Malevolence is playing in the big leagues.
Still signed to Nuclear Blast, Konan Hall (guitar/vocals, Gunishment), Alex Taylor (vocals), Josh Baines (guitar), Wilkie Robinson (bass, Gunishment), and Charlie Thorpe (drums, Gunishment) are celebrating their fifteenth anniversary with their fourth album, Where Only The Truth Is Spoken.
They kick things off without delay with Blood to the Leech, an energetic opening track whose jerky rhythm will work wonders live, featuring angry vocals with marked Hardcore influences. The devastating mosh parts follow one another like gunshots before the final sample, followed by Trenches, whose raw and catchy groove will soon have us shaking our heads frantically while the vocalist screams his lungs out, punctuating the assault. If It’s All The Same To You follows, with slightly more melodic parts in the opening moments, but it’s clear that the track swears by violence while embracing its American Metalcore influences with a touch of clean vocals. Dissonance returns in Counterfeit, but the song is built on aggressive riffs, and the further it goes, the more effective it becomes, while Salt the Wound offers more ethereal touches between its few eruptions of rage, showing a rather different but equally punishing approach. The carnage resumes at a rapid pace on So Help Me God, a track that is very conducive to two-steps in the pit, then the devastating finale leads us to Imperfect Picture and its disturbing tones that will tinge the carnage with a rather heavy veil of mystery. There are hints of melancholy in the rare quiet moments of Heaven’s Shake, a track also intended to get the crowd moving, with the backing vocals reinforcing certain passages, then the band welcomes Randy Blythe (Lamb of God) on the groovy In Spite, adding an extra dose of fury to an already lively base. We move on without transition to Demonstration of Pain, where the rhythm is sometimes slightly slower but just as stunning, then to With Dirt From My Grave, which closes the album with one last lap and in turn distributes mosh parts like hotcakes before finally giving way to silence.
Malevolence has gradually made a name for itself in the Metalcore/Deathcore scene with its groovy riffs, and Where Only The Truth Is Spoken is simply the pinnacle of their art! Don’t miss them on their upcoming tour!
95/100