Malignancy takes over the reins of violence.
Formed in 1992 in New York, USA, the combo led by Danny Nelson (vocals, Hydrocephalic, Mortal Decay), Ron Kachnic (guitar, Pyrexia, ex-Mortician, live for Demolition Hammer), Mike Heller (drums, Black Hole Deity, Fear Factory, Raven…) and Alex Weber (bass, WAIT, Evilyn, ex-Defeated Sanity, ex-Obscura…) has signed to Willowtip Records for the release of …Discontinued, their fifth album.
The band quickly attacks with Existential Dread, a brutal first composition where fast riffs follow one another thanks to relatively complex patterns. The Old School mix does justice to the band’s violence and virulent approach, as on the jerky Binary Paradigm, which offers howling harmonics to complement the massive vocal parts. It’s as if we’re back in the early ’90s, when technicality was making its appearance in Death Metal, while Irradiated Miscreation returns to a rawer, choppier construction that will appeal to fans of tortured tracks. The final growl takes us to Purity of Purpose, where leads constantly emerge from a thick devastating basis that offers a few heavier passages, but also a few catchy slowdowns before the introductory sample of Ancillary Biorhythms, which sounds like an ominous moment of respite before the onslaught starts all over again. Everything in the rhythm section seems devoted to musical violence, with each instrument bludgeoning us at its own pace before giving way to Haunted Symmetry and its own high tempo aggression, linking explosive passages with bursts of speed. The sound adopts a slight Thrash edge with Decomposing Divinity, the next composition, giving it that bouncy sharp touch that perfectly fits the unpredictable basis which will only stop to let Oppositional Defiance take its place with undisguised virulence. The rhythm is a nightmare of rage and unexpected convulsions, as is Biological Absurdity, the final track, which stomps along at breakneck speed as the shortest and most violent track on the album.
Malignancy injects high fixes of explosive technicality into solid rhythms, making …Discontinued a true hymn to chaos. For fans of convoluted riffs and abrasive surprises!
75/100