Label - Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date- 20 May 2022
Words - Tony Bliss
Despite constant acclaim from those in the know, Malevolence have remained one of the more bizarrely underappreciated UK metal acts of this, or any other generation. 2013’s ‘Reign Of Suffering’ remains one of the strongest debut records of the decade, and whilst their signature blend of fiery thrash metal and street-tough hardcore may strike you as anything but subversive, follow up ‘Self Supremacy’ and 2020 EP ‘The Other SIde’ are still the audible culmination of a steady evolution. ‘Malicious Intent’ arrives at a time when the band are finally beginning to get their due beyond the UK mid-tier, and thankfully is no different in spirit or execution from its predecessors; it just sounds bigger, more confident, and - to quote the closing sound-bite of seventh track ‘Above All Else’ - goes ‘harder than fuck, man’.
Whilst it could be said that it is thrash that provides these songs with their motivational essence (evidenced best on the peak-form Killswitch/ Lamb Of God / Testament mash up of ‘On Broken Glass’), it is clear that Malevolence stand apart from a great number of their peers due to an intuitive understanding of what makes metal, and its many warring factions, so potent. And so, the likes of ‘Still Waters Run Deep’ come across like a bloody-knuckled bout between Biohazard and Crowbar (tagging in Dimebags rockin’ flair and southern fried swing for a few rounds), the closing seconds of ‘Do Or DIe’ (and indeed ‘Life Sentence’) slam with the goo-dripping grotesquery of a slightly less filth-sodden Dying Fetus or Devourment, and ‘Higher Place’, a full-throated, Slash atop a mountain-side heavy metal ballad, somehow sounds entirely in keeping.
In and out in an ideally succinct thirty-five minutes, ‘Malicious Intent’ does touch on new ground with an increased focus on guitarist Konan Hall’s baritone croon and a few more of his sonorous vocal hooks tossed into the mix, only piling more fun into a record that is, as ever, loaded with an absolute fuck-ton of cool shit, and from the absurd number of top-notch riffs (further evidence that Hall and Josh Baines are two of the best six stringers in the game), turbo-blues NOLA worship and some of the most nails-strong breakdowns this side of Hatebreed, these ten tracks will keep a shit-eating grin plastered across your face from first to last. Harder than fuck, man.
8/10
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