Album Review: Vile Apparition - Malignity
Reviewed by Sam Jones
The Australian extreme metal scene has been exploding over recent years and, now looking to release their second record, Vile Apparition are hoping to cement their name amongst that swelling pantheon. Formed in 2017 out of Melbourne, Vile Apparition’s early years saw a Demo, a 2018 Split with Incinerator, before they had out their debut record Depravity Ordained a year on. Succeeding years saw two other Splits; one with Miscreance in 2021, another in 2023 with Constant Torment, Goredawn, Horrifier, Congealed Putrescence and others. Signed now onto Me Saco Un Ojo Records for their upcoming second album, Malignity is due to drop October 10th. When I heard Vile Apparition sported a filthier side to death metal I was all for it and so, I stepped straight into their murk.
We’ve covered a plethora of old school death metal records this year yet Malignity feels and sounds like it was plucked right out of its burgeoning years. It manages to convey immense power and impact even though the production applied is purposefully muddied; instrumental elements bleed into each other to craft a much more chaotic, schizophrenic form of soundscape than most bands would opt for. Where some desire uniformity, Vile Apparition have madness in mind. That said i appreciate the soloing really brings the guitar work to the forefront, as if they’ve been gifted this cerebral edge whereby the thundering pummelling their riffs infer is given a chance to pause and thus ,we too are given that moment for a reprieve. Malignity is a more decrepit death metal work as one easily senses the insanity occurring but audiences shall always be able to follow its path.
Though the production has rendered Malignity a hideous soundscape where all things on record blend together to create this amorphous shape, Vile Apparition still ensured we can understand the general structure of the record. Let it be known the band throw a lot at you from every direction and as a listener its our job to interpret what’s happening, to make sense of what the band are showing us. When you consider the band throw blinding riffs, wailing whammy bar-induced cries, blast beats and these guttural vocals, it can be at risk of losing us given how much we need to track. But throughout my time spent here i always had at least one hand upon the band’s trajectory and so, I always had some coherent notion of where i was in any given moment. I might not always have known where i was headed but i knew where my two feet were planted.
With such a record its no surprise variety in tracks isn’t necessarily something to expect; what you expect to find is what you’ll receive. Its death metal doing what death metal should, yet with that said i enjoyed the variety of riffs and the way they were implemented into the songwriting. Sometimes they’re straight up and conventional, acting as backbone to the song, which the band can play around; there are tracks though where this very thing begins but the riff soon transforms, opens itself up, lands us in a place we were initially unfamiliar with. This can be the case and then the band could bring us back to earth where the riff began, continuing from thereon. I think calling these riffs complex is the wrong terminology, rather Vile Apparition like incorporating riffs into tracks where their tone, their timbre, possesses differing levels of impact so you won’t feel you’re constantly hit by a truck; it can be a train, a punch, a bulldozer, depending entirely what kind of riff they sought to perform.
What shall be obvious to many is Malignity is fast, not only in how quickly the band play or what tempo their riffs are launched at, but the pace at which tracks race by. With each track lasting a nicely digestible three or four minutes in length it allows newcomers, which most approaching Malignity will be, the ease of accessibility, thus letting them experience a painless first time listen that isn’t going to demand anything overt. As a result each track rapidly starts and ends so by the time Malignity is almost done, audiences will be aghast as to how it could have flown by so completely. I think another factor is Vile Apparition’s cut and dry approach to death metal; there are no filler or nuanced sections here wherein the band could inject something more mature into their songwriting. The result is death metal that feels like its coming for your throat at any given opportunity and therefore has no excuse to slow down or its murderous wants stifled. The record is allowed full reign to be as boisterous and destructive as it wishes.
In conclusion, Malignity is your meat and potatoes styled death metal where the band aren’t interested in attempting anything overly unique that could detract from the slaughterous, incessant beating intended for you. It really is an old school-styled record for people who are after such a sound, and knowing how fast tracks race by you’ll be replaying this from the start many times over, not only due to its speed but to scratch that embedded idea that you could have missed some small detail that escaped you upon the first listen. Understanding how fast and ferocious Vile Apparition conducted themselves on this album, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case with many who experience Malignity. Upon a follow up I'd like to see what else Vile Apparition could imbue their songwriting with, mix it up a touch, bring in flavours and track development that lend more identity perhaps. All in all, a solid work of death metal.
