MALICIOUS DAMAGE – Scorched Earth Policy

According to the band’s biography “Malicious Damage encountered many changes due to our global society.” This more than strange excuse is given due to the fact that even though the band was formed in 1987, their debut release finally saw the light of the sun just now after 18 years!

The four piece band comes from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, trying to shake things up with this self-financed, five track EP. The energy that was building all these years when the band was “silent” found a way out, through Scorched Earth Policy. The music in the five tracks can be described as a Thrash/Death Metal blend with a touch of Industrial. The effort to track down the Industrial influences will lead the you to the genre’s pioneers, Ministry. Josh, the singer and the writer of all the lyrics, has added some Hardcore elements in his performing style that perfectly fit into the aggressive sound and attitude of the band.

The album opens with the song “Flesh of God” that is basically a short intro. The false impression that this band follows the current trend of the Metalcore’s pissed off attitude fades out when the guitar riff attack commences. The strong Thrash Metal foundations are revealed through the compact neck wrecking rhythm guitar section. The Hardcore influences come from the very beginning of the Thrash scene with bands like DRI. The bad sound production is distracting in “Eighty-Five Percent,” especially with the drums that sound almost plastic. Musically, the song maintains a Slayer–ish atmosphere, with a ton heavy rhythm guitar, fast drumming, and some clean vocals.

The return to Hardcore happens in the next track, “Salvation (In a Dying World),” with a bass guitar intro that brings to mind DRI’s anti- conformity style in the song “Shoot a Tie Guy.”

The low tuned clean guitar intro opens the penultimate song of the EP, entitled “Unrighteous Path.” This song is like a dive into the past, reproducing the Thrash atmosphere of the American scene back in the mid 80s with bands like Exodus and Testament. The EP closes with “Stillborn Nation,” kicking off with a Speed/Thrash rendition to John Carpenter’s Halloween theme. Once again, the high composing potential of this experienced band are proven and once again the production makes an unpleasant appearance with the worst possible drum sound. Moments like this, someone can realize the important role of a record company in providing the proper budget to a band to produce the sound that will bring out their creativity instead of burying it.

Definitely Scorched Earth Policy will put a smile to every fan of the old fashioned Thrash Metal sound while waiting for the full length release that will be possibly be ready at the start of 2006. A true Metal fan should never forget to support the Underground Metal scene where everything started. So go ahead and visit and support the band at the following link.