Seven years ago, extreme metal titans Thy Art Is Murder and Fit For An Autopsy joined forces with The Acacia Strain for The Depression Sessions. Containing three brand new tracks and three covers of songs that helped inspire the bands, it was met with mixed reviews but the idea and concept was an incredibly promising one. Many expected a follow-up in the years that followed but nothing materialised – until now. Taking The Acacia Strain’s place for the long awaited follow-up, The Aggression Sessions, are British spin-kick instigators Malevolence. While not a direct replacement sound-wise for the Massachusetts nihilists, their brand of riff fueled hardcore should make for a lot of fun, especially with their choice of cover.
The first half of the EP is dedicated to three brand new tracks, one from each band. Australian deathcore veterans Thy Art Is Murder kick the EP off with their first new track since 2020’s standalone single ‘Killing Season’. Titled ‘Until There Is No Longer’, it’s a fun, if familiar, journey through the best aspects of their signature sound. Vocalist CJ McMahon is on his usual top form, and instrumentally there’s a maelstrom of breakneck drums and menacing riffs. Does it break new ground? No, but it will keep you going and sate the need for those frankly vicious CJ barks until anything more comes out of their camp.
Fit For An Autopsy bring the violence next with their brand of eco-aware thick, chunky deathcore that’s strayed further and further from its roots. As this band has grown over the last few years, the comparisons to Gojira have evolved far beyond just lyrical themes. Their sound is closing in on the French group for sheer enormity and heft, their riffs are of that “could flatten a small town” level and it’d be a massive shock if the band aren’t one of the next to break through to the next stage of venues. ‘Hellions’ is the name of their original contribution to this effort and it’s as hellish as the name suggests. Continuing the form they showed on 2022’s Oh What The Future Holds, the New Jersey collective paint a vivid, grim picture through their lyrics and back it up with an uncompromising sound. Hints of thrash, devastating blastbeats and grandiose flourishes show you don’t need keyboards to create one hell of an atmosphere.
Sheffield pit-inducers Malevolence offering is ‘Waste Of Myself’ and from the opening riff, they make their intentions more than clear. The now signature groove and hardcore heft is undeniable and ‘Waste of Myself’ sounds like it could have come straight off Malicious Intent. Those pained, sludgy cleans from guitarist Konan Hall are typically stellar and his riffing has their trademark joyful antagonism. As usual, the breakdown is filthy and will make your face gurn like you’ve just had a hit of some top quality MDMA.
The second half is dedicated to each band’s choice of cover. Kicking them off is Fit For An Autopsy taking on a stone cold classic from the melodeath genre, the frankly monumental ‘Under A Serpent Sun’ by At The Gates. The confidence oozing from the band must be high, to take on a track from an album so beloved in the metal pantheon, and they smash it out of the park. It’s pretty faithful as covers go, but as everyone knows, you don’t mess with perfection.
Thy Art Is Murder take the stand next, and their choice of track is everybody’s favourite song from Ace Ventura, ‘Hammer Smashed Face’ by Cannibal Corpse. CJ sounds better than Chris “Reeeee” Barnes ever did and the rest of the band sound tight and, once again, remain mostly true to the original. The modern production highlights just how good the riffs are, even if it does make them lose a bit of their abrasive charm, while the drums not sounding like they were recorded in next door’s shed has the same effect of stripping some of the grit away.
And so we arrive at the albatross of the record, as Malevolence eschew the expectation of choosing a metal song and, amazingly, have chosen to cover the pop classic ‘Left Outside Alone’ by Anastacia As all British folk of a certain age will know, this song is an absolute classic. While Alex does a great job in the verses, this track belongs to Konan. His whiskey soaked, deep fried vocals somehow work perfectly and while the song obviously isn’t the most obvious song for a metal cover, it’s a stroke of near genius. Instrumentally it’s what you’d expect, with swirling riffs and stomping drums giving a good deal of weight to things. A whole new generation of metalheads are going to be walking the streets singing the chorus to this song and that’s frankly amazing. If the band don’t throw this into their live set, it would be an absolute tragedy. An absolutely EP stealing track.
On the whole, this is a much better effort than The Depression Sessions and feels a lot more of a fun record. The sheer gall of Malevolence to choose the cover they did adds an element of fist pumping joy and Fit For An Autopsy stole the show in terms of original tracks. Not a slight against Thy Art Is Murder but the other two are on such stunning form it was never going to be an easy race for them to run. Hopefully the love shown to both At The Gates and Cannibal Corpse inspires some listeners to dive into their respective work and maybe Malevolence have given an insight as to what house parties in 2004 sounded like in the UK.