On the occasion of Pestilence’s upcoming visit to Greece for three shows in October 2026, in Thessaloniki, Larissa and Athens on October 16, 17 and 18 respectively, Metalwar.gr and Spyros Tribos spoke with the band’s frontman Patrick Mameli to find out all the latest news from the band shortly before their arrival in Greece!
Spyros Tribos: Hello Patrick, and thank you very much for this interview!
Pestilence have changed their form several times over the years, without ever losing their identity. What is it, ultimately, that makes a sound recognizable as “Pestilence”?
Patrick Mameli: The simple answer is that I am Pestilence. I am the only constant member of Pestilence and, because I am the creator of the band, I write all the music.
Of course, it will sound like Patrick Mameli, it will sound like Pestilence. The way I think about notes and creating music is always the same. And what personally makes me recognizable is the way I write riffs.
I come up with the riffs, I come up with the music, and that is never going to change. That is why it sounds like Pestilence.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to try new ideas. It’s just that if I move in completely different directions, it probably won’t sound like Pestilence.
And because I still have many ideas for Pestilence, I will continue writing the band’s characteristic riffs. I’m good at that, so I don’t think I’m going to change it.
Even with new members, they will have to adapt to my style. The biggest compliment they give me is that the music sounds very simple, but in reality it is very difficult to play.
Yes, that is true. And that is a challenge for musicians. That is why I want to keep these people happy and give them the opportunity to play Pestilence’s music. For a musician, it is a great challenge and, at the same time, a great satisfaction to be able to play this music.
So, yes, I will continue this way.
Spyros Tribos: If you could return to just one period in Pestilence’s history and relive it, which one would you choose and why?
Patrick Mameli: I don’t like looking back. I don’t like going back to a specific moment in the past.
But, if I have to choose one, I would say the moment when we created Testimony of the Ancients, because it was perhaps the most memorable moment in the history of our recordings.
That album was so original for its time. It was a truly magical period. Everything was in the right place.
We had the opportunity to work with Martin and repeat the production process we had followed on the first demo, so I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with that environment.
I thought that if Chuck could do it, I could do it too. So, I played guitar and sang at the same time.
And that, for example, is very difficult, especially when you have different rhythmic parts on your guitar and different rhythmic parts in the vocals.
Testimony of the Ancients is a very special moment for us. If I could go back to one period in the past, I think I would choose that one.
Spyros Tribos: Death metal has become much more technical and demanding today. Do you believe that this technical evolution has brought the genre closer to art, or has it moved it away from its raw power?
Patrick Mameli: I think technology has made many things much easier.
Today you can find material and videos from people who are truly exceptional musicians. In the past, it was very difficult. We had to study music from books and go to music school to learn our basic knowledge.
Today we have all this information through all these platforms. It is very easy to access this information and become a better musician.
That is why I believe bands today have become more technical. They have access to much more information than we had when we were young.
I also think that the technical level has risen tremendously.
In the past, when you made a mistake in a recording, the song had to be cut and recorded again. The mistake remained there and many times became part of the process.
Today, when you make a mistake, you can correct it very quickly. People have found ways to make recordings better and then be able to play those things live.
Many young musicians have become excellent at using technology to improve their abilities. They use AI, DAWs and various tools even from their mobile phones.
They can edit things and become incredibly fast.
Especially singers. Someone can sing eight notes and, through processing, you can hear sixteen. Or they can sing sixteen and you can hear thirty-two.
People use technology to enhance their abilities.
When you see a singer and hear something incredibly fast, it is almost difficult to believe. The level is very high.
Technology may be used, but the level of musicians today is truly very high. That is a fact.
Spyros Tribos: Pestilence have always been a band that was not afraid to experiment. Is there an experiment you made in the past that you would approach differently today?
Patrick Mameli: I wouldn’t say that I explore as much anymore. I think you mean whether I explore different styles or different sounds.
I think everyone knows why I wrote Spheres the way I did. I wanted to leave the usual path.
I wanted to write an album like Spheres and break away from the established way. It was something I did consciously because I wanted to leave that particular framework, and it worked.
It was a great exploration for me and I’m happy that it happened that way.
In creating music and working with jazz and other elements, we explored a great deal. That made us better musicians.
After Spheres, I came back with Resurrection Macabre, a very powerful album. It is more technical and many people love it.
Some people compare it with other albums I have made, such as Consuming Impulse or Testimony of the Ancients.
If you grew up listening to Testimony of the Ancients, you will probably always prefer Testimony to Resurrection Macabre.
I believe that every album is an evolution and not a step backwards.
