Malady
Self Titled
8.1
A lot of people have been anticipating this album. Not me. I didn't have a damned clue what it was when I signed up to review it initially. After investigating a little, I got angry. I never cared much for the deceased bands, City of Caterpillar or Pg. 99. So I was fully prepared to give Malady, who features members of the aforementioned bands, a pretty bad review. Nothing's better than dreading doing a review and finding out the album you've been afraid to touch is actually quite good.
With desperately sung vocals, full dirty ringing chords, and steady rhythmic basslines, Malady's brand of screamo-esque/post-hardcore is actually a little more structured. Not exactly metal, but definitely aggressive. If you're familiar with the Level Plane roster you might have a better idea of what this is. I personally really enjoy it and find myself shamed just a slight bit over this fact. It's gritty with a nervous energy, yet retains a bit of catchiness. They are able to bring things down a bit, like in the second track, "Yeah", using sort of a mumbled soft singing before breaking back into that strained yelp. There's some outstanding distant sounding guitar melodies during "The World Is A Tomb" that might actually remind you of a bit of some of the older shoegazing bands. The omnipresent frantic guitar strumming builds up some fairly amazing passages, like on "Said Simone", one of the stronger tracks on the release. When the album ends with melancholy keyboards, it actually feels fulfilling. You're not left wanting more, but you're glad you sat through what you just sat through.
I think this is a great album, but I don't think many of the readers of this site will agree necessarily. It's not mindblowing or anything, but it's a solid, unique, and honest effort that I really feel outshines some of the work of their former bands. It's less meandering and more tasteful. If by any chance a fan of City of Caterpillar or Pg. 99 happens to stumble across this site, they'll probably already have this, anyway. Otherwise, if you're a metalhead that isn't a narrow-minded idiot with a penchant for creative, emotional, and jangly post-hardcore bands, take a chance with Malady. But if you don't like it, don't say I didn't warn you. I'm busy trying to figure out why people are still listening to bands like Opeth, yet can't admit to enjoying music like this.
