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Malefice - Dawn Of Reprisal

One of the biggest compliments a metal band can have bestowed on them these days is a failure to be pigeonholed...

Rating: 8

One of the biggest compliments a metal band can have bestowed on them these days is a failure to be pigeonholed, something that could be said of Reading’s Malefice. Building on the blueprint and promise of ‘Entities’, one of the UK’s most hopeful prospects have reached for the skies and erected something of a towering inferno. Their cornerstone thrash, melded with metalcore, death and elements of prog, has produced a rather exhilarating result. ‘An Architect Of Your Demise’, and ‘When Embers Ignite’ are classy illustrations of their genre-bending style, with Lamb Of God-esque incendiary riffs crashing head-long into massive groove, matched by the staccato frettings of Pantera, and so tight you couldn’t slip a Rizla paper in between the crunches. They even have the creative juices left over to incorporate clean vocal crossover appeal in ‘End Of Days’ and the outstanding ‘Hatred Justified’, a rollicking, melodic, soaring epic of a track that yanks the neck hairs tight throughout. It’s hard to imagine exactly how they could have made a better album at this point, but if there’s a line-up of UK bands all gunning for elite status, then Malefice have just barged in – right to the front row of the queue.

Jim Burt