many people that are only bashing bands. Which is exactly the reason why I stopped with Pestilence before. I sometimes think that the people in the metalscene are just bashing because they can. I mean if you don't like an album or a band than don't listen to it. Luckily enough there are still fans that can appreciate our work and those are the people that are motivating us

If you had to put Doctrine amongst your other albums where would you put it?

Definitely in first place. I believe it's our best work by far. We have grown as musicians and we still have a lot of fun doing this. We also are constantly improving ourselves and evolving our sound.

What are your plans for let's say the next six months?
We would like to do as much of fun things we haven't done yet with Pestilence. I'm thinking of a South American tour and visit the countries we didn't visit last time. The 70.000 tons of Metal tour and also promoting our music world wide. We also are looking for a new record company that knows the value of Pestilence.