Album Review: Malignant Aura - Where All of Worth Comes to Wither
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Though the dust settles on the New Year celebrations the tidal release of metal never wanes, so here we come to Australian death/doom quintet Malignant Aura and their sophomore album: Where All Of Worth Comes To Wither. Formed across Brisbane and Queensland originally in 2017 as Cursed By A Hag they released their sole Demo before breaking up, only to reform by 2018 as the newly christened Malignant Aura. They wouldn’t unleash their debut studio album until 2022 with Abysmal Misfortune Is Draped Upon Me and through Bitter Loss Records no less. Nearly four years on Malignant Aura return with another filthy demonstration of Aussie extreme metal now signed on to Memento Mori, due out January 26th. This is my first time with the band and therefore more than ready to dive right in and see what they bring to the table.
Rather than submerging us neck-deep into crushing tone, Malignant Aura throw massive cymbal crashes at us all the while perturbed church bells cry with disdain. It’s only as the opening track develops that the band finally unveil the tone signature to many death/doom artists today, yet with that said their soundscape isn’t entirely enveloping. There’s great weight and strength encompassed within their riffs but it doesn’t feel so totally dense; it’s as if the bad have poked air bubbles into their sound so whilst you feel the malice coming forth but it’s not so complete you can’t breathe on your own accord. Therefore, when the band’s teeth are formally bared as the record progresses, we don’t need to invest every ounce of energy into withstanding their performance.
The vocals are more primal than most death/doom you’d experience. Instead of a baritone-domineering performance the vocals are more akin to a rabid animal coming to terms with its own animal nature, discovering in the moment the fullest extent its murderous capacity. You can hear their vocalist snarling, screaming, reaching for his depths as he seemingly fights and loses against his primal nature now assuming command. Though the tempo is pretty steady and doesn’t deviate too greatly, his cadence, his carnal intonations are what keep you glued to his performance as every syllable carries savagery not unfamiliar to sating oneself upon a cadaver.
As one will discover herein, Malignant Aura’s approach to songwriting isn’t to bring everything to a crawl. Within the audience will find riffs that climb and descend with rapid succession and even as they unveil a thirteen minute track, the band don’t allow themselves leeway to harden the tone and reduce their speed. The band are evidently comfortable with throwing great mass upon the audience all the while their riffs continuously change up and evolve; it needs mentioning that there’s barely an instance where the guitar work isn’t playing, there’s always a riff or lick happening in the moment. Malignant Aura view death/doom differently to their contemporaries, whereby they’re utterly averse to the concept of quiet and drawn out sequences of minimalism. Throughout this record the band will assail you on all fronts, not to a suffocating capacity mind you, yet their continuous onslaught is one bristling with dread and nightmare.
In some way the record’s first half is almost testing the waters with its audience before taking the full plunge. The first two tracks collectively are ten minutes altogether and it’s through these we surmise an idea of what the band are like, especially should this record be your first encounter with them. The rest of the album is then spent with just three tracks yet these encompass thirty five minutes in all; it shows this is where the bulk of time will be spent with Malignant Aura, I believed they would structure their relaxed like a mountain, slowly ascending in time then descending as such. But that’s not the case and therefore their record is weighted towards the end with three vast slabs of death/doom. On the other hand, the guitar tone doesn’t feel so crushing and this being the case it prevents the record from feeling bottom-heavy, from leaning too heavily towards the back end of its runtime. Most of our time is spent with the record’s back half but there wasn’t a time where I wasn’t enjoying myself nor the music Malignant Aura offered me. They’re always looking for unique avenues their death/doom can walk whether it be the cerebral soloing, the canine style of vocals or songwriting walking the tightrope between steady slaughter and rampant bloodlust.
In conclusion, Malignant Aura offer up a death/doom record that, even by its late January release window, will deliver fans new and old alike something unique. It’s a huge subgenre this day and age but Malignant Aura deliver power in droves that matches the doomy aesthetic without needing to slow their pace down for a moment. One could say they missed an opportunity regarding their track structure but through mixing, and tweaking their guitar sound so it’s not so completely suffocating, the majority of the record doesn’t feel egregiously weighty towards the end. I believe the vocals will be one of the biggest draws people take away from this band for its salivating style emits everything repugnant and vile in death/doom, especially as one imagines that primeval horror taking hold. January can be an odd month for metal as everyone finds their feet with the New Year but Malignant Aura do well to help us with that. A solid early release for 2026.
