Maleficio
Go To Hell
6.2
Talk about dedication. Sweden’s Maleficio (not to be confused with the Spanish, Argentinian, or Colombian bands of the same name) formed in 1990 and spent the next eighteen fucking years releasing demos—at a rate of one per year, no less. They finally put out a longplayer in 2008; Go To Hell is their sophomore effort. Like its predecessor, it’s a competent but unremarkable attempt at very Swedish extreme-yet-melodic metal.
Maleficio split the difference between two familiar approaches. They tend to classify themselves as a melodic death metal band, and in that sense they draw heavily on the more burly end of the Swedish melodeath tradition (think Amon Amarth, Hypocrisy, Eucharist, mid-period Edge of Sanity, etc.). But as their corpsepainted frontman suggests, they’ve also clearly put in a lot of listening time with black metal units like Necrophobic and Naglfar.
Go To Hell benefits from predictably tight performances, a thick but raw production, and some nifty songwriting (especially “You Are Dead,” “Entwined in Mysteries” and “Burn”). But its appealing features are cloaked by a thick fog of heard-it-beforeness, and Maleficio, for all their perseverance, are unavoidably third-tier. Fun disc, but you can undoubtedly do better for your dime.
