Malefice

This article is about the English band. For the evil magic, see Maleficium (sorcery). For the Pentagram Chile album, see The Malefice.

Malefice was an English extreme metal band from Reading, Berkshire, formed in 2003. They disbanded in 2017.

Malefice
Malefice interviewed in 2010
Background information
Origin	Reading, Berkshire, England
Genres	Thrash metal melodic death metal metalcore
Years active	2003–2017
Labels	Anticulture 2007–2008 Metal Blade 2008–2012 Transcend 2012–
Members	Dale Butler Ben Symons Andrew Wilson Tom Hynes Chris Allan-Whyte
Past members	Craig Fenner Craig Thomas Lloyd Griffiths Alex Vuskans

History

The original members consisted of university friends Dale Butler, Alex Vuskans, Craig Thomas and Craig Fenner. After formation, they began writing their songs straight away. Their first major break was to open a four-band bill charity gig at the Rivermead Centre in Reading. Henceforth, their fanbase began to grow. Through constant touring around Reading and London, they managed to get a distribution deal for their first EP Relentless through Hangman's Joke.

Then in early 2007, they signed to Anticulture Records. They then recorded their debut album Entities under the production team of Dan Weller and Justin Hill of WellerHill at Craig's parents home in South Wales. The band eventually announced their amicable split from the Anticulture label via their Myspace page.

Since the album's release, they had been support for the SikTh tour as well as DevilDriver and God Forbid and played shows with the likes of Soulfly. In January 2008, they played a show at The Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth, which was recorded and planned to be released on DVD.^[1] In June 2008, Malefice opened the second stage of the prestigious Download Festival on Saturday.

In November 2008, Malefice announced through their Myspace page that they had signed a worldwide deal with Metal Blade Records. In March 2009, they released their second album Dawn of Reprisal.^[2] On 12 September, they played at Butserfest alongside Go:Audio and We Are the Ocean. On 26 September 2009, they played in India at the annual cultural fest Rendezvous of IIT Delhi.

In March 2010 the band featured on the BBC TV show The Bubble. The following month, it was announced that drummer Craig Thomas had left the band, to be replaced by Chris Allan.^[3] Following this, Malefice also played on the Jager stage at Sonisphere UK, playing a 30-minute set on Saturday evening. In 2012, they recorded a song titled "Omega" with footballer Marcus Hahnemann for the Jägermeister UK "Ice Cold Session".

In June 2012, the band signed to Transcend Music.

In March 2017, the group disbanded in order to pursue solo careers.

Musical style

Laut.de described the group's sound as a combination of melodic death metal, thrash metal and metalcore.^[4] Conversely, Rock Hard said they had "not much in common" with metalcore, instead drawing comparisons with Lamb of God, DevilDriver, Gojira and Hacride.^[5] Exclaim! compared them to Nightrage.^[6]

Band members

Current

• Dale Butler – vocals (2003–2017)
• Ben Symons – guitar (2003–2017)
• Tom Hynes – bass (2006–2017)
• Andrew Wilson – guitar (2011–2017)
• James Cook – drums (2014–2017)

Former

• Lloyd Griffiths – bass (2003–2006)
• Craig Thomas – drums (2003–2010)
• Alex Vuskans – guitar (2003–2011)
• Chris Allan – drums (2010–2014)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums and EPs

• 2006: Relentless (Hangmans Joke)
• 2007: Entities (Anticulture Records)
• 2009: Dawn of Reprisal (Metal Blade Records)
• 2011: Awaken the Tides (Metal Blade Records)^[7]
• 2013: Five (Transcend Music)^[8]

Promotional videos

• 2006: "The Force That You Fear"
• 2007: "Risen Through the Ashes"
• 2009: "An Architect of Your Demise"
• 2011: "Awaken the Tides"
• 2012: "Omega" (feat. Marcus Hahnemann)
• 2013: "V"
• 2013: "Blueprints"
• 2014: "Heroes"