Scourge of Malice

Scourge of Malice may be Graveworm's best release and unfortunately their last great album before they started to fall downward into the trend of mainstream mediocrity (though to be fair, Engraved in Black was always decent enough). It's tough to really define what genre this album would really be - most will consider this a melodic black/gothic metal album. Whatever it is, Scourge of Malice is a strong album that's very well produced, mature, and has a captivating mood.

Those of you who remember Dimmu Borgir's Enthrone Darkness Triumphant will immediately see how similar Scourge of Malice is to it. The music heavily relies on symphonic instruments, though Graveworm seems to use a lot more orchestral elements while other bands might rely more on synthesizers. Of course, the music as a whole is filled with keyboards and becomes the main source of blood flow for the album. While Dimmu Borgir's albums focus on trying to make more hateful, evil sounding music, this particular Graveworm album takes a different approach: the overall mood of Scourge of Malice is one that is gloomy, melancholic, but heavily romanticized. Maybe that approach isn't for everyone, but the members of Graveworm do such an incredible job that the atmosphere they created feels so real and natural. I feel like Scourge of Malice is one of those albums where you can easily live in your own little world, surrounded by your own emotions, those of which are filled with regret, remorse, sadness, etc. It's essentially a form of escapism.

Given what I just said about the overall mood and atmosphere about the album, there's nothing really objectionable about the music itself. The instruments do a fine job keeping up with the melancholic atmosphere being so present within. "Unhallowed by the Infernal One" has rather hypnotic pacing. The track progresses at a moderate speed with catchy verses, while the symphonic instruments sort of "float" around in the background. It's a very powerful effect because while the song is pretty predictable, there's a certain sense of animosity and contempt within the air that corrupts the overall beauty of what the band members were trying to come up with. "Demonic Dreams" has a rather purifying, upbeat beginning, but somewhere around the middle, the guitars are tuned in a way to make the music really sad sounding. This is really melodic stuff. On this track in particular, I could easily picture someone sarcastically playing a "sad violin" in the background! Another favorite track of mine is "Sanctity within Darkness." Holy hell this song is epitome of melancholy....maybe not, but it sure is a strong combination of melancholy and melody all in one. The song is again, really catchy, but the real icing on the cake is... surprise - a sad sounding cello right in the middle. Stefan's high shrieking vocals do tremendous justice for the agony being portrayed throughout the music. Sure, sometimes the music is a little over the top or melodramatic and there are plenty of examples of this throughout the entire album. It really does seem like these guys are trapped forever in their romantic fantasy world and think the real world is bleak. But I give them credit if they're able to make those ideas so strong in their music.

I didn't really bring up too much about the riffs or drums, or anything like that. They're exactly would you would expect and don't create any dissonance between the other elements. For an album like Scourge of Malice, the main focus I think is the overall mood of the album. If mood is what you're looking for, Scourge of Malice can deliver. It's an absolutely powerful album with many well-written ideas. Chances are, if you like one song, you'll like the rest. Unfortunately, there isn't too much variety between tracks, but that's perfectly fine for the album never seems to lag on for too long. Also, the Maiden cover is decent - and I believe Scourge of Malice is the last album where Graveworm covers metal tracks before they got all silly and wanted to try 80's pop. Hate these guys or love 'em, Scourge of Malice definitely shows the talent and abilities of Graveworm and has given them a certain niche in the gothic scene.