UMUR "Eternal" is the 4th full-length studio album by US death metal act Malevolent Creation. The album was released through Pavement Music in May 1995. After making waves on the US death metal scene with "The Ten Commandments (1991)" and "Retribution (1992)", the band hit rock bottom with "Stillborn (1993)", which wasn´t popular neither among critics nor among most fans. The decline in success got Malevolent Creation fired from Roadrunner Records, and in the same unfortunate breath lead vocalist Brett Hoffmann and drummer Alex Marquez left the group. On "Eternal", Marquez is replaced by Dave Culross (Suffocation, Pyrexia) while bassist Jason Blachowicz takes over the vocal duties from Hoffmann, making Malevolent Creation a four-piece for the first time.

The music on the album is slightly different from the brutal thrash tinged death metal of the three preceeding releases, as there is a greater emphasis on death metal brutality on "Eternal". Jason Blachowicz is a shouting type growling vocalist and he sounds quite different from Brett Hoffmann, which is also a thing that makes "Eternal" stand out from the earlier releases by the band. I enjoy the fact that Blachowicz growling delivery is intelligible and very powerful too. The album is full of well executed heavy riffing but also some really fast blasting sections. Dave Culross masterfully leads the band through the latter type sections. Like most of the band´s albums the tracks take a while to tell apart but upon repeated listens, vocal hooklines and recognisable riffs begin to appear. Don´t expect melody in any shape or form though. That´s not what Malevolent Creation is about.

"Eternal" is the kind of album where you can hear that the band has something to prove. There´s a rarely found intensity in the delivery, that you only hear on albums, where the artist feels that "grasping the last straw" urge. There´s just no way in hell, Malevolent Creation were going to be remembered for "Stillborn (1993)", which they weren´t completely satisfied with themselves and they´ve made damn sure that "Eternal" packs so much punch that "Stillborn (1993)" is more or less forgotten the minute you put "Eternal" on. Now I´m actually one of those rare few who found "Stillborn (1993)" pretty enjoyable, but listening to "Eternal", I have to admit, that "Stillborn (1993)" definitely lacked the passion of the best output by the band. "Eternal" fully deserves a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating.

UMUR "The Will to Kill" is the 8th full-length studio album by US death metal act Malevolent Creation. The album was released through Arctic Music Group in November 2002. It´s the first out of two Malevolent Creation albums to feature former HatePlow and Sickness vocalist Kyle Simons. Brett Hoffmann only contributed vocals to "The Fine Art of Murder (1998)" and "Envenomed (2000)" before he made his second departure from the band. However he would return to the band again and replace Simons for the recording of "Doomsday X (2007)". "The Will to Kill" also features new drummer Justin DiPinto (Divine Rapture, Pyrexia) who replaces Dave Culross (Suffocation, Pyrexia, HatePlow).

...but of course numerous lineup changes has been a part of Malevolent Creation´s history since day one, but as long as guitarist and main composer Phil Fasciana is leading the band, you can always count on what you get with a Malevolent Creation album. "The Will to Kill" is no different from the rest of their discography in that regard. New lead vocalist and drummer or not.

The music on the album is death metal with brutal thrash metal leanings. No surprises there. New lead vocalist Kyle Simons has a more "regular" death metal type vocal delivery (still intelligible) than the more thrashy/distinct sounding Brett Hoffmann. It´s not necessarily a bad thing though, it´s just an observation. The musicianship is as always on a high level. Fast riffing, mid-paced heavier parts, precision drumming and lots of aggression. Now you can argue that the band haven´t developed much since they started playing music (you of course wouldn´t be completely right), but it´s actually besides the point, as Malevolent Creation have always aimed at staying true to their basic style with only small tweaks and twists along the way.

"The Will to Kill" is overall another strong album by Malevolent Creation. I wouldn´t call it among their best, but there are still few that play US death metal in such a convincing way as Malevolent Creation do. Just take a listen to the opening title track for proof of a hookladen, brutal and powerful death metal track. The sligthly "dry" sound production doesn´t enhance my listening experience, but the production is still professional and ultimately it´s probably an aquired taste. "The Will to Kill" deserves a 3.5 star (70%) rating in my book.

UMUR "Stillborn" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US death metal act Malevolent Creation. The album was released in October 1993 through Roadrunner Records. "Stillborn" would be the last Malevolent Creation album released through the label though. Disagreements over the choice of recording studio, producer and funds resulted in Malevolent Creation entering Pro Media Studios, Gainesville, Florida with producer Mark Pinske instead of Morrisound Recording Studios and producer Scott Burns which/who the band prefered.

...now I´ll try not to be too harsh on Mark Pinske (hell he was the chief recording engineer/live sound engineer for Frank Zappa in the period 1980-1987 and that requires something special of a man), but the sound production is quite the disappointment for most fans of the first two albums "The Ten Commandments (1991)" and "Retribution (1992)" (both recorded at Morrisound Recording Studios with Scott Burns producing) and I´m pretty sure the band wasn´t too satisfied with the sound either. Mark Pinske worked on at least two other metal productions in those years namely "Promises Impure (1993)" by Demented Ted and of course "Elements (1993)" by Atheist. All three albums have a very distinct, über distorted and hollow sound. While Mark Pinske´s production style worked pretty well on "Elements (1993)", and allright but not quite as well on "Promises Impure (1993)", it´s safe to say it doesn´t do the music on "Stillborn" any favours. The mix seem weird at times with the guitars drowning, the drums have an odd matchbox sound and the vocals are high in the mix and distorted to a point where it´s not always enjoyable to listen to the performance of lead vocalist Brett Hoffmann. However odd it may sound though I kind of enjoy the sound production when I´m in the right mood and it certainly gives "Stillborn" a unique identity not all the band´s albums possess. At the time when "Stillborn" was released I wasn´t too happy about the way it sounded though and the fans and the critics apparently agreed as "Stillborn" didn´t sell very well and generally received negative reviews. As a consequence Malevolent Creation were dropped by Roadrunner Records. A split that was anything but happy and nearly resulted in the demise of the band.

The music actually hasn´t changed that much compared to the style on the two predecessors, which means semi-thrashy and well played death metal with aggressive but intellegible growling vocals in front. You´ll have to look long for melodies and the tracks take a while to sink in an leave hooks. This is music created to make your head bang and make your body move in the pit. The many tempo changes and breaks will probably make it an obscure dance in that pit, but no less enjoyable. While standout tracks are a bit hard to point out, I´d say the opening track "Dominated Resurgency", the title track, which is by far the most memorable track on the album, incorporating heavier mid-paced riffing and even a hint of melody, and the closing track "Disciple of Abhorrence" are among the highlights.

...so while "Stillborn" is definitely the black sheep in Malevolent Creation´s discography, I personally find it enjoyable to a certain extent and I´d say a 3 - 3.5 star rating is warranted. Don´t start here if you are not familiar with the band though.