My music has become much better. I had the opportunity to work with different musicians while still maintaining the Pestilence style.
It is difficult when you change too much. But, in my opinion, that is the only way to become a better musician: to keep creating and not try to repeat the past.
You cannot create a Testimony of the Ancients 2.
I have faced this many times. I am a better musician today, so I could not write and play in the same way I did back then.
Spyros Tribos: If death metal were a living organism, at what stage of its evolution do you think it is today?
Patrick Mameli: That is a very difficult question!
Death metal is not a living organism, so I don’t have that much imagination about how it will evolve.
But if I have to talk about the future, death metal has always been very strong.
Fortunately, the fans are very dedicated and they know the difference between old death metal and, for example, hardcore.
Young musicians are inspired by old hardcore, while older fans continue to love old death metal. So all of these things continue to coexist.
What I find difficult is when you try to fit everything into one song and move between so many different styles.
This happens a lot today, with musicians using more and more technology, editing and all these things.
At some point, it stops being music. It becomes more of a demonstration of technology.
For example, if you are a drummer and you play above 300 BPM and you believe that this is the direction you should take, you lose certain things.
If you tell them, for example, that Vinnie Colaiuta is one of the best drummers in the world, many young people don’t even know who he is.
They believe that the drummer of Lorna Shore is the best they have ever heard.
Times are changing and everything is moving so fast because of all this information that is available.
To return to your question: I believe that death metal will always be part of music history.
Maybe at some point it won’t be as popular. Then it may become very popular again. It will rise and fall, but it is not going to disappear. I don’t believe that.
Spyros Tribos: Science, philosophy and the darker sides of human existence have often met in your music. What frightens you more today: what we know or what we don’t know?
Patrick Mameli: We were never a band that simply wanted to talk or sing about life, the heart and all those things.
We want to use our minds and try to answer questions about life.
I think all the great philosophers tried to answer the question of why we are here.
These are excellent questions that at some point you have to ask yourself: to search, to look at your life, to see your goals, what you have achieved and what you haven’t achieved.
You don’t need to look for easy or superficial answers.
Yes, you may be interested in such things, but that is only one part of life.
I think the question itself is probably also the answer.
I’m not such a philosophical person, but when you asked me this question, I knew there was an answer.
No other person can give it to you.
You can read many books and still not have the answer. But deep inside, you know the answer.
Spyros Tribos: Is there an album by another band that made you think, “This forces us to raise the bar”?
Patrick Mameli: I don’t generally listen to new releases. I hardly listen to music at all.
For me, I don’t use other bands as a reference point for my own music.
I try to be myself and write good songs. I try to give my best to the new album.
There are, however, some bands that, if I have to listen to contemporary music, I really like.
I think they are truly new, they are heavy, and I believe they will come with a new album soon.
I hope to hear that stuff.
Yes, good music. I think good musicians are important for creating good songs, and it is interesting to see what they can do.
But I don’t really follow the contemporary scene. I try to be a good musician for the sake of the songs.
And I hope I like the result.
Spyros Tribos: Pestilence started at a time when information about the underground spread much more slowly. Do you believe that today’s abundance of information helps or makes it more difficult to create a truly personal musical identity?
Patrick Mameli: Of course, the information existed. You just had to search for it yourself.
We didn’t have the internet. It was very different from today, when you can find all this information through the internet and all these platforms.
Kids today have much more information and they can use it to their advantage.
But you have to understand that if you are a good musician, you listen to music and try to analyze it, you have to take the best elements from it and make them your own.
But you have to understand that this is not your music. It is not you.
You can find ideas and, even if people don’t hear that something sounds like Morbid Angel or Death, you have to take those ideas and make them your own.
I don’t want to overthink things. I want the music to come as naturally as possible.
When you hear a Pestilence riff, whether it is because of the sound or because of the tonality or because of the way I play the music, that is the way I focus.
Today, information is incredible. There is so much information that, as a musician and as a person, you have to decide what you really want from your musical career.
I don’t think listening to all the bands will necessarily help you, especially if you are like me.
I don’t listen to that kind of stuff anymore.
I get my inspiration from nature. I live very close to the sea, I look at the sea every day and I feel very calm and safe. And then the music simply comes to me.
Spyros Tribos: What matters more to you when a new song is completed: for it to be technically flawless or to evoke an emotion that you cannot easily explain?
Patrick Mameli: That is a very difficult question.
When a song is too perfect, I don’t like to work on it too much with the band.
Because if you work on it too much, you can create technical perfection and spontaneity can be lost.
That is why I don’t believe a song should be so perfect that it leaves no room for the spontaneity of the musicians.
