The best way to describe the sophomore release from British band Malefice is a combination of Death Metal, Mathcore and a bit of Thrash Metal. Dawn of Reprisal is due in stores on March 3rd on Metal Blade Records. I did not know much about Malefice before I received this disc and I had not heard anything from their first release, Entities, so I had no idea what to expect when I pop the disc into my player.

Though the band sticks mostly to punishing the listener with a ferocious metal attack the thing that stands out the most to me, and the aspect that I feel separates Malefice from being just another Death Metal band, is their skillful and successful incorporation of melodies and guitar harmonies.

Don’t get the wrong idea though; there is nothing soft about this CD... Dawn Of Reprisal is a straight up metal release full of aural aggression that will steal your breath away and have your head reeling in know time at all.

The one thing I believe this CD lacks is variety and by the middle of the disc, the songs seemed to blur together.

The songs that I was most struck by were “End Of Days,” “When Embers Ignite” and “Retribution” all three of which are heavy as shit but incorporate enough of the previously mentioned harmonic tones and melodies to make them stand out from the rest of the tracks in the disc.

Dawn of Reprisal is not a genre defining release by any stretch of the means. It is however a solid, brutal and at times incredibly heavy disc that fits comfortably well into the confines Death Metal scene. For me Dawn of Reprisal is a bit too much at times, but fans of this genre should enjoy it.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. The Midas Effect
02. Abandon Hope
03. An Architect Of Your Demise
04. End Of Days
05. Human Portrait
06. As I Bleed
07. When Embers Ignite
08. Retribution
09. Hatred Justified

Run Time: 37:46