Malevolent Creation

The Will to Kill (Arctic Music)
by Tim Den

A mighty return to form! The last full-length (Envenomed) had me yawning with its interchangeable blasts and “scary scary kill kill” lyrics, but The Will to Kill has gotten this old bag of bones excited about Malevolent Creation all over again. The new energy is partly due to new vocalist/ex-Hateplow frontman Kyle Symons’ presence. All rip-roaring, full-frontal, hardcore-singer-trapped-in-a-metal-dude growl (he makes ex-vocalist Brett Hoffman’s past two recorded performances sound like a pencil sharpener), but I gotta give that-guy-from-Kataklysm some credit, too. This is the best sounding Malevolent Creation album since their pinnacle, Eternal. The foundations are booming and warm, the mid-range punch is steel-solid, and the crunch of the machine-gun guitars shred through flesh like it’s raging with bloodlust. Who knew Canadians made such good engineers? Oh wait, Devin Townsend…

Not to mention new drummer Justin DiPinto (who has now been replaced by Ariel Alvarado) totally owning the place. Nice change of pace from Dave Culross’ phoning-it-in. This is metal carnage at its most deadly. You need it.
(400 S.E. 9th St. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315)