With only four albums in their locker, few would believe that Malevolence would be where they are now after 15 years. Since their formation in 2010, the lads from Sheffield have hit extraordinary new heights with each passing day and there’s simply nothing stopping them. They’ve shown no fear in thinking outside the box and have taken the world by storm, rightfully getting called up by major festivals and larger venues every time a new tour gets announced. It’s therefore no surprise that when Where Only the Truth is Spoken reaches our streaming services, fans will lose their heads again.
‘Blood To the Leech’ gets the album off to a frantic start as Malevolence open fire with a blitzkrieg of different sounds. Alex Taylor’s furious screams of rebellion evoke a mass prison break, in which he leads the escape and guards can only watch helplessly as they’ve been outnumbered. Josh Baines and Konan Hall’s B minor tuned guitars do their magic, producing some riffs of the finest quality that will make you sweat buckets while Charlie Thorpe sees no limits on how much he can make the most out of his supreme talent. Finely executed radical tempo changes, blast beats and breakdowns out of nowhere says it all as to why he’s a top drummer who deserves a masterclass on Drumeo.
Where Only the Truth is Spoken focuses on Malevolence’s principles and values that they live by “since day one—honesty, loyalty, and integrity”. ‘Trenches’ is an example of that, where the band talk about how they’ve had to put blood, sweat and tears into getting to where they are today. It’s also an unapologetic rallying cry towards staying true to yourself and a slap in the face of their critics who wrote them off only to show up when they became bigger, because in return it’ll be Malevolence who have the last laugh “Now it’s fake smiles at the finish line / Nice to know I’m worth your time”. The band have admitted that they always wanted to be different and swallowing their pride to bow down to purists is something they’ll never do “Never wanted anything in return / I walk my own path, so I keep the respect I earn”.
You can hear just how much this song touches Adam’s soul as he screams in a passionate tone containing nothing but authority, as he’ll fight until the very end when getting his point across. Every instrument is given room to manifest themselves in the mix thanks to Josh Wilbur, the mastermind behind all this who used Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 to the best of his ability. If you’re a Grammy award winner who’s worked alongside the likes of Lamb of God, Trivium and Gojira, it’s an opportunity you would never pass up. For instance, Wilkie Robinson’s dirty bass tone finds a way to form a deadly partnership with Josh Baines and Konan Hall’s guitars without becoming an unbearable barrage of noise.
‘If It’s All The Same To You’ is a classic Malevolence style song with all the twists and turns you’d expect, consisting of an in-your-face intro before all hell breaks loose. As soon as Charlie does some fills and tickles the ride cymbal, that’s when you know riots will start and no marshals at any show or festival can control a pit as he loses his temper behind the kit. Alex’s screams alongside Konan’s deep gravelly backing vocals spell fear in the air and it’s guaranteed that your neck will hurt from headbanging so much.
Alex mentions how this tune highlights that trying to change people who hold others back is pointless and not worthy of getting yourself involved in. “I don’t believe that times have changed / Another day and it’s still the same” further emphasises those reasons as attempting to talk sense into someone stubborn is like trying to teach an old dog to sit. Eventually, no matter how painful, letting go will be the best option in the long run “I’ll cut my losses / And separate myself in two” while the other party continues to miss opportunities to turn themselves around “I offered you my hand / But you would rather hold a grudge”.
There’s a cheeky surprise included for us too, because the band use every remaining trick in their arsenal with the end product being a Hollywood quality video. Malevolence’s confidence is on cloud nine by this point as they collaborate with Alan Ford, famously known for his role as Brick Top in the movie Snatch whereby he acts as a mafia chief asking them to perform a heist. It’s remarkable as to how quickly these guys have matured, because not many groups at this stage in their careers have the guts to pull off a move like that.
‘Counterfeit’ is where Malevolence inaugurate their museum of versatility by combining a vast array of sub-genres from hardcore, metalcore and deathcore all into one song as well as knowing just how to fine-tune them. Anger management will never work with Alex as he’s fully engulfed in rage, screaming in a protest-style tone as if he had a megaphone while leading a manifestation. Josh’s guitar solo may be short but in this case, it’s perfectly suitable due to many things going on simultaneously which shows his level of awareness, spotting any window of opportunity to add in something creative but not botch what’s well-built. Charlie, who didn’t take too long to announce his presence, runs the show with extra-tidy fills, chops and powerful grooves to carry everyone forward.
Until this point, Malevolence had been hammering our ears with constant onslaughts of fast-paced songs, but ‘Salt The Wound’ brings a bit of respite. They tone down previous aggression and dive into melancholic territory while jumping between ballad and groove metal tempos. While most of Where Only The Truth Is Spoken is in the key of B minor, this song in particular is where it hits hardest. Melancholy and B minor are like brothers in arms and have always gone well together with tunes such as ‘Comfortably Numb’ being a concrete example.
Clean guitar melodies accompanied by a gentle drumbeat are so satisfying that you can picture yourself sitting by a stream after a long walk. Konan has a much bigger presence and it’s also where we get to hear a different side of him as he softens his vocal phrasing and texture. While roughness remains, there’s some velvet-like warmth sneaking in which matches perfectly with the mini-solos. When it gets to the more savage bits, Alex takes over and just like his vocal counterpart, there’s also a bit of sentiment, showing how much emotion they’ve poured into this piece.
Yet again, it’s not just through music that these guys illustrate their intentions. They come up with another music video to rubberstamp in our hearts exactly what they want to convey. Alex explains how this song exposes both faces of their sound and Director Daniel Priess deserves serious credit for what he’s done in putting Alex’s words into film. The cinematography is beautiful, consisting of scenes all shot in their hometown whether it be ruined abbeys or highlands. So, once you add all these dots together, it’s not hard to understand why their approach is touching. Lyrics cover topics of pain and struggling to let go of ghosts of people who betrayed you or mistakes made in the past, but you still can’t forgive yourself “If I could say all the things I really feel…”. As a result, you end up salting your own wounds as a coping mechanism “Salt the wound / Rip the heart from my chest”.
‘So Help Me God’ is a return to the album’s primary sound as the Konan of old returns with inner grunts reminiscent of Phil Anselmo from Pantera coming out at full force while Alex’s menacing screams reassures listeners that calmness will never prevail. Josh Baines does his longest solo yet, nailing complex patterns of shredding and tapping alongside Charlie, who jumps on the bandwagon of insanity, playing more and more breakdowns that if done at an underground venue, karate would actually happen in the pit.
Up until ‘Imperfect Picture’, things seem to be heading for a hell of a finale, but challenges start to arise. Tracks 8 and 9 feel like they belong in another album and the flow slows down. Also, the brief featuring of Randy Blythe in ‘In Spite’ doesn’t add much to what’s been an overall solid record. Thankfully, the last two songs (10 and 11) prevent Where Only The Truth Is Spoken from an anticlimactic end. Finishing any album on a perfect high is always difficult with many factors needing to be taken into consideration e.g. matching number of songs to their intensity and lengths.
Malevolence though are a very young band and have achieved way more than many other groups who are at veteran status so they can be very proud of themselves for getting to where they are this quick.
Where Only The Truth Is Spoken comes out on June 20 2025 through Nuclear Blast Records.
