Malefic Throne - Self-Titled EP

Morbid Angelslaying death metal.

(Originally Submitted to the Metal Archives on February 13th 2022) 

Upon first stumbling onto Malefic Throne’s self-titled EP I thought to myself, “Man, I sure am finding a lot of Morbid Angel worship lately”. Following my first listen, I decided to check the band’s lineup while doing research for this review, which proved my original observation to be quite well-founded. Malefic Throne is composed of death metal veterans Steve Tucker, Gene Palubicki and John Longstreth, all of whom have some sort of connection to bands that are similar to Morbid Angel. Seeing these names alongside one another only raises one’s expectations, but the question remains: do they manage to live up to the hype?
The answer is a resounding “Yes”. For how brief it is, Malefic Throne blows everything Morbid Angel have done post-Gateways to Annihilation out of the water. The riffs are flesh-rending, the drumming is relentless, and Tucker’s vocals sound positively ferocious. This is honestly everything a Morbid Angel fan could possibly want really. Whether it’d be the savage riffing and transitions of “Deciding the Hierarchy”, or the wild leads in “A New Hand Upon the Blade”, the band doesn’t miss a beat through this EPs 13 minute (discounting the Sodom cover) runtime.
Speaking of Sodom, the cover of “Nuclear Winter” does justice to the original. Malefic Throne’s version injects a dose of death to an already extreme piece, and serves as proof of how intense Sodom was back in the day, seeing as the death metal genre fits this song like a glove. It’s a nice little addition to the EP, though even without it the experience would’ve been quite complete as is.
The production is also another plus for this release, seeing as it adds to its chaotic and malevolent atmosphere. The guitars have a grinding, yet slightly murky tone, supported by Tucker’s rattling bass (which is actually audible for once), while the drums provide a pummelling rhythmic backbone. The mixing is also all around quite good, barring some moments where the bass gets lost in the chaos, though it can still be discerned if one pays attention to it.
Malefic Throne is great. There’s no other way to put it. The old guard proves to us that not only do they still have it, but are able to go toe-to-toe with some of the younger bands who are following in their footsteps. While this does strike me as a one-off project, I am crossing my fingers in hopes of seeing more from the band in the future, either another EP, or better yet, a full-length.

Highlight: A New Hand Upon the Blade

Rating: 90%

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