A new wave for Maladie.
Led by Alexander Wenz (vocals, Hellknife, Gut), Björn Köppler (guitar/keyboards/percussion, God Enslavement), Déhà (keyboards/vocals, Acathexis, Cult of Erinyes, Imber Luminis, SLOW, Wolvennest, Yhdarl…), Hauke Peters (saxophone), Alex Spalvieri (guitar, Nova Skellis), and Wiebke EB (backing vocals), the band released their eighth album, The Dance of Tragedies, in 2026 via Apostasy Records.
The album opens with Vortex of Monotony’s lively sound, the first track featuring strange yet relatively welcoming elements, whether it’s the saxophone or the clean vocals, but the atmosphere shifts when the screams begin, making it far more sinister before returning to its Black Metal-tinged tranquility. The vocal parts guide the song’s progression through to Behind All Suns, a new composition that also offers somewhat ethereal tones that are a bit different, yet remain within this polished and avant-garde approach, regardless of the instrument, drawing inspiration from Jazz, Trip-Hop, and ethereal elements alike. We continue our journey into the unknown with Too Old to Die, which features an energetic rhythm section ranging from post-rock to punk, while the other elements follow suit with a jerky quality that eventually plunges once again into musical extremes, blending the vocal parts back into the most organized chaos. The Unknowable finally takes over with a female voice and cheerful leads for a long stretch before returning to a certain form of aggression, then to intriguing electronic tones, fast and heady sections, and once again that coherent musical duality before moving on to The Dance of Tragedies. Once again, the band manages to surprise with its playful, almost festive and infectious approach, which makes us want to bang our heads during the energetic parts, but also to reflect during the more unexpected moments that regularly erupt, before the haunting Embrace Our Curse takes over, offering touches of doom. These elements are, of course, overshadowed by the band’s once again highly experimental approach, which eventually gives way to a fairly brief, more “conventional” second section, only to plunge back into the strange and violent, leading us to On Inaccessible Paths Part I, which opens with a rather majestic symphonic touch. The distortion naturally returns to anchor the track in metal, but retains the epic feel for a moment before raw energy disrupts it, blending rather well with the rest of the track until the Dungeon Synth-esque final, followed by On Inaccessible Paths Part II, a very long final composition that begins quite calmly, then offers an intense vocal duet before succumbing to oppression and violence and racing toward its conclusion.
I didn’t really know what to expect from The Dance of Tragedies, but Maladie has managed to create one of the most polished and bizarre albums of 2026! There’s a bit of everything within their hour-long collection of tracks, but no matter what you think, the band will manage to surprise you.
75/100
