Malevolent Creation | METALSITES.net

Biography

The origin of the band reaches all the way back to 1987, to the release of their first demo tape, which was manufactured in only 100 copies. After moving from Buffalo to Florida the group put out another demo, slowly marking their presence on the local metal scene.

Between ‘88 and ’89 the four-piece added a second guitarist to the fold and in a steady and forceful line-up (Phil Fasciana – guitar, Brett Hoffmann – vocals, Mark Simpson – drums, Jon Rubin – guitar and Mark Van Erp – bass) recorded their third demo (this time released in 1000 copies), which eventually brought them a record deal with none other than the famous Roadrunner Records. Supported by the label, Malevolent Creation recorded their debut LP “The Ten Commandments” and released it in 1991, receiving an instant feedback from the American metal scene. The album got great scores among fans and critics, making the group a strong representative of the brutal death metal genre.

The debut was followed by “Retribution” in 1992 and “Stillborn” in 1993, with the last release bearing some unfortunate production flaws (to this day the album is considered a failure by the fans). After “Stillborn” the band was dropped by Roadrunner, who wanted to concentrate on new, more commercial forms of music. To make things worse, Malevolent Creation was constantly going through various line-up changes. As founder and guitarist Phil Fasciana admits, “(…) in the beginning it was just crazy. During the 3 first albums I was all time watching how people were coming and going from the band and always leaving me alone.” In 1994 the band released a four-way live split with Suffocation, Exhorder and Cancer, but there were still no signs of a new album. That was until 1996…

After signing a deal with Pavement Records, Malevolent Creation returned in all its glory with 2 new releases – a rarities compilation entitled “Joe Black” (containing such surprises as the thrilling cover version of Slayer’s “Raining Blood”) and the long-awaited fourth LP – “Eternal”. The album was a step forward for the band, both composition and production-wise. Remaining at the same level of brutality as on the previous releases, Malevolent Creation managed to smuggle some thrash metal influences into their music, making it even faster and more vicious than before. But the group would never achieve this without their new drummer, Dave Culross. As Fasciana comments: “We had Dave in the band for this album and that was so fucking killer as we now had a drummer in the band who could do everything we felt the songs deserved. So when he joined we felt it was a new era of the band and we wanted the music to keep flowing and for it to get even more intense and we were able to do that with Dave.” The result was breathtaking – the brutal death metal assault became stronger than ever, delivering such killer classics as the ultra brutal “Tasteful Agony”, the grindcore-infected “Living in Fear” and the surprisingly melodic “Alliance or War”. Unfortunately, the album was recorded with the absence of frontman Brett Hoffmann, but bassist Jason Blachowicz, who took up the vocal duties on this LP, did a fine job in replacing the legendary growler.

Malevolent Creation recorded two more albums for Pavement Records – “In Cold Blood” and “The Fine Art of Murder” – and then moved to Arctic Music. The band’s latest offering is entitled “Doomsday X” and is available through Nuclear Blast. “The thing that pushes us…” – says Fasciana – “well, after you put out a record, the main goal is try and do better on the next one! We keep pushing ourselves to make better, heavier, more brutal albums each and every time. If I thought that we were slacking, I wouldn’t do it. If I feel we’re writing songs worthy of putting out there, we’ll keep doing it until that’s not true.”

Source: Metal Mind Productions