LIVE REVIEW: Malevolence @ O2 Ritz, Manchester

The rise of MALEVOLENCE has been meteoric in recent years. Although the Steel City bruisers have been slogging away in the underground since forming back in 2010, recent times have seen the band surge in popularity with the release of Malicious Intent and performances at Bloodstock Festival 2021 and 2022 being bonafide showstoppers. Now, on their biggest UK tour to date, the band hit the O2 Ritz in Manchester and given the queue snaking up the street, it seems certain to be a night of riffy goodness.

Despite the early doors time, there’s a healthy number of bodies inside when Australian deathcore outfit JUSTICE FOR THE DAMNED take to the stage. Nick Adams and Kieran Molloy dispatch bludgeoning riff after bludgeoning riff, with the death metal-tinged bluntness hitting well and vocalist Bobak Raffiee prowls the stage and his guttural vocals, although sometimes lost in the mix, connect well enough to get the crowd warmed up. Being first on a stacked bill is a tough ask, but JUSTICE FOR THE DAMNED do more than enough to get the night off to an explosive start.

Rating: 7/10

For GUILT TRIP, tonight is very much a homecoming show. A relatively new name on the hardcore scene, the Mancunian hardcore band are riding a wave of momentum with the release of new album Severance and given the fact the band sit on tonight’s headliners label, it feels like a prime opportunity for GUILT TRIP to make a big leap forward in their career. And they do just that. In an exhilarating and adrenaline-surging set, the band go for the jugular and the intensity rarely dips. A one-two punch of Sweet Dreams and Eyes Wide Shut shows the band at their most explosive, as frontman Jay Valentine venomous barks ride over the carnage of the riffs, and Tearing Your Life Away is easily a set highlight as the band fire on all cylinders. Make no mistake, the future is bright for GUILT TRIP.

Rating: 9/10

Although they are cemented in the wider UK metal scene, SYLOSIS feel like the odd ones out on a more hardcore-leaning bill, but the Reading-based shredders quickly affirm their place as they proceed to deliver a masterclass in technical and explosive headbanging metal. Material from this year’s excellent A Sign Of Things To Come sound absolutely colossal in the live arena, with Poison For The Lost, Deadwood and the title track in particular being utterly monstrous, whilst the dense chug of I Sever or the dancing riffage in The Blackest Skyline all keep the energy at its highest as Josh Middleton and his bandmates look they are having the best time on stage, and their professionalism in their craft is exquisite. SYLOSIS have been a mainstay in UK metal for years, and despite their lengthy career, it feels like they are just beginning to hit monumental strides. And it is fully deserved.

Rating: 8/10

On the basis of the bands prior, most could leave satisfied, but MALEVOLENCE are a special band and moments prior to the band taking to the stage; the excitement is at fever pitch. All of this builds like a fuse lit to a powder keg, and the second the band unleash the title track from their latest offering, hell breaks lose as bodies cascade over the barrier and the pit surges.

It’s an exhilarating opening and from there, MALEVOLENCE continue to land punch after punch. Alex Taylor rides the aural wave as the band unleash a blistering Life Sentence, Still Waters Run Deep‘s NOLA-tinged grooves from Konan Hall sound absolutely colossal on this big stage, and Self Supremacy hits like a ten ton hammer as 1500 people lose their collective shit in the chaos.

Higher Place provides a welcome respite and its emotional delivery leaves hairs standing on the back of the neck, Karma has the crowd bouncing and threatening to shake the venue’s foundations whilst a thundering finale of Keep Your Distance and On Broken Glass end the night in the most glorious of fashions. There’s not enough superlatives to describe the euphoria of witnessing MALEVOLENCE live. Are they the future of British metal? Hell yes they are.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Manchester from Jess Robinson here: 

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