Malefice: Awaken The Tides – new album

MALEFICE's third album, ‘Awaken The Tides’, will hit European music stores tomorrow, July 18th, 2011 and will become available in the American ones on August 2nd, 2011 – due to Metal Blade Records. The album was recorded at The Face in Reading, with drums being laid down at Fortress Studios in London. All tracks were mixed and mastered by Justin Hill. Below you’ll find the album's title track, ‘Awaken The Tides’, as well as the music video for the track, which was shot at the Hack Green (nuclear bunker) in Cheshire, UK. The video was directed by Stuart Birchall and produced by You Know Ltd, and ‘Minutes’, courtesy of ALT-sounds. If you click here you’ll get to Metal Hammer Germany, where another new MALEFICE's track, ‘Delirium’, has premiered. As for the album, order and/or pre-order it here (Metal Blade Records).

Frontman Dale Butler commented the new album: “And so the time has finally come, we’ve been locked away for six months working on this record, a release that’s going to take your fucking head off. We promised something different, a bigger production, and a slightly different look on the genre. We’ve found our sound and it’s going to bring a whole new level to our live show, something we all felt was missing. We’ve come back a new band, confidant and more of a unit than we’ve ever been. This is our next step; make sure you’re around to see it!”

MALEFICE was formed in Reading, England in 2003. After recording an EP entitled ‘Relentless’, distributed by Hangman's Joke Records, the band had signed with Anticulture Records for their debut full-length ‘Entities’, which created quite a stir among the metal press. In 2008, MALEFICE signed a worldwide deal with Metal Blade Records: “Arriving with nothing in the way of fancy haircuts, cheesy gimmicks or music industry hype, MALEFICE are a band that captured the minds and banged the heads of every metalhead that missed metal in its purest, most uncompromising form; brutal, tuneful and heavy as hell,” acknowledged the label. Second studio album, 2009's Dawn Of Reprisal’, was produced by Justin Hill and Dan Weller: “ "Honest to goodness British thrash metal." It’s been quite a while since you could honestly say a group fit that description, but MALEFICE certainly comes darn close on their 2009 release,” wrote AllMusic's Greg Prato, “Not a lot of surprises here, and therefore, not a lot to separate [the band] from the rest off the metal pack. But if you’re looking for straight-ahead, vintage metal, ‘Dawn Of Reprisal’ fits the bill.” Long-time drummer and one of the band's founders, Craig Thomas, left MALEFICE in 2010.

MALEFICE features: Dale Butler – vocals, Ben Symons – guitar, Alex Vuskans – guitar, Tom Hynes - bass and Chris Allan-Whyte – drums.

MALEFICE: Awaken the Tides – courtesy of Metal Blade Records

MALEFICE: Minutes – courtesy of altsounds