Fatal Recoil
Malicious
6.3
Similar to Acephalous, Fatal Recoil hail from Belgium and are also in league with Rotten to the Core. Self-proclaimed as a “six-piece deathcore-band from Ypres,” Fatal Recoil have a firm, if unbalanced grip on what they’re playing, but because this “full-length” is only 26 minutes total and has too many soundclips, I doubt it’s in the average person’s best interest to pick this up.
More often than not, Malicious is primarily centered on death metal, though hardcore definitely appears here and there – especially in the gang vocal-laden “Hate Decides Your Fate.” The title track, which also functions as the opening number, paints a different picture, as it’s steeped in death metal more than its companions. Still, the deathcore categorization does indeed gain clout as Malicious unfolds. Unfortunately, soundclips distract from the material at hand, even if dialogue excerpts from The Warriors and Naked Gun – both in “Anguish of the Weak” – are endearing.
Each component of Malicious is decent at the very least, if not much better, but my attention drifts during the –core parts because All Shall Perish-caliber this is not. Whereas many deathcore bands seamlessly interweave death metal and hardcore, FR seem to separate the subgenres too much in their assault, which results in the listener wishing they’d stick to one or the other. Perhaps Fatal Recoil would be more effective if they concentrated on death metal.
