Malveillance – “L’Appel Du Neant” – [New Scream Industry]

Black Metal Punk from Quebec. Name is french for ‘malevolence.’ The beautiful specimen of manhood on the back of the CD case has been doing this since 2003, same year as Martyrdod’s first album, putting him comfortably ahead of the curve on the whole blackpunk thing. Anyway unlike Martyrdod (or The Exploited) he obviously doesn’t give a shit about politics. His thematic concerns draw more on the black metal part of his influence (Bathory, Old Wainds, Darkthrone, Cult of Daath, Peste Noire): cantankerous hatred for all humans. What we have here is 2005′s ‘Froid du Nord’ (‘Cold of the North’) demo (t.1-9), the ‘L’appel du Neant’ (‘The Appeal of Nothingness’) demo from 2006 (10-26), while the last tracks are a few unreleased covers from 2003-4: The Groovie Ghoulies (t.28), The Queers (t.30) and The Ramones. Oh yeah, the Ramones covers. Both demos also have some. Actually t. 7, 10-16, 27 and 29 are all Ramones covers. He picked pretty well-known songs (and some of my favorites!) to cover and little has been changed but the guitar tone and vocal style. It is very amusing to hear a French-Canadian misanthrope shriek things like “NOW I KNOW I’M SO MUCH IN LOVE” (t.27). #6 enjoys giving me things to review that seem calculated to offend/alienate both the Cult and the Punks. This is probably one of those things, but Punk and Black Metal would both be nothing without iconoclasm, non? The original tracks are also excellent, with mostly D-Beat drumming: only the newer demo uses blasting at all, and sparingly. T.1-5 are especially frosty grimness. I think Ives might be Malveillance fans. FUCK YOUR RULES SHEEPS (sic).