Where Malice Converges by RawFoil is an intriguing album, in so much as it’s almost impossible to pigeonhole. This is – as I’ve said time after time until I’m blue in the bloody face – a very good thing from a musical standpoint as there is nothing worse than a writer than having to review something and being able to predict where it’s going to go an what it’s going to do at least two minutes before it happens. Yet at a writer it is also frustrating when you can’t just knock out a quick five minute review, full of the usual clichés, while you wait for the porridge to cool.
That is a joke, by the way, and can you guess what we’re having for breakfast?
According to the press release, RawFoil play;
“Technical Thrash, Death Metal.”
And to a degree, they do.
There is no doubting that the band have an incredible technical ability, with some mind blowing passages throughout the near 45 minute runtime of When Malice Converges, with enough early Metallica riffage and Slayer inspired guitar solos to keep even the most ardent Thrash Metal fan who thinks music attained perfection in 1986 with Master of Puppets, or at least no later than 1990 with Seasons in The Abyss, as happy as a pig in shit, but there are layers to RawFoil that make them more than a band happy to live on the past success of others.
There’s an element of Punk/Crust that runs through the band that is evident from the off, especially during D-FENS that at times reminds me of the legendary Extreme Noise Terror in spirit if not execution, where tracks like Dawn Of A New World and Only The Dead Can’t Be Wrong show a progressive tilt to RawFoil that gives Where Malice Converges an almost concept album feel to it.
There are also the obvious elements of Death Metal thrown into the mix both musically and vocally, yet singer Francesco Ruvolo isn’t just your average Satanic growl followed by tortured high pitch screamer, as he proves that he can actually do it clean when he needs to, as well as having an undercurrent of NYC Hardcore simmering beneath his surface. Hell, there are even times he wouldn’t sound out of place fronting a band like prime Skid Row, which, believe it or not, is a complement.
There are also Black Metal blast beats that invoke the spirit of Hellhammer who isn’t dead and yes this comparison got away from me a little but it’s still sodding early so cut me a break. You know what I mean.
The fact is that Where Malice Converges is an intriguing album. It is also a pretty good one and if you fancy something that will take you by surprise and leave you guessing where it will go and what it will do next, you could do a lot worse than heading on over to Ad Noctem Records or the Rawfoil Bandcamp page and checking out Where Malice Converges for yourself.
RATING: 3 OUT OF 5
RATING SYSTEM:
- 0: Fucking Shit
- 1: Shit
- 2: Not Bad Shit
- 3: Pretty Good Shit
- 4: Amazing Fucking Shit
- 5: The Best Shit You Will Ever Hear
PRESS SOURCE: Davide Pulito The Metallist / PR & Marketing for Heavy Music. Contact Website and Email: [email protected]
