Malice - License To Kill

Alot of bands fell through the cracks that popped up in the early 80s and one of them was Malice. Being a West Coast metal band with their album released in Japan only probably heavily contributed to the fact they are little known. Their sound has an early 80s raw feel to it, and is too heavy to be true glam metal, so they fall into more of a straight forward category. That is the one thing that sets this band apart from most of the others cropping up in this time period. 1987 and 1988 were the prime years for over-the-top produced glam metal, and "License to Kill" was far from it, both in sound, and lyrically. Some of their riffs remind me of many various bands, Ratt, MSG (especially the Graham Bonnet album) and more, but remain heavier than all these put together, which put them in more of the same category as Loudness, Leatherwolf and Obsession. Vocals are rather strong and straightforward, hitting an upper shrieking range upon occasion with a similiar cat-in-heat sound as a youthful Ian Gillan (Deep Purple). Some choruses, like on the title track give that glam feel at the time with the gang vocals and swaggering lead vocals. No keyboards to soften the sound just guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. What you hear is what you get.

Highlights include the chug-a-lug shredding feel of "Against the Empire" that seems based upon some galatic war (Star Wars maybe?) Just taking a guess here, so dont kill me if Im mistaken. The song has a nice heavy cream filling, that fits nicely with the feel of the beginning and ending. "Vigilante" is one of my favs, more vocal driven than the previous, but that raw feel gives the song an extra gritty spin that it wouldn't normally have. Catchy choruses abound on the tale of the "Chain Gang Woman" which has a bluesy opening, before breaking back into that booming bottom end sound this disc seems to stay in and never get out of. Another different center section, which is short but sweet and breaks it up just enough to let it stand out shining amongst the rest of the song. It rocks from start to finish. Insane laughter and cowbells get "Murder" off to a sinister start. The gleeful squeal of "murder! murder! poison in the chalice!" is almost laughable in an endearing way. "License to Kill" ends on a great note with "Circle of Fire" which rolls on by with a smoother melody than anything else on the disc.

Now this disc is fairly rare and sought after by collectors looking for those little gems that went undiscovered the first time around. The album ended up being alot better than what I expected, and even can come to terms with why some would want to pay big prices to obtain it. Ballad lovers will be disappointed to hear that there is no typical 80s power ballad, or anything even close to it. No songs about love, but instead its packed with cheerful tunes about murder, killing and songs about men being mistreated by the women they adore (and hate). Its refreshingly a world away from typical 80s metal tunes, which sets it apart from all the rest. Recommended for anyone that likes the earlier 80s metal sound, which sadly was killed in the 1990s. There's still something uniquely magical about the pure metallic feel of it, something rarely captured in this decade.

Rating = 7.4
By Alanna Evans
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