𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 19, 1985 — Malice released their debut studio album, In The Beginning… via Atlantic Records. (Listen)
The album was produced by Michael Wagener (Dokken, Great White, Raven), with musical assistance by Michael Lardie (Great White) and Wyn Davis. In The Beginning… was engineered by Duane Baron and mastered by George Marino (R.I.P. 2012).
Background:
On March 18, 2016, Classic Rock Magazine’s Paul Elliot wrote;
“𝙸𝚗 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟸, 𝚊 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚄𝚂 𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚕𝚊𝚋𝚎𝚕, 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜, 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚎, 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚊. 𝚃𝚠𝚘 𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚢 – 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚊 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚁𝙰𝚃𝚃. 𝙾𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝙲𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚄𝚗𝚐𝚘𝚕, 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚎𝚜. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚘𝚋𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢."
Malice formed in Portland, Oregon, but it was after relocating to LA that they got their break with Metal Massacre and then signing to Atlantic. Sounds writer Sylvie Simmons nailed Malice in four words: “𝙹𝚞𝚍𝚊𝚜 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜𝚝 – 𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚢𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛.” Singer James Neal screamed like Rob Halford and guitarist Jay Reynolds was a dead ringer for Priest’s K.K. Downing.
The band’s first album, In The Beginning…, was an act of worship. As Jay Reynolds says now:
“𝚆𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗’𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜𝚝. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔, 𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕.”
And yet, no matter how derivative, this is still a great old-school Heavy Metal record. It has big anthems in Rockin’ With You and Stellar Masters; a moody epic in the daftly named No Haven For The Raven; pure head-banging rifferama in Air Attack and Godz Of Thunder. For Malice, it never got better than this.
Critical Reception:
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Jason Birchmeier stated;
“𝙷𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚟𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙹𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝙽𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝙹𝚊𝚢 𝚁𝚎𝚢𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚎, 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝙹𝚞𝚍𝚊𝚜 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜𝚝, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚘𝚜 𝙰𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍,‘𝚜 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟻 𝚍𝚎𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙰𝚝𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚌, 𝙸𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐... 𝙱𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝 𝙹𝚞𝚍𝚊𝚜 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝, 𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚜𝚘 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗‘𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚗𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍-𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍‘𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘-𝚛𝚊𝚗 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚌𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢. 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 ‘𝟾𝟶𝚜 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎’𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢, 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚛𝚊 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐, i𝚏 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙰 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖, 𝙻𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝙺𝚒𝚕𝚕 (𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚡 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗), 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟽, 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚁𝚎𝚢𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝙼𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚝𝚑, 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚝 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚏𝚕𝚢.”
Did You Know?:
Along with guitarist Jay Reynolds short stint for Megadeth, he also played for Metal Church from 2001 until 2008, and again in 2012, where he performed on the albums The Weight of the World (2004) and A Light In the Dark (2006).
Guitarist Mick Zane passed away on December 23, 2016 from a brain tumor.
R.I.P. Mick Zane (May 28, 1959 - December 23, 2016)
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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