EP REVIEW: Merciless Storm – Malicious

Although they may not be one of the most prolific bands when it comes to releasing new material, Finland’s MALICIOUS certainly make an impression when they do put out new music. Since their formation in 2011, the band have released just a demo, two EPs and an album – 2020’s Deranged Hexes – which are all singularly brilliant, possessing the sort of intense and rabid approach to extreme metal that combines death, black and thrash metal together in a fiercely virtuosic and unflinchingly speed-driven way that has more in common with the varied and unhinged style of a lot of the best extreme metal to come out in the 80s, with the line between genres being significantly blurred. The band’s latest EP, Merciless Storm, comes just over three years after their debut album, and combines the same sort of harshness and razor sharp precision of that record’s style, resulting in a short but powerful piece of music that is every bit as magnificent.

Merciless Storm serves as a blistering and noxious slab of technical, frenetic blackened thrash that kicks things off with a bang, immediately grabbing the listener’s attention with its razor sharp guitar work, searing vocals and intricate, punishing percussion as it crafts a biting and feral sound that borrows heavily from embryonic extreme metal for influence without parodying those styles. Invasive Terror, a similarly bestial and rabid piece of unflinching intensity, follows the same formula, with meatier rhythms and jarring leads making it sound if anything even more savage and primitive than its predecessor.

Ambient Sonic Annihilation, with its caustic, thrash-inflected sound, possesses the same sort of stringent guitar work, chaotic drumming and acerbic vocals that make up the earlier offerings, but places slightly more emphasis on speed and aggression than the first two tracks, creating another stunningly energetic and fierce affair that sounds excellent. Chronic Quake brings this record to a conclusion with a tighter, punchier sound than the last three songs, although the music itself is not without its cacophonous flourishes, polished and belligerent leads and visceral vocals, providing a more focused rendition of the style that dominates this brilliantly coarse and frenzied EP.

The four songs that make up Merciless Storm, much like the three records that have preceded it, all possess the same core sound that makes each of them brilliant in their own right, but hardly distinct from each other. If you’re looking for variety on this or in any of MALICIOUS‘ music, then you’ll not find any. Luckily the lean, focused and intricate sound that the band has means that the one style and pace that they stick to is done extremely well, meaning that if you love one of their tracks, it’s incredibly likely that you’ll love the rest. Rather than being off-putting or making it sound stale, this adherence to a demented and adventurous approach serves this record well, with there being enough imaginative leads and little touches peppered throughout to keep the listener engrossed in what’s going on, making it another energetic inclusion in a growing pantheon of excellent, uncompromising musicianship.

Rating: 8/10

Merciless Storm is out now via Invictus Productions.

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