Malphas – Extinct

Malphas is a Swiss Black Metal quartet hailing from back in 2014 where they apparently were hitting every single underground venue and scene – Not only to promote themselves, but to adapt and grow as a band as well, living as well as proverbially molding their albums into near-perfect homages of the genre that inspired them.

This has been the case for five releases so far; One EP and four Full-length releases, with Extinct being both the newest of the bunch on top of acting as the catalyst for this little scribble of mine.

Long story short: Malphas is, in every metric that matters other than the era during which it was conceived, an almost carbon-copy of what the Swedish Black Metal scene sounded and felt like back in the mid- to late nineties (something the band members themselves have admitted to being a strong influence on their sound throughout their career). Said sound has alledgedly slowly evolved across all their releases (‘alledgedly’ in this case since I sadly have not had the pleasure of spinning anything from this band prior to receiving Extinct) into the nine tracks long, nearly forty-five minutes worth of pure nostalgia that is currently doing the rounds on my record player beside me. And honestly, that is probably both the highest praise I can give the record, as well as one of its greatest drawbacks – It encapsulates everything intense, admirable and flat-out vicious about the genre as it was in that particular day and age. Had it been released in the nineties, it would have fit it quite well with its would-be contemporaries. As it stands, nearly thirty years worth of releases have seen the light of day between then and now, and when put into that context, I sadly see very little that will help me remember Malphas from the proverbial ocean of other, similar releases.

Paying homage is always appreciated – Especially for a nostalgic aging individual such as myself. And I most certainly enjoyed my time with the album, enough for me to spin it three times in quick succession.

That being said however, even after doing so I still struggle to tie the performances to memory – Or even to the name of said performance. Something genuinely consider to be a shame, as I see a lot of effort, talent and sheer willpower on display (the fourth track ”Majestic Moon” in particular struck a chord with me, even if I still had to look up the name of the track while writing this).

All in all, a band for old-school fans of the genre (such as myself), so this is a strong recommend to any fans of the likes of Watain, Lord Belial and Malign.

https://www.facebook.com/Malphas