Malevolent Creation

Malevolent Creation was by no means the most interesting band to roar out of Florida in the early 1990s. The group was technically accomplished and appropriately nihilistic, but it didn't offer the balls-out stoopidity of Deicide, the lunacy of Morbid Angel, or the avant-garde underpinnings of Obituary. Malevolent Creation had to get by on technical ability, speed, and power.

On the band's first three albums -- all released by Roadrunner, back when Roadrunner was a metal label -- Malevolent Creation mined the same rut as its more intriguing brethren, while tossing in shades of Death and Slayer. After a three-year disappearance, they re-emerged as a significantly more progressive-minded outfit, almost worthy of serious attention.

But not quite. Malevolent Creation's newest, The Will to Kill, is only for diehards who buy everything with puking-Rottweiler vocals and blast beats, and who don't buy anything without 'em. But live death metal is always at least viscerally enjoyable, a sonic gut-check of sorts, so why not hit this Valentine's Day gig and have Malevolent Creation return the favor?