Malefice was an English heavy metal band from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, formed in 2003. They disbanded in 2017.

History

The original members consisted of college friends Dale Butler, Alex Vuskans, Craig Thomas and Craig Fenner. After formation they began writing their songs straight away. Their first major break was to open a four band bill charity gig at the Rivermead Centre in Reading. Henceforth their fanbase began to grow. Through constant touring around Reading and London, they managed to get a distribution deal for their first EP ''Relentless'' through Hangman's Joke. Then in early 2007 they signed to Anticulture Records. They then recorded their debut album ''Entities'' under the production team of Dan Weller and Justin Hill of WellerHill at Craig's parents home in South Wales. The album has been highly praised by the British metal press . The band eventually announced their amicable split from the Anticulture label via their Myspace page. Since the album's release they have been support for the successful SikTh tour as well as

DevilDriver DevilDriver is an American heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002, consisting of vocalist Dez Fafara, lead guitarist Mike Spreitzer, drummer Davier Pérez, bassist Jon Miller and rhythm guitarist Alex Lee. The band was ...

and

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and have played shows with the likes of

Soulfly Soulfly is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1997, and later based out of Phoenix, Arizona. Soulfly is led by former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera, who formed the band after he left the Brazilian group in 199 ...

. In January 2008, they played a show at

The Wedgewood Rooms The Wedgewood Rooms is an independent live music venue, in Southsea, Portsmouth, England, which hosts both music and comedy events. It has a capacity of 400 people, and is located on Albert Road in Southsea. Recently it has hosted events from ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, which was recorded, and is due to be released as the band's first ever DVD. In June 2008, Malefice opened the second stage of the prestigious

Download Festival Download Festival is a British-created rock festival created by Terrance Gough, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 201 ...

on the Saturday. November 2008, Malefice announced through thei
Myspace
page that they had signed a worldwide deal with

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...

. In February 2009 they released their second album '' Dawn of Reprisal''. On 12 September, they played at Butserfest alongside Go:Audio and We Are the Ocean. On 26 September 2009, they played in India at the annual cultural fest Rendezvous of

IIT Delhi The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is a public institute of technology located in New Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technolo ...

. In March 2010 the band featured on the BBC TV show "'' The Bubble''". The following month it was announced that drummer Craig Thomas had left the band, to be replaced by Chris Allan-Whyte. Following this Malefice also played on the Jager stage at Sonisphere UK, playing a 30-minute set on Saturday evening. In 2012 they recorded a song with Everton goalkeeper

Marcus Hahnemann Marcus Stephen Hahnemann (born June 15, 1972) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. Graduating out of Seattle Pacific University, he played for the Seattle Sounders between 1994 and 1996. Between 1997 and ...

for the Jägermeister UK "Ice Cold Session", titled ''Omega'' and released on 1 February 2012. In June 2012, the band signed to

Transcend Music Transcend Music, is a British record label and artist management company. Founded in 2007 by Rob Ferguson, they have signed acts such as Malefice and The Dirty Youth. History Transcend Music was founded as Transcend Records in Milton Keynes, Un ...

. In March 2017, the group disbanded, in order to pursue solo careers.

Band members

Current members

* Dale Butler – vocals (2003–2017) * Ben Symons – guitar (2003–2017) * Tom Hynes – bass (2006–2017) * Andrew Wilson – guitar (2011–2017) * James Cook – drums (2014–2017)

Former members

* Lloyd Griffiths – bass (2003–2006) * Craig Thomas – drums (2003–2010) * Alex Vuskans – guitar(2003–2011) * Chris Allan-Whyte – drums (2010–2014)

Timeline

ImageSize =width:800 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea =left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:0 Alignbars =justify DateFormat =mm/dd/yyyy Period =from:01/01/2003 till:03/01/2017 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2003 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2003 TimeAxis =orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend =orientation:horizontal position:bottom Colors= id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:studio value:black legend:Studio_albums/EPs id:bars value:gray(0.95) LineData= at:01/01/2006 color:black layer:back at:08/20/2007 color:black layer:back at:02/27/2009 color:black layer:back at:07/15/2011 color:black layer:back at:07/28/2013 color:black layer:back BackgroundColors= bars:bars BarData= bar:Dale text:"Dale Butler" bar:Ben text:"Ben Symons" bar:Alex text:"Alex Vuskans" bar:Andrew text:"Andrew Wilson" bar:Lloyd text:"Lloyd Griffiths" bar:Tom text:"Tom Hynes" bar:Craig text:"Craig Thomas" bar:Chris text:"Chris Allan" bar:James text:"James Cook" PlotData = width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Dale from:01/01/2003 till:end color:vocals bar:Ben from:01/01/2003 till:end color:guitar bar:Alex from:01/01/2003 till:11/01/2011 color:guitar bar:Andrew from:11/01/2011 till:end color:guitar bar:Lloyd from:01/01/2003 till:06/01/2006 color:bass bar:Tom from:06/01/2006 till:end color:bass bar:Craig from:01/01/2003 till:01/01/2010 color:drums bar:Chris from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2014 color:drums bar:James from:01/01/2014 till:end color:drums

Discography

Studio albums and EPs

* 2006 – ''Relentless'' (Hangmans Joke) * 2007 – ''

Entities An entity is something that exists as itself, as a subject or as an object, actually or potentially, concretely or abstractly, physically or not. It need not be of material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually ...

'' (Anticulture Records) * 2009 – '' Dawn of Reprisal'' (

) * 2011 – '' Awaken the Tides'' (

) * 2013 – ''Five'' (Transcend Music)MALEFICE REVEAL DETAILS & ARTWORK FOR NEW ALBUM

Promotional videos

* 2006 – "The Force That You Fear" * 2007 – "Risen Through the Ashes" * 2009 – "An Architect of Your Demise" * 2011 – "Awaken the Tides" * 2012 – "Omega" (feat.

) * 2013 – "V" * 2013 – "Blueprints" * 2014 – "Heroes"

References

External links

*
Malefice TV on YouTube
{{Authority control British alternative metal musical groups English heavy metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups from Reading, Berkshire Metal Blade Records artists