Malevolence

When Matt Heafy says he’s a big fan of your band and invites you to join Trivium on their European trek then you know you’ve got something special going. They’ve been going strong for sixteen years and so far they have four studio albums and two EPs to show for their efforts. Relentless touring has helped them establish a solid fan base. Rooted in the world of hardcore, they are nonetheless hard to pigeonhole, their output being described at various times as (a mixture of) sludge, metalcore, hardcore (punk), heavy metal, thrash and post-hardcore. Their versatility landed them a record deal with Nuclear Blast and they played their maiden GMM show in 2023. An American writer and columnist said they sound like “Dimebag Darrell has joined Hatebreed to work on a sludge album”, a point that really comes across on ‘The Aggression Sessions’, their recent split EP with Thy Art Is Murder and Fit for an Autopsy. ‘Where Only the Truth Is Spoken’ (2025) has been widely praised as another step up for Malevolence: a refined metalcore/groove metal album that blends, heavy, thrashy riffs with anthemic choruses. (#GMM26)