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Hello Rockers!!
Check out Norwegian dark/glam rockers Malice in Wonderland's new website: www.malice-in-wonderland.com
Please feel free to share your thoughts about Malice in Wonderland in here or in our guestbook.
Thanx and have a glamorous day!!
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Really cool name. Just had a quick look at the site, i thought it looked rather good. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Kinda reminds me of DOPE STARS INC.
Aren't they from your area also?
Thanx for your comment RaggZ!!
Dope Stars Inc are from Helsinki, Finland while I?m from Bergen, Norway so isn?t exactly the same area. Pretty far away actually. But it is up north though [img]wink.gif[/img] . Scandinavia.
cool look. good site. Best of luck.
I thought I recognized that name....Old Nazerath album title.
Malice
Just wonderin, but did you base your band name on `American McGee`z Malice` the video game?(Have i said that first part right? Fuck knowz!lmao!)....that game iz a darker take on the Alice In Wonderland theme so i was just curious:>
Anyway, great site guyz and all the best to ya!
Hey kick ass band!!!
Anyone remember the band Malice that did the track 'Sinister Double'? Awesome track.
Stacey, are you talking about these guys from LA back in the 80's I used to love the first album. The singer was a dead ringer for Halford.
M A L I C E
This highly underrated 5 piece, True-Metal band emerged during the mid eighties when the LA Metal scene
exploded onto the world. The line-up consisted of: James Neal (vocals), Jay Reynolds (guitars), Mick Zane (guitars),
Mark Behn (bass guitars) and Clifford Carothers (drums) all were very accomplished musicians as their records testify.
The onslaught of LA bands like; Motley Crue, Ratt, W.A.S.P., Dokken, Poison, Warrant, Faster Pussycat, L. A. Guns,
Britny Fox, Junkyard, Guns ?N Roses and a host of others virtually made Los Angeles the Major capital of metal music
in the world.
Whilst most of the above mentioned acts had various degrees of success, one in particular becoming massive world wide - most are really
hard rock/pop bands, who occasionally incorporated metal styled riffs within their music.
The reality was that a number of L.A. bands didn?t fit into the ?Hair Band? image of pop/metal and unfortunately they were virtually ignored
by the majority of the metal world.
One of these acts, MALICE were far superior in musical ability than most of the above mentioned acts and along with other true metal acts like, Warrior and Armoured Saint, these bands stood out amongst a sea of posturing powder puffs and were the real deal as far as hard hitting,
well crafted metal anthems were concerned.
MALICE recorded 2 albums and an EP for Warners Music in there short but extremely tasteful career with some
of the best METAL songs to come out of the city of Angels. Their allegiance to UK ?Metal Gods?, JUDAS PRIEST
- was obvious and MALICE possessed the same tough metal edged guitar sound that help propel their stirring, well crafted, metal anthems
with easily some of best ever metallic riffs next to other notable metal acts like, Warrior, Armoured Saint & Manowar.
The band?s recording debut was ?In The Beginning? released in 1985 which was produced by Michael Wagner who had worked with German Metallers ACCEPT. Wagner would go on to work with a number of Metal acts over the years including, Skid Row?s excellent debut and possibly Warrant?s best ever release the highly underrated ?92 album ?Dog Eat Dog?.
Wagner had a knack for making bands sound hard as nails and he captured MALICE in ?full flight? with crisp and full production that made anthems like; Rockin? With You, Air Attack, Into The Ground and Squeeze It Dry sound enormous.
The band could also deliver melodramatic songs like, Against The Empire and No Haven For The Raven, which displayed
the excellent playing abilities of the band.
Indeed, at times when listening to their songs you could almost be mistaken into thinking you were actually listening to songs from
Judas Priest?s ?Screaming For Vengeance? era with MALICE - vocalist James Neal at times sounding almost like old Rob Halford himself!
(Check out ?Air Attack? off the first LP for proof)
In The Beginning proved that the band were very good at their craft and delivered some of the finest moments in
American Metal at the time but unfortunately in 1985 everybody instead was jumping on the ?bandwagon? and buying a mediocre album called ?Theatre Of Pain? by LA?s hottest, hyped up act - Motley Crue.
1987 saw the release of the second MALICE album, ?License To Kill? with Max Norman (Ozzy Osbourne, Y & T) in the producer?s chair.
He only improved on the quality of their predecessor with an even meaner, slicker and downright menacing sound. In-fact, the guitar sound
was perfect; overall the production was impeccable with thunderous drums with the band seemingly on the verge of taking on the world.
Song-wise too, there are some absolute killers among the bunch including the excellent title track, which crashes in like 44-gallon drums
being belted and then the riff just cuts and dices kicking the whole song into the stratosphere ? brilliant! Compared to the weak Judas Priest record at the time, the hideously commercial "Turbo? - the MALICE album absolutely eats it alive! Other classic cuts included; Sinister Double,
Chain Gang Woman, Christine and Murder all are great slices of metal delivered with exceptional power making License To Kill an album of
the highest order.
Musically, in contrast it far outweighed most of the glam pop/metal acts that were out selling MALICE by the truckload thanks mainly to MTV?s insatiable taste for power puff pop metal acts; bands like MALICE hardly got any airplay so they simply couldn?t compete. Most people are
content with having a burger while others like me would rather indulge in something with more substance, like a lobster ? that?s the difference here too!
An EP ?Crazy From The Heat? followed in 1988 but MALICE didn?t have that ?radio friendly? song to catapult them into the BIG LEAGUE and the band disbanded shortly there after. None of the former members have surfaced in other acts,
guitarist Jay Reynolds was apparently a member of Megadeth for a brief time but never recorded with Munstaine?s mob.
The entire MALICE catalogue was deleted by WEA and over the last 10 years it?s been almost impossible to get hold of their records except
from a few dedicated ?specialist? web sites. Thankfully, east west records in Japan finally released both albums on CD format for the first time
in 2001 and both still sound absolutely brilliant today and still pack a wallop!
Whether it was bad management, lack of label support, the music was ?too heavy? for radio, who knows but MALICE maybe were just too unfashionable for the times.
They along with countless other bands who actually deliver with substance but never get that big break were and will always be one of
America?s finest metal bands and in today?s Nu-Metal society, it?s as rare as rocking horse shit to find a band of their calibre.
If you love Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Warrior, Manowar and their ilk then get your hands on MALICE,
they truly kick serious ass!