By the Malice of Evil... Death Comes Vol. 1

Here we have a 3-way split between you guessed it, three, Finnish powerhouses. One of the few things that wasn't in "3's" on this album was the amount of labels that released it and that ended up being five. This is a split for the drugged.

First on the list bringing us (wait for it) three songs is Demonic Death Judge. These guys have recently released their follow up album to Kneel entitled The Descent (which will be reviewed soon). DDJ bring forth a slab of entrancing psychedelic sludge/doom. With or without the aid of mind-altering substances these Finnish lords of the Doom-trip can make you feel like you're reaching new plateaus. The musicianship in this band is ridiculous, these three tracks only give you a small helping of what they're actually capable of. The spaced-out (not in the physical sense) vocals add to the bent-mind effect and overall sound of stonery. Magical riffs and effects galore can send you sailing through splendid worlds of acid laced gum drops and black-tar coated trees. There's something grand about this band despite the moniker.

Up next is Semtex whose MySpace aptly describes them as "slow...fast...intoxicated....sludge." They have four tracks (odd balls) of stoner-sludge sharing somewhat of the same deflated and tucked away vein as Bongzilla or the like. Nice and slow, thick and as heavy as elephant shit. Occasional Semtex bust out into nice bluesy-stoner segments that help set them apart from other acts. Their tracks are significantly shorter than the other two groups on this split with a small exception to two tracks (one from Frogskin and one from Semtex) and have a distinctive fuzz to them that should appeal to we low-fi fans. It's kind of like Iron Monkey fucked Bongzilla and spat out a mutant Iron-bong or Monk-zilla that did nothing but drink and mainline shit all day.

Revealed the third band in that last paragraph, Frogskin. All foreskin jokes aside, Frogskin pound out some excellent groove infected doom. The manage to a keep a rapid pace without losing any of the impact of the heavy tone. Like DDJ, Frogskin deliver some spacey stoned out jam sessions that I will assume they play with their eyes closed as they drift off into the more surreal side of things.

All three acts on this album are excellent for the inebriated masses to just kick back and space out to. If I was still a pothead I'd probably listen to this more often. Although, I do plan on keeping it around for when I need a "music buzz" and something slightly off my beaten path to carry me to the clouds.

Special thanks to At War With False Noise for sending us a copy of this album and to Boue Records for hooking us up with the By the Malice Bandcamp