Review by Felix on May 17, 2026.

In Malice’s Wake belongs to the formations I trust blindly. After a solid start with their first full-length “Eternal Nightfall”, which included three of the four songs of the previous EP, the quartet from Down Under released three really amazing long players. Okay, maybe I was a bit too enthusiastic after the release of “The Blindness Of Faith”, but one thing is certain: In Malice’s Wake stands for uncompromising thrash metal which does not take care of the commercial whore called zeitgeist. Their songs do not indicate a specific time period, but a firm inner conviction and a clear vision of the way they want to sound. Perhaps, deep down, I always doubt my own integrity, and that might be why I particularly like bands that are so steadfast and unwavering. Anyway, whenever authenticity meets songwriting skills on the territory of thrash metal, all the ingredients for a celebration of good music are in place from my point of view. So let me take you by the hand; let us try to open wide the eyes in order to find our path through “The Profound Darkness”.

Flattening guitar sounds and a highly expressive, catchy yet untamed melody line, which are accompanied by an extremely effective drum work, kick off the opener, which is, just as was the case with “The Blindness Of Faith”, the title track as well. Presumably by no means intentional, the track is exactly the same length as its predecessor; it is, however, less likely to be a coincidence that the very first track already impressively encapsulates all the band’s strengths. Dynamic outbursts, great riffs and a powerful voice shape the song, which can always rely on a very solid, robust rhythm section. The fact that the band does not suffer from never-ending line-up changes is surely one of the reasons why the four dudes play so tightly together. Thus, it is no big surprise that tracks like 'By Tongues Of Demons' are able to combine blast beat parts with a memorable chorus. In Malice’s Wake keep the pressure high throughout the entire playtime of their fifth album. Of course, that is also a credit to the production team. “The Profound Darkness” is truly dark, somewhat pessimistic, but always clear, well-defined and resilient. The drums do not drown in the high-speed sections, and the bass is not completely subjugated, but the spotlight is directed towards the voice and guitars. In short, the mix is almost perfect for this kind of metal. It underlines the pure thrash approach, although 'The Last Song' begins with a guitar line that could also be the introduction to a black metal number. However, the main thing is that the album does not end after 'The Last Song' in fourth position. Five more neckbreakers are waiting to be unchained.

This handful of songs begins with 'Numb To Paradise”, which was the first advance track of the album. An enormous degree of fury, alarming guitars and partly extremely raw vocals characterise this harbinger of the next Australian thrash assault. It paints a picture of a city that has been badly hit, with smoke still hanging in the air in many places – a lingering trace of the air raid that had taken place earlier. But it goes without saying that no piece of the album paints a very peaceful picture. Do not expect any kind of (semi-) ballad here. Lukewarm experiments have found no place on the agenda as well. This is appreciated from my side, even though it has the effect that a few songs need time to develop their own personality. The style just does not leave a lot of wiggle room. (Actually no problem: if one loves only cute blond girls, he will not say: oh, this is cute blond girl no. 50, now I am bored.) On the other hand, this blemish also leads to a very monolithic appearance of the album, and that’s simply cool. So with the exception of the slightly death metal-affine 'Away From The Light', all songs hit the bull’s eye in my humble opinion. At the end of adventurous 40 minutes, the vigorous 'The Darkness Below Us' closes a splendid circle of sombre compositions which is recommended to all of you who do not want to miss a thrash metal highlight of 2026.

Rating: 8.7 out of 10

Review by Greg on April 30, 2026.

In Malice's Wake. The guys are one of the absolute best-kept secrets from the land down under – in fact, so well-kept that, despite having known their name since forever, by the time the promo for "The Profound Darkness" popped up on my screen I realized I'd never really took a proper deep dive into their discography. Luckily, I had plenty of time to correct my dreadful past mistakes, but that's another story. Still centered around the Farrugia duo – Shaun (vocals, guitars) and Mark (drums) – from their very inception, almost a quarter of a century ago, they've been preaching the holy word of thrash since day one, so much so that I suspect they were fed thrash since they were in utero. Be that as it may, they truly find their footing with second instalment "The Thrashening", before finally morphing into a remorseless riffing machine with subsequent works, flirting with more and more extreme sounds, not unlike what Warbringer were cooking roughly in the same period.

In light of this, I find it funny to see that Mark also had a stint in melodic thrashers and fellow citizens Envenomed, because here we're worlds apart from that. In Malice's Wake are firmly planted in death metal territory, but even the thrashier segments are delivered with such an impressive punch that your ass will never stop getting kicked. Again, all of this isn't entirely new for the band, but "The Profound Darkness" shapes up to be more concise, toning down the sometimes excessive song lengths which still yielded awesome results at times (I'm specifically thinking of the title track of "The Blindness Of Faith"), but more often than not had the side effect of diluting the Aussies' immense destructive potential. As such, I don't see any issues with focusing on efficiency and jumping from one section to another without too much pondering. It helps that Farrugia has never been a conventional riff writer, and along with other axeman Leigh Bartley (also in Harlott) are down to give anyone a lesson in riffing. The blackened death maelstrom introducing the opener and title track reveals a band eager to outperform their peers, from the frequent blast beats to the frontman's determined growls. Slower sections aren't forbidden, but they're rarely dragged on for more than a minute at best. Cool moments abound throughout – the elaborate riffing in 'The Last Song', or the hammering, percussive pre-chorus riffs in 'The Great Purifier' and 'The Darkness Below Us', which are honestly better than what they're supposed to introduce. Even little twists like that blunt title growl at 1:53 of 'Beyond Death' stand out on their own. First single 'Numb To Paradise' is perhaps the clearest statement in this regard, sounding like something that could have been written by some blasphemous Swedish death/thrash outfit.

Downsides? Well, 'The Last Song' isn't really the last song, for starters. Man, that is flagrant false advertising. Now, more seriously, the disorienting riffing and never-ending tempo changes are simultaneously the album's greatest strength and main flaw. Strength because it all leaves you in a constant state of distress, always waiting for something extremely dangerous to happen, in a way only bands I hold sacred like The Crown used to do (and it isn't a comparison I make lightly); flaw since you have to be ready to be let down by some of the excellent riffs ending way too quickly, or by the tempo dropping way too abruptly. The opener's intro is once again a clear example, as it all keeps building and building until potentially climaxing with the imposing riff at 1:37 (side note: I'll never stop fanboying over bands when they stop all the music for a couple of seconds and then drop you a motherfucking sledgehammer like this one), before just abandoning it after a mere 20 seconds, never picking it up again in the song. The same happens in 'Upon My Flesh', where the chorus is kickstarted from a similar rest, but just for one measure. For sure, none of these nine songs can be considered conventional in any way, so it would be unfair to fixate on this alone. Not to mention, these are minor issues that pale in comparison to the guitar parts' sheer quality and the total ease they bludgeon you with.

This is likely the most accurate way to describe "The Profound Darkness" – and In Malice's Wake as a whole, really – it's... fucking metal, riffz, duuude. You can draw your own conclusions from that. As a very amateur excuse for a music critic in my free time, my last point is that their stuff still seems to lack that magic touch of memorability, although keeping the total length below the 40-minute threshold helps keep it from becoming overwhelming. But as a metalhead, most of these words are utterly pointless. Just blast it at full volume, no questions asked, and be thankful for it.

Rating: 8.3 out of 10