Nights Of Malice Chaos Excordium Review
Nights of Malice
Chaos Excordium
Bleeding Art Collective/Blood Blast Distribution Nuclear Blast Records/Believe
2026
I'm going to start here with a confession. The reason for it is because Nights of Malice’s press mentions “deathcore.” Don't get me wrong, there are some absolutely killer bands that fall under this genre tag for me, but lately? The horse has been beaten to oblivion, and what was once a new and exciting subset of both death metal and hardcore has become so boring, played out, and formulaic. Having said all that, NJ natives Nights of Malice have released a new nine-song full-length in Chaos Excordium that is heavy on the death portion, and aside from some typical tropes of their press tag (which is still wrong, this is fucking death metal), it has definitely caught my ear. Read on!
Since forming in 2009 and racking up two full-lengths, two EPs, and a bunch of singles, they have had their collective noses to the grindstone, developing a sound that is late-'90s meets modern brutal death metal (with some technical flourishes) and harkens back to deathcore pioneers like Despised Icon and All Shall Perish. The production this time out (via Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland at Atrium Audio) is crystal clear, and every instrument has its place, while the vocals are out in front. Speaking of Brendan McGrath (ex-Unhallowed) has a throaty low guttural bellow along with some high Carcassy/At the Gates screams. While par for the course here, thankfully there are no pig squeals, vocal fries, or bree brees happening. He also has a rapid-fire delivery, which to me, sets them apart immediately. The guitar tandem of Xavier Quiles and Josh Kuhn dole out punishing riffs, monolithic grooves, techy parts, auxiliary harmonized excursions, and very shreddy leads admirably, and drummer Joe Capasso is an octopus-armed timekeeper that is tight, concise, fast, complex, yet tasteful. Another good omen: nobody overplays here. They serve the songs.
Nights of Malice DO have breakdowns and bass drops, but they are used sparingly, and when they hit, they have more meaning and impact (“Rejecting the Host”). Again, the tried-and-true formula of a genre is not bad as long as those elements are used to further the songs. Fledgling bands, take note. The lead single here, “Ex-Mortis,” is a chugging, double-bass-led groover with plenty of twists, turns, tempo changes, and a severely eerie open-string-enhanced break near the song's end that made me want to destroy my living room. To reiterate my point from earlier, I'm just not hearing much “deathcore” here. The guitars sound like low-tuned 7-strings, maybe an 8 here and there, but that's it really. Elsewhere, the highlights for me are “A Message In Blood,” “Riches to the Conjurer,” and the wrecking-ball heaviness of “The Hand of Death,” to name but a few. With songs that range from four to four and a half minutes, they aren't overlong or boring. Nights of Malice like to get in, rough you up, and get out, and the track listing flows well. Honestly, every song here is a winner.
I'll end by saying this: if Nights of Malice are deathcore, then it's some of the most ferociously death-metal-centric stuff I've heard in recent memory from that school of thought. Chaos Excordium will not only further the band, but this is an album that defies all cookie-cutter templates and will garner them accolades as one of the bands that are taking things further and at a dangerously lethal new level….
RIYL - Aborted, Cryptopsy, Whitechapel, Archspire and All Shall Perish
~TB