Malevolence: Big Stages, Same Ethics
Sheffield hardcore bruisers MALEVOLENCE have skyrocketed to prominence in recent years and rightly so, after performing high octane slots at Bloodstock Festival, Download Pilot and Slam Dunk their fan base has exploded exponentially. They are also poised to head out on a stadium support run with ARCHITECTS which will undoubtedly pay dividends to allowing them huge exposure to new faces.
Frontman Alex Taylor remains incredibly humble. “Whether you see MALEVOLENCE play to 200, 2000 or 20,000 people you know you’re going to get the same kind of energy from us. I’m excited to see how the crowd reacts as it’s kind of a new crowd for us. I’m hoping we can win some new people over. We’re going to bring the chaos for sure!”
The numerous performances they now have under their belts it sets them in good stead to drop their first album in five years; Malicious Intent. An album which has went through a lot of developments to get to the final product. “We had the basis of some of those tracks for nearly three or four years,” admits Alex. “There are some songs which were written during the creative process for The Other Side which we held back and refined which are now on the album such as Still Waters Run Deep which has been in the making for a long time. With the lockdown and everything we knew we had to come out of the gate fighting and to be honest it was probably the easiest album we’ve ever written. Everything just flowed naturally. We’re trying to get ahead of the curve and have a handful of tracks already on the go for future releases and keep things flowing.”
Malicious Intent is set to take the world by storm with its lethal combination of beatdowns, melodic anthems and raw energy, Alex has no intention of taking this opportunity for granted. “I think we’ve matured a lot as people and our music has matured with us as a result. I can’t believe Self Supremacy was six or seven years ago. I’m 28 now and when you’re 21 you have different ideas and different views of the world so in terms of lyrics we really want to write motivational messages behind our content. I feel like I’m in a position now where people listen quite attentively to what I say so I try to say something which is from the heart and not just sing about fucking Dungeons & Dragons. It’s been a learning curve for sure. For The Other Side it was completely self-released and was our first venture into doing something like that and handling everything in house so it was pretty daunting but it was a fun experience and something we knew we wanted to try. It’s definitely something I’d encourage doing if anyone is in the position to do so but you’ve got to be prepared to put the graft in as it’s no easy feat. It did turn out to be mega rewarding though. A lot of people appreciate the personal touch of knowing we’re the ones packaging merch orders and dropping notes in with the records we send out.”
MALEVOLENCE formed their own record label MLVLTD in 2019 and in conjunction with this have also constructed their own base of operations in their hometown which opens a lot of different avenues to the band. “We originally had a practice room and it was in a really shitty area of Sheffield that no one ever really wanted to go to and we knew we needed to find out own space,” explains Alex. “Opportunities presented themselves and it was basically a stripped down warehouse, nothing in it and it was perfect. A blank canvas where we put all new wiring, plumbing etc in and installed everything from scratch ourselves. It was a lot of long hours and late nights but we were conscious we needed this space and it became a labour of love and really helped in how the new album came together.”
As well as the double-barrelled vocal powerhouse MALEVOLENCE possess in Alex and guitarist Konan Hall the new release also features amazing guest spots with Matt Honeycut from KUBLAI KHAN TX on Above All Else and Matt Heafy from TRIVIUM on Salvation. The latter being a huge advocate for the band, promoting them regularly on his social media and Twitch channels. “So Matt Heafy followed Josh [Baines, guitars] on Instagram one day and messaged the band page saying he really liked our stuff and knew we were working on a new album and said he’d love to be involved if the opportunity came up. Of course we took him up on his offer and we were like ‘Yeah, you can do whatever you want!’” Jokes Alex. “TRIVIUM were one of the bands we grew up listening to and were a massive influence on us so his willingness to get involved was mind blowing. Salvation was actually already recorded but we went back into the studio and tweaked the song to accommodate his guitar solo and his vocals which was really cool to include.”
The DIY ethic of MALEVOLENCE still runs strong in their veins. Juggling all of the business/financial workload which comes as part and parcel of being functional musicians as well as their own day jobs. It is admirable just how much of their hearts and souls they pour into the band. “Outside of the band I work in event security which is what I’ve done for like the last four years,” discusses Alex. “I was head of security for the O2 Academy in Sheffield for a bit, more on a casual basis and have floated around other venues too working nightclubs and stuff like that. It’s always kind of gone hand in hand working with the band. It’s been quite a unique situation to be in for sure. Wilkie [Robinson, bass] and Charlie [Thorpe, drums] have a big role in the day to day operations of the band and the label MLVLTD, like the marketing side of things so they work very hard. Josh teaches guitar to a whole host of students around the world and Konan [Hall, guitars/vocals] is a builder by trade so his skills came in very handy when putting the warehouse together.”
Malicious Intent is out now via Nuclear Blast Records/MLVTLD.
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