A few years ago, an album by a band named Malum intrigued me greatly, called ‘Devil’s Creation’. Fast forward a few years later and I then discovered an album I thought was a follow-up, entitled ‘In Nauseam’, which of course then made the penny drop for me, in which there are two bands named ‘Malum’, (at least that I’m aware, given that the name means ‘evil’ in Latin) and that the newer album of the two belongs to the actual Malum, the focus of which this review is on (the first ‘Malum’ is from Finland).
Malum from Norway, with this newest release, ‘From The Voids’, being the sophomore release from said band; echoing that sense of dread and weight you get when listening to the likes of Mgła, Uada and Groza, a triumvirate of melodic Black Metal steeped in atmosphere and accessibility; and in this case, especially Mgła.
Mgła, for me, when discovering them off the back of ‘With Hearts Toward None’, felt like Black Metal that was curated directly to me; that’s how much I was invested in them, the Polish scene and then noticed the influence on bands like Groza, Uada, Batushka and later, Gaerea and other bands utilizing an anonymous stage presence.
Back to Malum, though, and they have the hallmarks of a sound very familiar to those with the three aforementioned bands are here; a beautiful guitar tone, excellent riff work, shouted, throaty vocals and superb drumming that underpins the entire album in a way that evokes how Darkside does for Mgła.
On releases like ‘With Hearts Toward None’ and ‘Exercises In Futility’, Mgła made the Extreme Metal scene aware of how good Polish Black Metal could be, and it’s clear that years later, Malum have referred to these albums when crafting their own, with tracks like ‘In Gloom II’ and ‘Deranged And Depraved’ sounding very close to being B-sides cut from those Mgła recording sessions.
That’s not to discredit the work that Malum has put out here at all, but it’s just very evident that the Mgła worship is front and centre, as someone who has Mgła’s entire discography and while listening to ‘From The Voids’ can’t help but to marry up riffs and passages I hear with tracks from ‘Age Of Excuse’ or ‘Groza’, for example.
Again, this isn’t to discredit this album or the work of Malum from Norway at all, as their previous album, their debut, ‘In Nauseam’, is an album I also own and deem a decent release, though the Mgła influence seems stronger here for me than on that release.
At around 40 minutes, with six tracks, it’s reminiscent of ‘Groza’ by Mgła as well, though with individual track titles (as opposed to how Mgła has the same track title, just numbered differently). I stress that this is a good album, a decent album, most definitely, but it’s just impossible for me to listen to without thinking of another band who had perfected this sound and approach years earlier.
