Pit Mag Interview with Pessimist by Micha Kite

PESSIMIST is a band that has stuck to their bestial brand of brutality through the recent torrent of black/goth that pervades the US scene of today and are vanguards during the re-birth of DEATH METAL. Again, if death metal is to have its resurgence, newer groups have to recoil from the knack of mimicking the Florida / New York sound of yesteryear. ANGELCORPSE, HATE ETERNAL, SADISTIC INTENT and now PESSIMIST are among the few pushing the death metal envelope a little further while maintaining originality. Re-entering with "Blood For the Gods", PESSIMIST have evolved into an impending vortex and Kell McLauchlin (lead guitars) recently spoke with Pit about the new album, the new outlook and the face of the new scene.

Pit: If you were to make a comparison of your debut album and the follow up Blood For the Gods, what differentiates the two?

Kell: I think the production this time around is more refined. As far as material goes I would say the new stuff is heavier although it's maybe slower. These songs seem to be shorter than a lot of our older material which was longer...

I see you guys got a few new members. You used to be a four piece and now have implemented into a quintet. Why the decision to add the fifth member?

When we recorded "Cult" we were actually a five-piece. We had two guitarists and what happened was the other guy left right before we signed with Lost Disciple Records. As soon as the CD came out we did new group photos and became a four-piece. In the area we live there isn't a very big resource to pull musicians from so we just continued on as a four-piece up until it was time to record "Blood". At that time we found another guitarist who did a guest lead on the new track "Tunnel Rats"...

Death Metal seems to be on an upswing with a lot of newer bands stepping up to the plate so to speak and bringing this beast to a new level.

I think it's great. I have read in some magazines about the current state of death metal and they are all saying pretty much the same thing as you, which is exciting for us to hear.

I'm really enjoying the retro thing. Everyone seems to be cranking out DESTRUCTION, POSSESSED, SODOM, and CELTIC FROST, those kinds of bands. It seems to be bringing back a feeling that I thought was lost in the early 90's.

I know what you're talking about and it is a cool feeling. The underground was so humgry and alive [back then]. There really wasn't a lot of clones. You had your ANTHRAX, who was totally different from POSSESSED or EXODUS, but yet it was one big happy family, it was THRASH!

What are some of the newer American bands that you think are significant?

God, ANGELCORPSE kicks ass...DIABOLIC, those guys are definitely worth mentioning. You have to look at NILE also...what they have done is huge. They kinda found a corner of the market and ate it up. I would like to think of PESSIMIST among this group of heavy hitters.

Bands like CANNIBAL CORPSE are always taking fresh new bands out on the road, so what's up with an American Tour?

Actually there is talk of a North American tour, which looks like it's happening for us in February or March of 2000. We just got back from our first European tour... it was pretty much self-financed but it was a big step for us. We played in the Czech Republic and Germany. We toured with a couple of Czech band FLESHLESS and GODLESS TRUTH. The scene was great...

Taken from Pit Mag #30, Winter 1999