Rocker (feedbot)
Gold Member
Born in Sheffield in 2010, Malevolence began as a group of childhood friends (Josh Baines and Konan Hall on guitars, Alex Taylor on vocals, Wilkie Robinson on bass, and Charlie Thorpe on drums), cutting their teeth on the UK hardcore circuit with feral energy and DIY grit. Their debut full-length, ‘Reign of Suffering’, dropped in 2013 and made an immediate impact with its fusion of beatdown hardcore and metallic thrash. By the time they followed it up with ‘Self Supremacy’ in 2017, they’d carved out a name as one of the UK’s heaviest and most promising exports. In 2020, they launched their own label, MLVLTD, and released the ‘The Other Side’ EP; a short but emotionally loaded record that hinted at greater ambition. That promise exploded into full view with 2022’s ‘Malicious Intent’, released via Nuclear Blast, which took their sound global and landed them on some of the biggest festival stages in Europe.
For the first time in their career, the band left the comfort of Sheffield behind to record in California, at Dave Grohl’s famed Studio 606. Working through the legendary Neve 8078 console with Grammy-winning producer Josh Wilbur (Lamb of God, Gojira), the band found a new gear. Wilbur’s approach, hands-on without stifling, pushed the group to refine every moment, allowing frontman Alex Taylor’s vocals to hit harder than ever while the instrumentals stayed tight and dynamic. The result is a record that feels huge in both sound and scope, without ever losing its core aggression.
That aggression comes out swinging as soon as title track ‘Blood To The Leech’ kicks in. ‘Where Only the Truth Is Spoken’ roars into life with a breakdown under twenty seconds in. What’s interesting about this record is the sense of deliberate familiarity to something you can’t quite put your finger on; it’s a callback to how metalcore sounded in the 2010s – something most of the big names (Architects, BMTH, Killswitch Engage) have been leaning away from, in favour of a more accessible sound.
‘Trenches’ wastes no time in picking up the baton, tearing into a culture of entitlement with the precision of a band who have been sharpening their tools in real time. ‘If It’s All The Same To You’ continues the momentum, packed with breakdowns and built for live chaos, while the Alan Ford fronted video hints at their growing cinematic flair. ‘Counterfeit’ hits like a venomous punch to the throat, taking aim at the fake and the performative with no interest in subtlety.
Just as things threaten to blur into a wall of distortion, ‘Salt The Wound’ slows the tempo and swaps brute force for emotional clarity. Taylor’s clean vocals here stretch beyond anything the band have done before, giving the track a sombre, meditative tone before everything eventually erupts again. ‘So Help Me God’ snarls and swings with tempo shifts and Pantera-style swagger, while ‘Imperfect Picture’ lifts off entirely with a Metallica-esque solo – shimmering, expressive, and completely earned. ‘Heaven’s Shake’ leans into atmosphere and sludge, its grooves heavier and more deliberate, setting the stage for the record’s most anticipated moment.
That comes on ‘In Spite,’ which features Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe. His guest spot doesn’t just boost the track; it amplifies the entire record’s crossover appeal, merging UK hardcore’s grit with American metal’s weight. From there, the album’s closer, ‘Demonstration of Pain,’ and the sombre ‘With Dirt From My Grave’ offer a kind of heavy reflection – balancing the album’s opening fire with something more considered, more human.
Fifteen years into their career, Malevolence have made their boldest and most complete statement yet. ‘Where Only the Truth Is Spoken’ isn’t here to reinvent metalcore – it’s here to remind us why it mattered in the first place. It stomps and howls, but it also listens, lingers, and leaves its mark. There’s a whole world of polish in its production, but at its core, it’s still Sheffield steel – raw, unshakable, and HEAVY. Fundamentally, this album gives fans exactly what they’ve been missing.
KATHRYN EDWARDS
For the first time in their career, the band left the comfort of Sheffield behind to record in California, at Dave Grohl’s famed Studio 606. Working through the legendary Neve 8078 console with Grammy-winning producer Josh Wilbur (Lamb of God, Gojira), the band found a new gear. Wilbur’s approach, hands-on without stifling, pushed the group to refine every moment, allowing frontman Alex Taylor’s vocals to hit harder than ever while the instrumentals stayed tight and dynamic. The result is a record that feels huge in both sound and scope, without ever losing its core aggression.
That aggression comes out swinging as soon as title track ‘Blood To The Leech’ kicks in. ‘Where Only the Truth Is Spoken’ roars into life with a breakdown under twenty seconds in. What’s interesting about this record is the sense of deliberate familiarity to something you can’t quite put your finger on; it’s a callback to how metalcore sounded in the 2010s – something most of the big names (Architects, BMTH, Killswitch Engage) have been leaning away from, in favour of a more accessible sound.
‘Trenches’ wastes no time in picking up the baton, tearing into a culture of entitlement with the precision of a band who have been sharpening their tools in real time. ‘If It’s All The Same To You’ continues the momentum, packed with breakdowns and built for live chaos, while the Alan Ford fronted video hints at their growing cinematic flair. ‘Counterfeit’ hits like a venomous punch to the throat, taking aim at the fake and the performative with no interest in subtlety.
Just as things threaten to blur into a wall of distortion, ‘Salt The Wound’ slows the tempo and swaps brute force for emotional clarity. Taylor’s clean vocals here stretch beyond anything the band have done before, giving the track a sombre, meditative tone before everything eventually erupts again. ‘So Help Me God’ snarls and swings with tempo shifts and Pantera-style swagger, while ‘Imperfect Picture’ lifts off entirely with a Metallica-esque solo – shimmering, expressive, and completely earned. ‘Heaven’s Shake’ leans into atmosphere and sludge, its grooves heavier and more deliberate, setting the stage for the record’s most anticipated moment.
That comes on ‘In Spite,’ which features Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe. His guest spot doesn’t just boost the track; it amplifies the entire record’s crossover appeal, merging UK hardcore’s grit with American metal’s weight. From there, the album’s closer, ‘Demonstration of Pain,’ and the sombre ‘With Dirt From My Grave’ offer a kind of heavy reflection – balancing the album’s opening fire with something more considered, more human.
Fifteen years into their career, Malevolence have made their boldest and most complete statement yet. ‘Where Only the Truth Is Spoken’ isn’t here to reinvent metalcore – it’s here to remind us why it mattered in the first place. It stomps and howls, but it also listens, lingers, and leaves its mark. There’s a whole world of polish in its production, but at its core, it’s still Sheffield steel – raw, unshakable, and HEAVY. Fundamentally, this album gives fans exactly what they’ve been missing.
KATHRYN EDWARDS