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ALBUM REVIEW
- Malfeitor - Incubus
- Agonia Records
- You’ve had my paean of love for
the Italian black metal scene often enough; suffice to say that Malfeitor, the band
started by M. Fabban back in 2006, are one of my favourite shades on this nation’s
palette. That these hateful and raucous cultists have gone the distance and continued to
deliver on debut "Unio Mystica Maxima"’s thunderously blasphemous
promise is very good news indeed; "Incubus" is a horrendous, rumbling
mass of pummelling, threatening black metal, delivered with old-school panache, but
certainly not short on subtle invention.
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- The assault is merciless from the
off-key, evil, cacophonous beginning, and Malfeitor’s brand of chaos is certainly no
place for the weak-hearted, the sensitive-eared or those who are looking for acoustic
pagan hymns. It’s all about blast beats, racing fretwork, puke-inducing tempo
changes, dissonance, distortion, fury and throat-shredding, Christ-hating rage. "Into
the Qliphot of Golachab" is where the subtleties and skill become clear, with a
surprising amount of melody built into some rumbling, blasting, nasty foundations, and a
change of direction and rebuilding of themes performed with a casualness that belies its
cleverness.
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- "Mysterious, Mystical,
Majestic" is another clear stand-out, with its blistering pace, irresistible
catchiness and grand conclusion. The writing on this track is again superb, with each
section making even more of an impact than its predecessor. "Promethean Fire"
shows Malfeitor in dominant mode, whilst "Typhonian Gods" repeats "Golachab"’s
trick by introducing some interesting melody, with some rather unsettling sampling and a
sprawling, slow, doomy finish. The clean vocals on "The Other Half" come
completely out of nowhere, but are a really welcome variation on the norm. The album as a
whole is well structured, with the title track battering its way through the epitome of
Malfeitor’s style, and closer "Antisaturno" using searing
electronics and cold ambience to ensure that the enduring impression is otherworldly,
weird and decidedly hostile.
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- Malfeitor do not, as they say,
reinvent the wheel, but they succeed in performing old-school black metal, with all the
classic old-school techniques and tricks, and end up sounding fresh, kept vital by their
sheer aggression as much as by their technical skills and the subtle changes and
variations which they add to their music. "Incubus" is a dead cert for
anyone who wants to roar at the northern darkness amongst inventive, genuine-sounding
company.
- 78/100
- Ellen Simpson
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- www.myspace.com/malfeitor666
- www.malfeitor.net
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