Album review: Malevolence – Where Only The Truth Is Spoken

There’s a reason sharks haven’t evolved for millions of years. It’s because they don’t need to – their efficiency as a streamlined killing machine needs no augmentation. The same might be said for Malevolence. They’ve been doling out sonic savagery for 15 years without restraint or compromise – cowed by nothing, not even the best efforts of The National Trust.

They’re similarly unremitting on Where Only The Truth Is Spoken, their fourth album, despite these days plying their craft in a more prestigious studio (Dave Grohl’s Studio 606) and with a more acclaimed producer (GRAMMY winner Josh Wilbur). But unlike the shark, here Malevolence have emerged bigger, harder, with more teeth, bigger muscles, and an even greater ability to bite anything in front of them in half.

It’s heartening that bands operating on their own terrifying terms are now being rewarded for their toil. Admittedly, this only happens when the records you continue to make are top tier. Where Only The Truth Is Spoken is exactly the one they needed to make after 2022’s Malicious Intent put the Sheffield sluggers within spitting distance of British heavy metal’s upper echelons. Some have previously fumbled such an opportunity, but this is Malevolence we’re talking about – they drop bangers, not the ball.

From the moment opener Blood From The Leach announces itself, a tangled assault of strafing guitars and concussive snare, you know you’re in safe hands. Well, perhaps not safe, because they’ll kick the shit out of your ears, but certainly assured, confident, expert.

What continues to set Malevolence apart is their adherence to ensuring there’s plenty of metal in their metalcore. If It’s All The Same To You is the perfect example, with its dizzying array of riffs, breakdowns and one hell of a solo. It's possible to overdo this, make it an exercise in throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, but there’s refinement that prohibits virtuosity coming at the expense of hooks, perfectly caught on the dark and light of Salt The Wound. Meanwhile, So Help Me God could so easily have become an indiscernible sludge had its galloping onslaught been captured poorly, but every part is able to breathe and show itself fully.

Whatever way you look at it, Where Only The Truth Is Spoken is a step up. Some of the signs of Malevolence’s ascension to the big leagues are obvious, like the cameo from Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe on the storming In Spite, but others are less so. It’s the songwriting of a band that wants to make every note count, rather than simply bulldozing the listener into submission – where the space that’s left, like a gathering storm, is as important as what’s played. This is a modern metal masterpiece that throws down the gauntlet for Malevolence’s peers, as well as themselves.

Verdict: 5/5

For fans of: Killswitch Engage, Thrown, Lamb Of God

Where Only The Truth Is Spoken is released on June 20 via MLVLTD / Nuclear Blast.

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