Malefice was an English

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, formed in 2003. They disbanded in 2017.

History

The original members consisted of university friends Dale Butler, Alex Vuskans, Craig Thomas and Craig Fenner. After formation, they began writing their songs straight away. Their first major break was to open a four-band bill charity gig at the Rivermead Centre in Reading. Henceforth, their fanbase began to grow. Through constant touring around Reading and London, they managed to get a distribution deal for their first EP ''Relentless'' through Hangman's Joke. Then in early 2007, they signed to Anticulture Records. They then recorded their debut album ''Entities'' under the production team of Dan Weller and Justin Hill of WellerHill at Craig's parents home in South Wales. The band eventually announced their amicable split from the Anticulture label via their

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

page. Since the album's release, they had been support for the SikTh tour as well as

DevilDriver DevilDriver is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002, consisting of vocalist Dez Fafara, bassist Jon Miller, guitarist Alex Lee and drummer Davier Pérez. The b ...

and

God Forbid God Forbid is an American metalcore band formed in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey, East Brunswick, New Jersey in 1996. Initially breaking up in 2013, they have been semi-active since reuniting in 2022. History Early career (1996–2004) ...

and played shows with the likes of

Soulfly Soulfly is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Phoenix, Arizona in 1997. Soulfly is led by former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera, who formed the band after he left the Brazilian group in 1996. To date the band has release ...

. In January 2008, they played a show at The Wedgewood Rooms in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, which was recorded and planned to be released on DVD. In June 2008, Malefice opened the second stage of the prestigious

Download Festival Download Festival is a rock festival created by Andy Copping, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 2019); Flemington ...

on Saturday. In November 2008, Malefice announced through their Myspace page that they had signed a worldwide deal with

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records (often shortened to Metal Blade) is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982 based in the U.S. state of California. The label primarily focuses on heavy metal. History Metal Blade Records was ...

. In March 2009, they released their second album '' Dawn of Reprisal''. On 12 September, they played at Butserfest alongside Go:Audio and We Are the Ocean. On 26 September 2009, they played in India at the annual cultural fest Rendezvous of

IIT Delhi Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT- Delhi) is a public institute of technology located in Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology created to be a Centre of Excellence for India's training, research and developme ...

. In March 2010 the band featured on the BBC TV show '' The Bubble''. The following month, it was announced that drummer Craig Thomas had left the band, to be replaced by Chris Allan. Following this, Malefice also played on the Jager stage at Sonisphere UK, playing a 30-minute set on Saturday evening. In 2012, they recorded a song titled "Omega" with footballer

Marcus Hahnemann Marcus Stephen Hahnemann (born June 15, 1972) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. Graduating out of Seattle Pacific University, he played for the Seattle Sounders between 1994 and 1996. Between 1997 an ...

for the Jägermeister UK "Ice Cold Session". In June 2012, the band signed to Transcend Music. In March 2017, the group disbanded in order to pursue solo careers.

Musical style

Laut.de ''laut.de'' is a German online magazine covering music and entertainment. It was founded in Konstanz in 1996 by Rainer Henze melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

and

metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

. Conversely, '' Rock Hard'' said they had "not much in common" with metalcore, instead drawing comparisons with

Lamb of God Lamb of God (; , ) is a Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/John#1:29, John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, " ...

, Gojira and Hacride. ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' compared them to Nightrage.

Band members

Current members

* Dale Butler – vocals (2003–2017) * Ben Symons – guitar (2003–2017) * Tom Hynes – bass (2006–2017) * Andrew Wilson – guitar (2011–2017) * James Cook – drums (2014–2017)

Former members

* Lloyd Griffiths – bass (2003–2006) * Craig Thomas – drums (2003–2010) * Alex Vuskans – guitar (2003–2011) * Chris Allan – drums (2010–2014)

Timeline

ImageSize =width:800 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea =left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:0 Alignbars =justify DateFormat =mm/dd/yyyy Period =from:01/01/2003 till:03/01/2017 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2003 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2003 TimeAxis =orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend =orientation:horizontal position:bottom Colors= id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:studio value:black legend:Studio_albums/EPs id:bars value:gray(0.95) LineData= at:01/01/2006 color:black layer:back at:08/20/2007 color:black layer:back at:02/27/2009 color:black layer:back at:07/15/2011 color:black layer:back at:07/28/2013 color:black layer:back BackgroundColors= bars:bars BarData= bar:Dale text:"Dale Butler" bar:Ben text:"Ben Symons" bar:Alex text:"Alex Vuskans" bar:Andrew text:"Andrew Wilson" bar:Lloyd text:"Lloyd Griffiths" bar:Tom text:"Tom Hynes" bar:Craig text:"Craig Thomas" bar:Chris text:"Chris Allan" bar:James text:"James Cook" PlotData = width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Dale from:01/01/2003 till:end color:vocals bar:Ben from:01/01/2003 till:end color:guitar bar:Alex from:01/01/2003 till:11/01/2011 color:guitar bar:Andrew from:11/01/2011 till:end color:guitar bar:Lloyd from:01/01/2003 till:06/01/2006 color:bass bar:Tom from:06/01/2006 till:end color:bass bar:Craig from:01/01/2003 till:01/01/2010 color:drums bar:Chris from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2014 color:drums bar:James from:01/01/2014 till:end color:drums

Discography

Studio albums and EPs

* 2006: ''Relentless'' (Hangmans Joke) * 2007: '' Entities'' (Anticulture Records) * 2009: '' Dawn of Reprisal'' (

) * 2011: '' Awaken the Tides'' (Metal Blade Records) * 2013: ''Five'' ( Transcend Music)

Promotional videos

* 2006: "The Force That You Fear" * 2007: "Risen Through the Ashes" * 2009: "An Architect of Your Demise" * 2011: "Awaken the Tides" * 2012: "Omega" (feat.

) * 2013: "V" * 2013: "Blueprints" * 2014: "Heroes"

References

External links

*
Malefice TV on YouTube
{{Authority control English heavy metal musical groups English melodic death metal musical groups English metalcore musical groups English thrash metal musical groups Extreme metal musical groups Metal Blade Records artists Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups from Reading, Berkshire Rock music groups from Berkshire