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Malicious Onslaught > Brutal Gore > Reviews
Malicious Onslaught - Brutal Gore

Brutally-Punctured Gore - 65%

EvilAllen, November 15th, 2017

I possess a significant aggregate of admiration for Malicious Onslaught. And for quite a few years now, I always have. I'm a fan both the band's only two liberates they unveiled to the public, many, many years ago now. One can become ensnared in total fear because of how long this very obscure band have been out of commission. I am still enormously disheartened to know about the self-caused death of Robert Hanauer. I didn't know about his death right away but I felt bothered by it when I discovered about it. Robert Hanauer was an amazing vocalist. At the time, Robert Hanauer from Malicious Onslaught and Sheepdog of Razor, were the only two vocalists of the metal scene from the 1980s using the high-pitched vocal fry technique, of which Dani Filth from Cradle of Filth, soon made famous many years later in the 1990s.

As much as I appreciate Malicious Onslaught, this album doesn't deserve any higher in the rating than I'm currently giving it. Fans have even suggested that this is arguably the worst death metal album ever taped in history, and in all fairness, it's easy to visualize why. It's rather obvious that the producer of the album should not have been hired as a professional because of his extremely diminished prowess at doing so. But at the same time, myself and other fans can also thank the rookie for mixing and mastering it the way that he did. A lot of fans like the hazy nature of how it presents itself. Exceedingly well-crafted music, complete and utterly abhorrent production.

Now, obviously something worth mentioning, that would be the balance of every track. Each track does not share the same fabrication as the other(s). Some tracks sound like they were recorded through a ceiling fan, others sound like they're recorded in a small room, possibly a bedroom. I somewhat fear if the producer was purposely incapacitating the band and this record? If that was the case, the producer was a complete and absolute asshole for doing it to them. He must have been bored as hell mixing the vocals, he put some demonic-sounding voices overtop of Rob's vocals, basically butchering the damn authentic nature of how the vocals should have sounded. Love those high-pitched vocals though... They must be around five octaves high, seriously.

You have some nicely made guitar harmonies within the record. Displays a small amount of melodic notes. The band even presented a very short, but haunting keyboard synths as well. I think the damn producer overly added a reverb on the guitars themselves and a high level of distortion on the bass, it just doesn't go well. If anything, it's not the band's fault why this album turned out the way it did (basically half-assed), it's the damn producer's fault. And I think he knew that he ruined it, too. Screwed over the band so badly, if you ask me, that is. The only thing that actually sounds authentic in this album, well, those would be the drums, they sound hard and heavy. Very complex-sounding, too. I like that.

I'm not sure how educated Robert was, but he didn't do too well at writing the song lyrics for each track, they're basically meaningless, honestly. I understand his viewpoint on what he was trying to interpret, thing is, it didn't really work for him. And who knows, maybe he was a guy struggling with life even before Malicious Onslaught became a band? I wouldn't know. And quite frankly, I'm sure a lot of people don't know either. And a lot of us will ever know. The album artwork is really neat! It's got a biblical atmosphere. It's basically influenced from an actual, famous painting. I just don't recall the name of what it is. I'm sure a lot of people have seen it though. Malicious Onslaught will have fans for forever if you ask me, there was a lot of talent and energy being placed into the music the band formed.

Easily not the first album I'd suggest to anyone. But yeah, if you're a fan of shrieks, then sure. This would be one I'd like to point in one's direction. And if you really like the obscure production, then just disregard what I was saying and enjoy. Not everyone will have the exact same viewpoint as I do for this record. This isn't the worst album I've ever heard and it's not the best either, but it's all up to how you see it for yourself, really. I'm sure the band would appreciate some kind listening and even some nice words for what they publicly displayed for everyone else. Probably my favourite track would be the entitled track, known as "Carcassed", which isn't even a real word. Nonetheless, decent release. Enjoy, everyone!

It Took A While, But It Grew On Me - 62%

grain_silo, July 2nd, 2011

Malicious Onslaught is a band that I’m sure hardly anyone has heard of. “Brutal Gore” is much faster and more of a grindcore album than their debut album which was pretty much straight thrash with a hint of death metal. I first discovered this band sometime last year and I gotta say I was not impressed by what I heard. After a few more listens, the music started to grow on me. Then before I knew it, I was buying the CD from a local record store.

The production of the album is all over the place. “Blademare”, “Carcassed”, and “The Morgue” have the best productions on here. Almost everything in these songs sounds pretty good. “Satanic Killing” is kind of muffled and has over the top pitch-shifted vocals. “Submerged in Silence” and “Internal Decay” have the worst production on here. The bass is too loud in both of them, and the guitar just hangs out in the background while the drums pound away.

Lyrics on this album are just there. They don’t add or take anything away. Mostly about gore and killing but don’t really flow as they should.

The guitars, when you can understand what they are doing actually sound pretty heavy. The drums are heavy as hell and pound through the entire album. The bass isn’t really anything special. The 2 songs the bass is present in are still kind of bleh. With a better production job, this album would have received a much higher rating.

I would give this album a higher rating but the last track is terrible and the production is just all over the place. After reading the other reviews I don’t think there’s anything I can do to make this album look more appealing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Best Tracks: “Carcassed”, “Internal Decay”, “Blademare”, and “Satanic Killing”

(my first review)