Malevolent Creation: Stillborn (1993)

Ah, the days when Roadrunner Records actually had legitimate metal bands on their roster.  The early '90's saw Roadrunner as one of the leading labels in releasing death metal bands.  And Malevolent Creation was one of many.  Malevolent Creation was always one of my favorite band names, but I have not really gotten into much of their music.  Not really sure why that is. 

I decided recently to check out one of the band's earlier releases to see if I could see why they are revered in the death metal scene.  This is the band's third release, and it does not have very good reviews on the Metal Archives, so I may have missed the boat here, but if this is a bad early Malevolent Creation album, then I definitely need to hear the good ones.

I love this album.  The riffs are rabid and hard-hitting and the vocals have an incredibly aggressive bark that is captivating.  There are some damn impressive riffs here that stand out from a lot of the other bands in the Florida death metal scene and the solos absolutely slay.  The vocals are not the typical early death metal fare, bearing more resemblance to brutal thrash metal than death metal. 

The only real issues with this album are fairly minor.  The production is a little murky, but that is not unusual for death metal of this time period.  And the album tends to sound a little too much the same at times.  There are not a lot of melodic moments, with Malevolent Creation preferring to just bludgeon the listener.  But again, these are minor complaints.

This is just the third album I have picked up by Malevolent Creation, and I think I need to check out more.  Next stop will be the first two albums I think.

This Week in Metal and My Life Jan. 3-9, 2010

Well the first full week of the new year is in the bag. It has been a crazy week for weather. We got some more snow and temperatures dropped to an amazing -22 degrees last night. We've been staying as warm as possible at Casa de Metallattorney. The dogs are not happy though. We have had to tie them to the front porch as we cannot get to their dog run thanks to the 30 plus inches of snow we have gotten in recent weeks and the high wind, which those two elements combined to put a nice five foot tall snow drift in front of the dog run. Good times. The fiancee and I have mostly hung around the house. We watched some movies this week and otherwise, things were not really all that exciting.

Work was hectic this week. I started the week off on a good foot when I successfully negotiated a pretty good plea agreement for one of my clients. I then spent four hours in a deposition. It was the longest afternoon of my life. The end of the week went reasonably well also as one of my other clients indicated a willingness to accept a proposed settlement agreement. Big relief there. The agreement still needs to be mediated, but it's a start.

As for metal, no real exciting news this week. Cobalt's Phil McSorley appeared on Fox News' Red Eye. I have not had a chance to watch the clip yet. McSorley has spent considerable time in service abroad and is a sergeant in the U.S. Army. I have enormous respect for all of our soldiers. I haven't really checked out Cobalt's music but know they are well-received critically. Perhaps it's time to do so. Slayer backed out of a tour with Megadeth and Testament due to singer Tom Araya's back trouble. Get well soon, Tom. Soundgarden announced a reunion, in my opinion this is a big mistake. Christopher Lee (yes Saruman from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Count Dooku and Dracula, etc.) will be releasing a symphonic metal album centered around Charlemagne. I listened to some samples and was largely underwhelmed. We'll see what comes of this. AHHHHHHHHHH! Limp Bizkit is coming back.

That's it for that shit. And now, for the list of albums I listened to this last week:
Behemoth: Demigod
Behemoth: Evangelion
Behemoth: Pandemonic Incantations
Behemoth: The Apostacy
Behemoth: Zos Kia Cultus (Here and Beyond)
Blitzkrieg: A Time of Changes
Devastation: Idolatry
Intruder: Psycho Savant
Iron Maiden: Piece of Mind
Kawir: Ophiolatreia
King Diamond: The Spider's Lullaby
Lamb of God: Ashes of the Wake
Malevolent Creation: Envenomed
Manowar: Kings of Metal
Megadeth: The System has Failed
Mercyful Fate: Don't Break the Oath
Militia: Released
Mundanus Imperium: The Spectral Spheres Coronation
Naglfar: Harvest
Night in Gales: Nailwork
Night in Gales: Thunderbeast
Nile: Annihilation of the Wicked
Opeth: Ghost Reveries
Overkill: Killbox 13
Postmortem: Repulsion
Pro-Pain: Foul Taste of Freedom
Queensryche: The Warning
Raise Hell: Holy Target
Raven: Wiped Out
Sanatorium: Internal Womb Cannibalism
Satyricon: Now, Diabolical
Savatage: Ghost in the Ruins
Scar Symmetry: Dark Matter Dimensions
Scar Symmetry: Symmetric in Design
Sculpture: Sculpture
Sepultura: Beneath the Remains
Sinner: The Nature of Evil
Slauter Xstroyes: Winter Kill
Slayer: Reign in Blood
Soilwork: Figure Number Five
Soul Reaper: Written in Blood
Strapping Young Lad: Alien
Swallow the Sun: Hope
Symphony X: Paradise Lost
Therion: Gothic Kabbalah
Tiamat: The Astral Sleep
Watchtower: Energetic Disassembly

Phil Fasciana Pt. 2

As I updated later on, there does not appear to be any evidence that the events of that day ever happened anywhere outside of Phil's head. The police completely denied it. So what does Phil have to say about this? Well' he's insisting it did happen, and that he also ran down a homeless man. Apparently at this time, the police were not too bothered by it either and let him go on his blissful way. Here's the thing though: anytime someone dies as a result of the actions of another person, there's going to be a fucking investigation. Apparently Phil Fasciana is completely insane.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=123362

Phil Fasciana (Malevolent Creation) Kills Robber in Self Defense

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=123073

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=123199

Holy shit. Phil Fasciana is the guitarist for Malevolent Creation. I'm not sure of the facts here, because only Phil's side of the story is presented and this apparently has not been picked up by too many other news outlets. Essentially the facts are these from what we can tell:

1. Phil had a craving for chocolate milk (the most metal of all milks) and stopped off at a convenience store.

2. The convenience store was currently in the process of being robbed.

3. The robber fired four shots at Phil at 10 feet away, none of which hit him.

4. Phil, after realizing he was not hurt tackled the robber and wrestled his gun away from him.

5. The robber reached for another gun and Phil shot him twice in the head.

Pretty amazing story, if true. There is certainly an argument for self defense, as the robber attempted to shoot Phil just as he walked in the door. I'll be curious to see facts as they further develop.

UPDATE: This looks to be false. Not sure of the motivations behind fabricating this story, perhaps to get people to buy Malevolent Creation albums. It's disappointing, that was a pretty incredible story.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=123301