List of Pestilence band members

Pestilence are a Dutch technical death metal band from Enschede. Formed in early 1986, the group originally consisted of vocalist and bassist Chuck Colli, guitarist Randy Meinhard, and drummer Patrick Mameli. After Colli's early departure, Mameli switched to guitar and has remained in this role ever since; he took over vocals permanently in 1990. Pestilence disbanded in 1994, then reformed between 2008 and 2014, and have been active again since 2016. The band's current lineup includes Mameli alongside drummer Michiel van der Plicht (since 2020), bassist Dario Rudić (since 2025) and guitarist Max Blok (since 2025).

Pestilence was formed in early 1986 by guitarists Randy Meinhard and Patrick Mameli, who met through an advertisement placed by Meinhard.^[1] The original lineup also included vocalist and bassist Chuck Colli, with Mameli temporarily on drums.^[2] Colli was "kicked out" after around a month.^[1] Mameli subsequently switched to guitar and took over vocal duties, with Gerrit Ulrich and Marco Foddis brought in on bass and drums, respectively.^[2][3] Ulrich left after a few months and the band recorded its first demo Dysentery as a three-piece, with Mameli also covering bass duties.^[2] In September 1987, Martin van Drunen took over as the band's vocalist, also performing live bass.^[4]

After the release of second demo The Penance and full-length debut Malleus Maleficarum, Pestilence went through a number of lineup changes. According to Foddis, the group essentially broke up in late 1988, with him and Meinhard forming a new band called Sacrosanct.^[5] The pair saw out a December 1988 tour, before guitarist Patrick Uterwijk and bassist Sebastian Dooijes from support act Theriac joined the band.^[5] At the time, Mameli claimed that he had dismissed Meinhard and Foddis.^[6] By January 1989, Foddis had returned, and by March, van Drunen had returned to live bass duties due to Dooijes' departure.^[5] This lineup released Consuming Impulse in December 1989.^[7]

Martin van Drunen left Pestilence and joined Asphyx shortly after the completion of a US tour in October 1990, claiming that Mameli had "been behaving too much like a band boss".^[8] Mameli subsequently took over vocal duties and van Drunen was briefly replaced on bass by Nick Sagias, although he left "after a couple of months or so", with Mameli later claiming that "personality-wise it just didn't click between him and the rest of the band".^[9] Tony Choy of Cynic and Atheist took over in time for the recording of 1991's Testimony of the Ancients.^[10] In the summer of 1992, with Choy unavailable, Jack Dodd stood in on bass for the band's performance at Dynamo Open Air festival.^[11]

Pestilence recruited Jeroen Paul Thesseling as their new full-time bassist later in 1992 and released their fourth album Spheres in 1993.^[12] The band broke up in 1994, with various sources claiming that the band were experiencing internal tensions and/or that Spheres did not sell as highly as expected.^[13][14]

Patrick Mameli announced the reformation of Pestilence in January 2008, with Tony Choy returning on bass and Peter Wildoer of Darkane added on drums.^[15] That March, former guitarist Patrick Uterwijk was added to the band's touring lineup.^[16] The main trio released the band's first album in 16 years, Resurrection Macabre, in March 2009.^[17] After touring until September, Choy was replaced by his previous successor, Jeroen Paul Thesseling.^[18] Wildoer also left after the tour, described by Mameli as "a session drummer" for his tenure.^[19] He was replaced in December by Yuma van Eekelen.^[20] The new lineup — now also including Uterwijk as a full-time member — released Doctrine in April 2011.^[21]

In February 2012, Mameli announced that Thesseling and van Eekelen had left to "work more intensively on their main projects", with Stephan Fimmers of Necrophagist and Tim Yeung of Morbid Angel taking their places.^[22] By July, Yeung had been replaced due to "conflicting tour schedules" by Psycroptic drummer Dave Haley,^[23] and by February 2013, Fimmers had also been replaced by Georg Maier in time for the recording of Obsideo.^[24] After the album's touring cycle, Mameli announced in July 2014 that Pestilence was "on permanent hold", but noted that "If there is any interest in Pestilence doing old-school shows in the future, me and Patrick Uterwijk will surely think about the options."^[25]

Just over two years later, in October 2016, Mameli announced a second reformation of Pestilence, with a lineup including returning bassist Tony Choy alongside new members Santiago Dobles (guitar) and Septimiu Hărşan (drums).^[26] By the following February, Choy had been replaced by Alan Goldstein, with Mameli commenting: "Choy's out. I only work with professional people."^[27] Within a couple of months, Goldstein had also been dismissed,^[28] with Vicious Rumors bassist Tilen Hudrap taking his place.^[29] The new lineup recorded the band's comeback album Hadeon, before Dobles left in November 2017 due to "personal circumstances", with his place taken by Calin Paraschiv, a bandmate of Hărşan's in Necrovile.^[30] By the end of 2018, Pestilence included all three members of Necrovile, as Edward Negrea replaced Hudrap, who had to leave due to "scheduling differences".^[31]

On 1 June 2019, Pestilence announced that Rutger van Noordenburg had replaced Calin Paraschiv on guitar.^[32] Six months later, Edward Negrea was also replaced, by Joost van der Graaf.^[33] Finally, another six months later, Septimiu Hărşan left due to "personal and professional matters partly related to the COVID-19 pandemic", with Michiel van der Plicht taking his place.^[34] After recording Exitivm and Levels of Perception, van der Graaf left in July 2023 and was replaced by Roel Käller.^[35] In January 2025, van Noordenburg also left the band,^[36] with Max Blok taking his place.^[37] In November of that year it was announced that bassist Roel Käller had left Pestilence two months earlier and was replaced by Dario Rudić.^[38]

• Pestilence official website