Malevolent Creation is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1986 and later based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The band's original members were guitarists Phil Fasciana and Jim Nickles and vocalist Bret Hoffmann, who were joined by bassist Jason Blachowicz and drummer Dennis Kubas the following year. Fasciana is the only founding member who stayed with the band consistently.[1]
The band moved to Fort Lauderdale a year after it formed, and they became a part of the emergent local death metal scene, landing a deal with Roadrunner Records and helping to develop the Florida death metal sound.[2][3] In 1991 their debut album, The Ten Commandments, became something of a landmark in the death metal underground, expanding on the early work of bands such as Slayer, Kreator, Possessed, Onslaught, Obituary, and Death.[4]
History
Original members Jason Blachowicz, Bret Hoffmann and Phil Fasciana (far right, background) performing in 2014.
Malevolent Creation formed in 1987 out of Buffalo, New York with the original lineup of Bret Hoffmann on vocals, Phil Fasciana and Jim Nickles on guitar, Jason Blachowicz on bass and Dennis Kubas on drums. Soon thereafter, the band created a demo tape, which they produced 100 copies of.[5] Following the success of this original demo, the band moved from New York to Florida and prepped the release of their sophomore demo, pressing 1000 copies.[5] With the new demo, Jon Rubin and Mark Simpson replaced Nickles and Kubas respectively.[5] Following the demo, the band prepared a third demo, which eventually got them signed to Roadrunner Records, who would go on to put out their debut album The Ten Commandments in 1991.[5]
Following the album's release, the band's lineup shifted, with Rubin and Simpson departing and the band hiring Solstice members Rob Barrett and Alex Marquez.[5] In 1992, the band recorded and released their sophomore album, Retribution. In 1993, the band released Stillborn, with Rubin returning to the guitar position in place of Barrett. The album supposed to see Marquez be replaced by "Crazy" Larry Hawke. However, Hawke ended up incarcerated with DUI charge, which saw Marquez remaining with the band.[6] Following the release of Stillborn, Hoffman departed from the band, with Blachowicz taking over vocal duties while maintaining his position as bassist.[6]
Marquez also departed from the band at this time, with Disgorged drummer Dave Culross taking over the position.[6] With the lineup of Blachowicz, Rubin, Fasciana, and Culross, the band recorded and released their fourth release, Eternal. According to Fasciana, the label, Pavement Music, could not afford to let them record at Morrisound Recording, like their previous records.[6] Fasciana stated that following the album, the drummer situation was "real weird". Derek Roddy came into the band at this time, due to his friendship with Blachowicz.[6] Fasciana, Blachowicz and Roddy were joined by guitarist John Paul Soars for the band's fifth album, In Cold Blood, which premiered through Pavement Music in 1997.[6] However, following the album's release Blachowicz and Roddy entered into an altercation, which resulted in both quitting the band and moving out of the apartment they shared.[6]
Fasciana, now playing guitars and keyboards, had managed to rehire Hoffman, Barrett, and Culross, with Gordon Simms joining as their bassist.[6][7] The band approached their sixth album, The Fine Art of Murder, which was hailed as their best work yet.[5] However, Fasciana stated he was not impressed with Hoffman's performance on the release and that it "wasn't coming from the heart".[6] In 2000, the band released their seventh album, Envenomed, with the same lineup, through Arctic Music. The band worked with local producer and engineer Jeremy Staska (New Found Glory, Shai Hulud, Strongarm).[6] The process for the album was slower than they were used to, which allowed them time to work on the release more, which Fasciana appreciated. He noted that the vocals took a great deal of time, with Barrett and Hoffman collaborating to make them happen.[6]Envenomed II came later, which saw the album remastered with a Dark Angel cover.[6]
After the release, Hoffman had left the band, while Kyle Simons was brought in. Justin DiPinto joined as their drummer at that time as well. The band with the lineup quickly embarked on a tour with Marduk for 30 dates, before moving on to another tour with Immolation and Aborted.[6] Once the band returned from the tour, the band recorded and released their eighth album, The Will to Kill, in 2002.[6] In 2004, Dave Culross returned to the band and recorded Warkult, the band's ninth album.[6] In 2007, with the band's longest gap between albums, they released their tenth album, Doomsday X. Fasciana notes that the band's members were all spread out across the country during the writing process, which made things difficult.[8] This album saw the return of Hoffman on vocals, Blachowicz on bass, and Rubin on guitars, while Fasciana and Culross remained from the prior lineup. The band also had a guest performance by Mick Thompson of Slipknot.[9]
