Malevolent Creation ‘The 13th Beast’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Century Media Records – 2019 – Death Metal
It has been four years since Malevolent Creation released the fantastic ‘Dead Man’s Path’, but following this, Malevolent Creation underwent a huge line-up change, one that saw three quarters of the band change with only Phil Fasciana remaining from the bands initial incarnation. This was hardly surprising with the untimely death of frontman Brett Hoffmann; the man whose voice had become synonymous with the band and an impact which led to uncertainty at whether Malevolent Creation would continue. However, Fasciana would form this new line-up with the latest album ‘The 13th Beast’ following suit.
Major line-up changes usually require some time to bed-in as the members learn to play with each other and become comfortable, but for Malevolent Creation, the band pick up where their last album left off; new vocalist Lee Wollenschlaeger has already shown that he has formidable growl with his work in Imperial Empire and Throne of Nails, yet when this is coupled with the death metal blast beats and chugging riffs that has come to be expected of Malevolent Creation, it shows ‘The 13th Beast’ as an album which strongly starts this new chapter in the bands history. Furthermore, the song writing on this album shows none of the slump, that can occur with such a significant change and this can be seen through excellent tracks such as ‘End The Torture’, ‘Mandatory Butchery’ and ‘Canvas of Flesh’ would appeal to fans of Bloodbath, Deicide and Morbid Angel. However, even though ‘The 13th Beast’ stands tall with its song writing, there is little here that is different, new or majorly exciting and because of this, it just isn’t as good as the previous album, but that does not make ‘The 13th Beast’ any less enjoyable.
‘The 13th Beast’ is a great way for Malevolent Creation to continue following the circumstances which arose prior to the albums release. For any fan of death metal and Malevolent Creation, it is certainly worth listening to and through this, it is enjoyable and demands replays.
Rating : 80/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
