I was warned in advance that the sophomore release from Portugal’s Malevolence were a heavily Swedish death metal influenced group and even suggested their label, Maquiavel Entertainment reconsider sending it to me as I would most likely not be into it, but no one ever seems to listen to me, so at least they’ve got no one to blame this time around. The music is pretty consistent with the general sound created by bands such as In Flames, At The Gates and Dark Tranquility, with a near danceable groove, multiple wanky solos typical of the genre, keyboards and the Swedish yell/growl which has become a staple of European death metal. The album is laced with a heavy black metal influence in parts, generally on the slower tracks like "Hunters Of The Red Moon" where the keyboarding is more prevalent, surprisingly, the majority of the solos are 80s metal or power metal driven, which I found a bit unusual, but apart from that there’s very little that sets them apart from the rest. One of the more unusual things about the group is the keyboarding, on some tracks it’s heavily operatic, typical of most black metal groups, however on others it’s much more electronic sounding. Apart from that there honestly isn’t too much to say about Malevolence apart from I’ve heard it all a thousand times before. The music itself isn’t bad, and I’m sure will appeal to fans of In Flames and Dark Tranquility, however, with the exception of early At The Gates, early Entombed and early Grave, the Swedish death metal sound does very little for me. It’s not a bad release, but it’s not something I’d spend my hard earned money on. This is basically a band you will either love or just be indifferent towards and my feelings on Malevolence lean heavily towards the latter.

Written By: Teufel