Search - Malevolent Creation :: Retribution

Devastating death

Joey from the Bronx | Bronx, New York USA | 07/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a metal music fan for the past 18 years, I've seen my fair share of bands come and go. I've also seen my share of undeserving bands get notoriety and undue popularity. Malevolent Creation though, fall into a different category; bands that put every ounce of talent and energy they have and not reap well deserved acclaim. "Retribution", the band's 2nd cd, is absolutely one of the top 5 death metal albums ever produced. What makes this record stand out above the rest of the heap is the absolutely murderous intentions exhibited. Playing with a ferocity and fire rarely achieved in the death metal genre, the Malevolent Ones go on a rampage of technically proficient, razor sharp death. Annihilating just doesn't do justice as a description.Kicking things off with a reworking of the theme from "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer", "Eve of the Apocalypse" opens and just shreds your ears. Prototypical Malevolent Creation, with plenty of stop and go riffage, unbelievably brutalizing drumming (from the now disappeared Alex Marquez) and, in my opinion, the best death metal vocalist I've heard, Brett Hoffman. Not only does Hoffman NOT do those annoying, gurgling vomit vocals (ie Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation), he gives a unique, individual and by all accounts, terrifying vocal performance. Listen to the shrieks, screams and howls on "The Coldest Survive", "Slaughter of Innocence", and "Mindlock". This is how a death metal vocalist should vocalize. Coupled together with the murderous compositions here,this makes for a seriously damaging listening.I know I might have gone a bit far with the praise in this review, but for me, there will never be another band like prime time Malevolent Creation (forget the followup "Stillborn", as it is a horrible cd). In a field where immitation is not only commonplace, it is expected, this band stamped out their own identity and made an impact not felt since death metal reared its head as a genre. This might arguably be death metal's answer to "Reign In Blood". This is the one cd that at ANY cost, is absolutely worth every penny spent on it."

Retribution

oddity | 11/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"after ROADRUNNER RECORDS realized that sales of MALEVOLENT CREATION'S first 3 records had reached their peak and tapered off, the now-big time label decided to discontinue them in the U.S.. fortunately, "RETRIBUTION", released in 1992 is not only offered here on amazon as an import, but the new MALEVOLENT-owned ARCTIC MUSIC GROUP label has imminent plans to re-release all 3 cd's including "RETRIBUTION"...and for good reason...the first thing that comes to mind when i listen to this record is HELL. the best word used to describe this record is also HELL. this meaty, chunky, technical and brutally executed recording is a pure masterpiece. recorded in their heyday, this cd is MALEVOLENT CREATION at their finest. the highlight of the LP is murder master brett hoffmans sick ability to get his point across without sounding forced, unlike the overrated and tired sounding bands deicide and cannibal corpse. hoffman, on this album, has the unique ability of making a tired subject such as murder sound so fresh and beautifully intelligent lyrically. vocally, he spews forth a display of anger so powerful that i started to believe that this guy would really actually kill someone if he felt like it. this guy was making glen benton of deicide look like strawberry shortcake. standout tracks: the whole damned record, with the exception of track 4 "coronation of our domain" which is a little slow and musically not as impressive. my personal faves are "slaughter of innocence" "eve of the apocalypse" and "monster". the writing and arrangments on this record are very unique for the band. the only real downside i can think of is scott burns' mix of the guitars, which are a tad to bottomy to make out the riffs sometimes. this record has also been criticized for having a lack of catchy hooks unlike their debut "THE TEN COMMANDMENTS"...i disagree...this album needs to be listened to over and over to fully appreciate it, like METALLICA's "master of puppets". order this now, or wait for the re-release with bonus tracks. a sick classic."

Slaughter Of Innocence - Die Motherf--ker !!!!!!!!!!

Ronald Placeres | Miami, Florida | 01/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is my favorite Malevolent Creation album as well as my favorite death metal album of all-time. I bought it on my 15th birthday along with The Ten Commandments and a Metallica cassette single of Wherever I May Roam all in the year 1992. I bought all 3 on cassette. Anyway, these were the times when I was first getting into death metal. It all started with this local radio station here in Florida called WSHE and their Sunday Night 12:00 AM program that consisted of only music by bands from Florida. They were playing a lot of death metal and they kept playing the song Eve Of The Apocalypse dozens of times. That song was the most scarriest, heaviest, brutal song that I ever heard in my life. It's scarred the hell out of me at first but it quickly grew on me. I was only new to death metal at the time but I really was hungry for the heaviest, most brutal kinds of metal possible. It was a slow process but it gained a whole lot of momentum. Than one day, Florida was striken by Harricane Andrew and I went through the aftermath. During these times, I kept turning into that same local show and awaiting for them to play Eve Of The Apocalypse. I even requested it but they didn't play it. Than, I spent some time trying to decide rather to buy the album or not but there came a point where I just couldn't take it anymore. So I went to the old Sound Wherehouse and brought this album and the other 3 items that I mentioned and they all ripped. I played the Metallica cassette single first. And than, I played this album and it blew me away. In other words, all hell broke loose.



Now for my review. This is the second album by the band as well as their second one on Roadrunner Records. This is the album that made me become a death metal fan and ever since its release, there hasn't been an album that could top its power. I mean this is an album that can destroy a whole city or cause a nuclear disaster of ignited radiation if played on a high leveled PA system. In other words, this is some really heavy, intense, extreme, all-out, powerful, assulting, intimidating, dominating, annihilating, punishing, unrelenting, uncompromising, apocalyptic, skull-crushing, brutal-as-hell, old school death metal officially created on endless truck loads of Stone Cold Steve Austin cans of whoop-a--. This is an album for fans of bands like Lamb Of God, Deathchains, Demented Ted, Hate Plow, Divine Empire, Nile, Brutality, Oppressor (Elements Of Corrosion), Resurrection (Embalmed Existence), Monstrosity (Imperial Doom and Millennium), Sinister (Cross The Styx, Diabolical Summoning and Savage Or Grace), Diabolic (Subterranial Magnitude) and an old Christian death metal band called Obliteration. Some of my favorite songs here are Eve Of The Apocalypse, Systematic Execution, Slaughter Of Innocence, Coronation Of Our Domain, No Flesh Shell Be Spared, Monster and Mindlock. WORDS OF WARNING: Before playing this album, make sure you're in an opened field with nothing around and have a costum-made body suite and helmet on because all hell is going to break loose. You've been warned."