Multi-media artist Nader Sadek’s new four-song EP The Malefic: Chapter III will be released as a free CD insert this November and December via Decibel Magazine (#122), Terrorizer Magazine in the UK (#254) and Legacy Magazine in Germany (#94). The Decibel release has a different mix and master from the UK and German versions. The album will also be released digitally in December.
Returning to the fold are main songwriters Flo Mounier of Cryptopsy fame, master composer and guitarist Rune Eriksen of black thrashers Aura Noir and ever-rising, multi-voiced growler Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation. Bobby Koelble, whose jazz-influenced technique mixed with tinges of Eastern passion, brings a fresh flare into the sound. Depending mostly on what sounds like millions of notes being touched at ungraspable speed, Koelble is best known for his work with genre creating band Death, as he collaborated in creating their most revered record, Symbolic. Lastly, the solos of Brazilian guitarist Andreas Kisser from yet another genre defining band, Sepultura bring an emotion that is both chaotic and yet full of feeling, and whose whammy-bar twisting and dragged notes introduce a wicked counterpoint to Koelble’s style. Shimmering on the surface are the angelic sirens of Carmen Simoes formerly of the Ava Inferi and current Moonspell backing vocalist, who conjures a sense of depth to the song “Descent”.
Musically, the EP runs through a variety of emotions and styles, resulting in a schizophrenic sound that nonetheless yields a tight, cacophonous, and nightmarish unit, serving the album’s concept of a man’s struggle with the self-defeating consequences of his own decisions. It can be said that each track leans towards a different subgenre of extreme metal, starting with mid 90’s style death metal, coursing through black metal, going back to late ’80s era death metal and finally concluding with a doom metal track. However, the general feel of the EP is an undeniably intense Death metal vibe.
The album concept conjures an unknown time and place from which God has withdrawn, and even his arch-nemesis has resigned from his post due to inactivity, stranding all souls in Limbo. In order to rescue his loved ones, and all the souls of humankind, from this limbonic afterlife, a nameless protagonist journeys to the sacred mountain of the divine. Convinced by the righteousness of his mission, he believes that his enthronement on the divine mountain will release all souls to eternal bliss. Yet blinded by his own arrogance, he realizes only too late that he has reactivated and occupied the throne of the devil, condemning all souls, even those of his family, to an eternal inferno. Chapter III signifies the final act and conclusion of the story, which is set to be re-released as a graphic novel in the future along with Chapters I & II.
The fantastical imagery and vocabulary of The Malefic: Chapter III conceals a combative political allegory in that the journey of the nameless protagonist replays the journey of most politicians. Seeking power to serve righteous ends, their arrogance and access to the corridors of power corrupts them until they pursue personal gain above all else, even to the point of destroying the very things they originally desired to save.
Other important production choices amplify this wide-ranging sonic palette. For example, almost each song uses a different bass player.
The Malefic: Chapter III track listing:
1. Deformation By Incision
2. Carrion Whispers
3. Entropy Eternal
4. Decent