LIVE REVIEW: Malevolence, Pain Of Truth, Rough Justice, Concorde 2, Brighton, 04/02/2024
Photo Credit: Rob Tilbury
It’s been a period of rapid acceleration for Malevolence. The Steel city metallers have been steadily increasing their reputation and standing within the wider metal community over the past couple of years, culminating with their third full length release Malicious Intent in 2022. Since then, the band have toured the world over and gained a countless number of new fans across the planet before heading home to rest and write a new album. However, before doing so the band have one final tour planned; a collection of shows across the United Kingdom to some more intimate venues. Tonight, the boys descend on the coastal city of Brighton at the beloved Concorde 2 venue on the seafront and are ready to bring the ruckus.
First up are Rough Justice. Following the release of their debut album this year via MLVLTD Records the lads have a point to prove and set about doing that immediately. It is important to mention at this point for those who may be unaware that Josh Barnes, the guitarist for Malevolence is also the drummer for Rough Justice and as a result will be pulling an impressive double duty tonight. This music is made for the stage. The bounce and groove incorporated into each, and every song is only matched by the energy and savage heaviness with which they are delivered. This is the band’s first ever full-length tour, having only played a handful of sporadic shows before, but you would never know as they command the stage live wily veterans and win the crowd over in quick fashion. 7/10
Up next are Pain Of Truth. The New Yorkers hit the stage and instantly turn the entire floor into a warzone. This is true New York hardcore done properly. There are crushing riffs, group vocals and more mosh call outs than you can shake a stick at. In Your Heart is a ferocious love letter to genre that the boys devote their lives to and is received with absolute chaos from the floor. The set never slows up for a moment as the five lads stand and deliver everything they have to a baying crowd of two-steppers, mosh pits and crowd surfers and look like they are having the time of their lives as they throw themselves around with little regard for their own physical wellbeing. You would be forgiven for thinking that this is a Pain Of Truth headline show with the way they command the stage and the love and adoration that is thrown back towards the stage. However, the headliner is still to come, and what a headliner it is. 8/10
By the time Malevolence hit the stage the temperature inside the venue has hit an almost uncomfortable level as the audience push their way towards the front of the tired old room for the best view possible. The band take to the stage and dive straight into a short, yet sweet rendition of the Malicious Intent, whipping up a frenzy in the meantime before diving into one their most popular tracks Life Sentence. A song that contains more riffs and headbanging moments than most bands can conjure throughout their entire back catalogues and a breakdown that is so heavy that it threatens to dismantle the entire venue.
The boys then lay down Slave To Satisfaction with is crushing, down tempo introduction and Crowbar-inspired sludgy verses providing one of the loudest singalongs of the evening before quickly shifting gears into the groups more groove-tinged metalcore sound.
The energy coming from the stage is matched tenfold by the adoring crowd before them, singing back every word of Waste of Myself emphatically, whilst the melee continues in the ever-growing it in the centre of the floor. By the time the band roll out the savage track Karma there is not a safe place to hide in the entire room, as bodies fly everywhere, and the band slam their way through one of the most recognisable breakdowns in recent years creating one of the real highlights of an action-packed set.
The crowd are lapping this up. With the energy in the room, you wouldn’t believe that it was a Sunday night. The high velocity with which Severed Ties is delivered takes things up another level with the violence being displayed on the floor dialling up the level of virtually ludicrous. Despite the aggression that the boys write with, it has to be noted that they know how to write a tremendous hook and the choruses are sang back to them with at the top if every on-lookers lungs.
The crowd then get a chance to catch its breath as the band slow things down for a beautifully haunting rendition of Higher Place. For a moment the mood in the room completely changes and the air hangs a little heavier as the emotive song is volley back and forth with a as much melancholy as joyous love admiration. This track is a modern-day classic and proves that Malevolence is far more than a one trick pony with plenty of tricks in the bag.
The pace is then brought back up with the one-two combination of title track of their second album Self Supremacy and Remain Unbeaten from their latest effort and the madness instantly restarts. The band have the crowd eating out of their palm of their collective hands and works them perfectly as they demand yet another circle. The band members are playing their hearts out and the tired crowd is giving it everything they have left in the tank.
As the set nears its end the band roll out two more heavyweight tracks in Keep Your Distance and Broken Glass as they cap off yet another triumphant night of this outrageous tour ensuring that every last bit of energy is sapped from their adoring onlookers as guitars ring out and the fans chamber for the exits into the cold February night. 9/10
Written By: Richard Webb