What I will say now is that it is truly amazing to create a song without mistakes, a perfect song, and everyone wants to present that perfection in their band.
Many times, when you use a DAW or any other software to create music, you can correct small mistakes and make everything almost perfect.
But it is very difficult, especially with the dual guitars, the drums, the grooves and all the things you do in Pestilence.
I hope you can create some feeling within that as well.
And sometimes I think that feeling is more important than the actual playing.
Spyros Tribos: If you could put a listener in a room and play them only one song from the entire history of Pestilence, which one would you choose to explain to them who you really are?
Patrick Mameli: I really have no idea. I have written so many great songs that it is very difficult to choose one.
Of course, there are songs like Out of the Body, which represent a specific period.
But, for example, Level of Perception is an excellent song and we have not played it live with the new line-up. The whole song represents what Pestilence is.
We have different levels of difficulty in our music, and there are things that are difficult or even impossible to play live in exactly the same way.
So yes, it is really very difficult to choose just one song.
The entire new album is fantastic and you will hear it soon.
Spyros Tribos: After so many years in extreme metal, what still makes you pick up the guitar and want to create something new?
Patrick Mameli: It is like picking up the guitar and trying to make new songs, creating new riffs and new ideas.
It is simply joy, because you are the creator of that moment.
The guitar gives me great joy and I am very happy that I can play this particular instrument.
I always looked up to Eddie Van Halen, such a great guitarist, and I can identify with the way he thought, with the way he wrote music.
That is the amazing thing about the guitar.
You can simply pick up the guitar, sit down and start playing, and suddenly different ideas come to you.
I also like playing guitar because of the different sounds and the different possibilities it gives you.
But, you know, playing guitar is simply something I love.
Spyros Tribos: When one day everything is over and you look back at the history of Pestilence, what would you like someone to say about your music — not as a death metal band, but as an artistic legacy?
Patrick Mameli: I never think about the end of Pestilence.
I would feel very bad, because I feel that I still have so much to say and give to the Pestilence community.
I have many ideas.
Right now I am already thinking about the next album, the new album that still exists in my mind.
I’m thinking about what I want to say with it, and I just want to continue making music and being creative.
I am 59 years old and I still have some years ahead of me. I don’t want to think about the end of Pestilence.
But I hope that I could offer something to people.
I have heard stories from people who say that our music helped them during very difficult times, or that a particular song of ours helped them get through a difficult period.
The fact that I could have some positive impact on someone’s life through my music is truly incredible.
Spyros Tribos: You are returning to Greece for shows in Thessaloniki, Larissa and Athens. What does the Greek audience mean to Pestilence, and what do you remember most from your previous visits?
Patrick Mameli: We are starting with Greece.
Thessaloniki, Larissa and Athens.
I think Greece has a very strong metal culture. I am very happy with the Greek metal culture.
You have very nice people. Very, very good people. We feel at home when we are in Greece.
We hope to enjoy the time we will spend in Thessaloniki, Larissa and Athens.
We hope to give the Greek audience a very good show.
I hope you enjoy the concerts as much as you enjoyed them the previous times. It is nice to be back.
Spyros Tribos: Three cities, three different audiences. Do you expect there to be a different energy from Thessaloniki to Athens?
Patrick Mameli: Different cities mean different communities and, of course, different energy.
I want to see it and find out how many people there will be in each city.
I hope they will try to… kill each other!
I think it is very important, wherever you were born and wherever you live, to be proud of your city and support it.
I want to see who the best supporters of their city are. I’m looking forward to their support and I want to see which audience will be the craziest.
It is time for the Greeks to show us how much they love their city. And we will give them a real show!
Spyros Tribos: When you play in a country with such a strong metal culture as Greece, does anything change in the way you approach the live show?
Patrick Mameli: No, nothing changes.
The cultural element and the strong metal culture are there, but we are Pestilence and we do what we know how to do.
We try to be the best at what we do and we hope that our community will appreciate us, just as we appreciate our community. We are not trying to do something different just for the sake of changing.
Every tour is the best tour we have ever done.
We are always open and ready to see what we can give you.
Spyros Tribos: Is there a particular Pestilence song that you have noticed the Greek audience welcomes with especially intense passion?
Patrick Mameli: Everyone loves Out of the Body.
Everyone loves Land of Tears.
I think some people love Land of Tears even more than Out of the Body.
As we said before, we try to be as good as we can for you, to give you our love and to show you how much we love what we do.
Thank you very much, Spyros, for your time, and we hope to see you there!
Interview – Text – Translation
Spyros Tribos
