Year of release: 2018
Label: Century Media Records
Rating: 8 / 10
How good MALEVOLENT CREATION are is at this time of year! However, as in any other. Phil Fashiana did it again: the steel will of the permanent leader helped him once again to survive the departure of the entire line-up, overcome the loss of Bret Hoffman, get out of all this mess, form a new line-up and record a killer album. Truly, the phrase “No one can destroy this malevolent creation!” turned out to be prophetic.
Picking up new musicians, Phil pursued not the big names, but the ability to do the job. All three newcomers, in fact, are nobody. The most interesting facts about them are as follows: the bassist played a little bit in SOLSTICE and THRASH OR DIE, the drummer recorded an album with NARCOTIC WASTELAND. And the vocalist participated in some boring bands that I don’t even want to mention. However, any questions about their competence disappear, one has only to start listening to the album. This is especially true of the vocalist ... but more about that later.
“The 13th Beast” emphasizes another - besides indestructibility - interesting fact about MALEVOLENT CREATION: whatever happens to the group, whatever perturbations happen in the line-up, it still remains recognizable, although each of it's albums is slightly different from the others. Forgive me for this word play, but the new album is made in cold blood while feeling the undeniable will to kill. That is, this is pure Death Metal - a bit slower compared to the more thrashy “Invidious Dominion” or “Envenomed”, but this is compensated by the heaviness, power and intensity. The style of music is closer to the albums from the 90s, but the violent energy and pressure reminiscent of the 2000s. And here the key role is played by the figure of Lee Wallenschlager, the vocalist, who arrived from South Africa. As soon as he gives a voice, it becomes clear why Phil went to another continent in search of the frontman (Lee, however, lived in England in recent years, but it's still very far from USA). When a person makes sounds like these, you immediately realize that this is his destiny. Manner of Vollenschlaeger's... singing reminds Kyle Simmons at his zenith. But if Simmons was kind of a screaming grindcore freak, Vollenschlaeger has one hundred percent death metal vocals. It is difficult for me to choose epithets for someone's voice, but I will try; I would say that it sounds like a mad cyborg. He somehow succeeds in combining cold ruthlessness with fiery violence. As a result, he does the best Death Metal vocals that I have heard in a long time.
The musical part lacks only one thing: strong hits. Probably, only “Mandatory Butchery” can be mentioned as something like this. But nothing at the level of “Blood of the Fallen”, “Slaughterhouse”, “Cauterized”... On the other hand, it gives the album a solid and underground flavor. Despite the powerful modern sound, this album is very underground in it's core. After all, MALEVOLENT CREATION always remained themselves, regardless of which label's logo is placed on the back of their CDs. Why would they change now? Even the creepy cover is made in their style - the style of the band that plays Death Metal better than anyone around, but is not interested in album design, image, "right" words in the press and so on. OK, I'm lying: “The Ten Commandments” and “Dead Man’s Path” covers were beautiful and meaningful, but this is certainly an exception. I don’t really want to blame the band for it, because the contents of the album is more important than any external flaws.
English (UK) 
Крыўская