Malevolent Creation signed a management deal with Extreme Management Group (Suffocation, Origin) in 2010 and announced April 5, 2010, as the starting date for recording their next album with Erik Rutan at Mana Recording Studios (Cannibal Corpse, Vital Remains, Goatwhore, etc.)[10][11] The band released the following statement:
"After over 20 years in existence, and now having the most solid line up in years, we really wanted to make sure that with this new album we elevated the band in every way. Getting good management was crucial and EMG has a great track record. Erik has been talking to us since Doomsday X to record us, and with Gus Rios (Drums) being in the band full time now, we didn't want him to have the responsibility of producing the album as well as writing and playing. Erik really understands what we are about, and has all of the same thoughts about recording as us. It really couldn't be a better working situation. We've said it before but this album really is without a doubt is the most relentless, focused and brutal MALEVOLENT CREATION album ever! We really went back to our roots, not only as a band, but as fans of metal. We wrote an album of songs that we as fans of brutal music would want to hear."[10]
With Rios and guitarist Gio Geraca in the band, Malevolent Creation began working on their eleventh album, Invidious Dominion, which came out through Nuclear Blast on August 24, 2010.[12] Rios had a large hand in the production of the album, as well.[13]
Malevolent Creation signed a worldwide record deal with Century Media Records in 2014. Their 12th studio album, Dead Man's Path, was released in October 2015.[14][15] In September 2016, it was reported that the band had broken up following the cancellation of their upcoming U.S. tour, and departure of their long-time bassist Jason Blachowicz.[16] Phil Fasciana is the only remaining member left. In November 2017, it was announced that Malevolent Creation had returned with a new lineup, and an upcoming album to be released next year.[17] Original vocalist Bret Hoffmann died from colon cancer on July 7, 2018, at the age of 51.[18]
After the passing of Hoffman, Fasciana continued the band on and recorded their 13th studio album, known as The 13th Beast, with a whole new lineup, including Josh Gibbs on bass, Phillip Cancilla on drums, Lee Wollenschlaeger on guitars and vocals.[19] The album was released on January 18, 2019, through Century Media Records.[19]
New members Josh Gibbs and Ronnie Parmer performing in 2022
In October 2022, former CKY frontman Deron Miller joined the band as the new vocalist and guitarist.[20] With the change in lineup, the band is currently writing their fourteenth album, with new drummer Ronnie Parmer.[21]
Controversies
On the album Eternal, the song "They Breed" features negative lyrics focused towards black people.[22] This has led to the reputation of the band being known as an act full of racists.[22] However, according to many members of the band, they claimed the only individual with racist tendencies was bassist and vocalist Jason Blachowicz, who wrote the lyrics to "They Breed".[22][23] Former drummer Alex Marquez also stated that Blachowicz was the only member of the band who was racist, also highlighting his ethnicity of Cuban descent to show that the band as a whole was not racist.[24] Fasciana mentioned in an interview with Chronicles of Chaos that Blachowicz at one point wore a KKK t-shirt on-stage while on tour in Germany, which resulted in a physical altercation between the two, resulting in Blachowicz quitting the band.[25]
In 2007, guitarist Phil Fasciana was interviewed by Grimoire of Exalted Deeds magazine, and uttered many racial slurs throughout the interview. This interview was shared publicly by zine Metal Sucks years later, in 2014, and in response, Bill Zebub of Exalted Deeds claimed it was a joke and hilarious.[26] However, according to later vocalist Lee Wollenschlaeger, the interview conducted by Exalted Deeds was a fraudulent and a false interview.[22][23] In 2014, the band made headlines once more when former drummer Gus Rios departed and Fasciana referred to him as "Gay Gus". He recanted the statement, as he claims no ill-will towards Rios and that he was simply referring to a nickname of Rios' since before they met.[27][28]
The Best of Malevolent Creation (Roadrunner, 2003)
Retrospective (Crash Music, 2005)
Essentials (Crash Music, 2009)
DVD
Lost Commandments (Massacre Records, 2008) – It was an Arctic Music release that was licensed to Massacre Records for European release
Music videos
Slaughter House (2010)
Target Rich Environment (2012)
Decimated (2018)
Release the Soul (2019)
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The Ten Commandments is the debut studio album by American death metal band Malevolent Creation. It was produced and engineered by Scott Burns.
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