If you like your music noisy, in-your-face and packed full of riffs, then it goes without saying that Malefice is a band for you. Always a force to be reckoned with live, the EP somehow manages to contain their energy into four great tracks to create a rather formidable offering.
Admittedly things don’t get off to the best of starts with opener Forsaken. The slow-paced introduction doesn’t really do the song any favours and makes everything feel a bit sluggish at first before the song finally gets going – and that’s when it gets interesting, with riffs aplenty and hard-hitting vocals that really stick in your mind. Things then progress well from there with following track Heroes, which is more of a melodic inclusion. It showcases some great clean vocals that really help the track to keep moving and they contrast fantastically with the sheer aggression from the harsh vocals in the verses.
Gravitas comes to a close with My Design, but Malefice clearly don’t want to go out quietly, creating one last onslaught of noise that really helps to end the EP with a bang.
Although it does get off to a little bit of a false start, Gravitas is nevertheless a great listen and it is a powerful piece that will surely be something to behold in a live environment.
7/10
