VILE APPARITION – Malignity

vote
7.5

• Bands:
  VILE APPARITION
• Duration: 00:34:27
• Available from: 10/10/2025
• Label:

• Me Saco Un Ojo Records

Streaming not yet available

“Malignity” is the second album by Vile Apparition, a band dedicated to visceral New York-based death metal. The quartet, active since 2017, however, does not come from the Big Apple, but from Melbourne in Australia and is currently signed to the English record label Me Saco Un Ojo Records.

The formula underlying “Malignity” is a breath of fresh air for those nostalgic for the genre, because it rests its foundations in tradition and in the search for surgical brutality and great impact: this means a so-called 'brutal' death metal rooted in the first half of the nineties, hard and without contemporary contamination.
Here we look to the point, betting heavily on heaviness and a very respectable technical background, from every point of view.
The production is of excellent workmanship, which takes the listener back in time, catapulting us to the golden age of death metal born and developed between Yonkers and Long Island, reliving the masterpieces of titans of the genre such as Suffocation, Pyrexia, Malignancy, Immolation, Internal Bleeding etc. As per tradition in this style, we are faced with full-bodied and rounded sounds, an extremely guttural voice and a tuning that the lower the better.

New York death metal is synonymous with technique and brutality on the one hand and suffocating slam slowdowns on the other: ingredients that are pushed to the limit in “Malignity”, following the guidelines of records such as “Effigy Of The Forgotten”, “Pierced From Within” and “Sermon Of Mockery”, just to name a few.
For over half an hour, the eleven tracks branch off into a refined and ultra-elaborate labyrinth made of scales, phrasings, restarts, harmonics and oppressive parts cadenced in the style of “Voracious Contempt”.
The industriousness of drummer Ollie Ballantyne is competent, precise and tireless, never limiting himself to choosing the simplest and most monotonous solution, but following down to the smallest detail the intricate web of riffs woven by guitarists Jordan Fernand and Jamie Colic, with the latter also taking charge of the excellent rhythmic tangle entrusted to a distinguishable and virtuoso bass. The guitar solos are less intrusive and always spot on, capable of recalling the style of Robert Vigna of Immolation, while the blast-beat faithfully refers to the iconic unison technique, also known as hammer blast, launched by Suffocation's first drummer, Mike Smith.

“Malignity” could be defined as a sort of practical guide to playing New York death metal to perfection: this translates into an expertly reasoned, excellently composed and meticulously performed album: nothing to say.
Clearly these premises should keep away those who are looking for groups that bring innovation and experimentation to the death metal universe; for sound hunters faithful to the gurus of the genre, however, we are faced with an accurate re-proposal of the years gone by; the concept of the pieces aligned with the gore genre also follows the stylistic features of the past, while the cover adds a pinch of Lovecraftian horror to everything.
An indispensable album? No, but definitely an enjoyable and high-level album, especially if you love old school brutal death metal.