photos by Natasha Rego de Assunçao
Decibel Magazine is hosting an exclusive advance stream of The Masquerade’s Death, the crushing, conceptual new LP from the notorious, long-running Toronto, Ontario-based industrial/thrash metal entity, MALHAVOC. The stream precedes the album’s release this Friday on Cursed Blessings Records.
A dark industrial horror-metal reckoning, Jimi LaMort’s MALHAVOC returns with the full-length album, The Masquerade’s Death, a fierce new release inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque Of The Red Death, rooted in a tale about how even the most privileged cannot escape the devastation of a pandemic. The title track reunites original members Dave C., John C., and Jimi C. (LaMort) to re-record the final song they wrote together back in 1985. The album also features guest appearances from Connor Lex Grant (Trick Casket), Ian Mumble (Overthrow), and original founding member Nigel Williams. Current members Steve Jelliman, Lee “Sik Dogg” McCormack, and LaMort all contribute as multi-instrumentalists.
Wholly conceived, recorded, and mixed by LaMort, The Masquerade’s Death runs nearly seventy minutes long. The varied album confronts themes that remain uncomfortably familiar to everyone who has lived through the past several years: loss, drudgery, and anxiety about the future. Musically, the album returns to MALHAVOC’s thrash roots, sharpened by horror-film atmospheres, industrial soundscapes, and operatic drama. The result is an emotional descent through collective darkness—humanly relatable, visceral, and universal.
Jimi LaMort writes, “Who doesn’t want to listen to apocalyptic music, during the end times?”
Decibel writes alongside their exclusive stream of the record, “The passing of nearly three decades hasn’t blunted the outfit’s vicious approach, and in fact current members—all multi-instrumentalists—Steve Jelliman, Lee ‘Sik Dogg’ McCormack and Jimi LaMort enlisted a host of guest musicians, including from the band’s ’80s lineup, to keep the vibe true to the original MALHAVOC spirit.”
Hear MALHAVOC’s ominous and punishing The Masquerade’s Death in its entirety early via Decibel Magazine at THIS LOCATION.
The Masquerade’s Death will be released on 2xLP, CD, and digital platforms this Friday, November 13th. Physical preorders can be placed at the Cursed Blessings label webshop HERE and digital preorders at Bandcamp HERE. Also watch the previously issued “Respectfully Decline” lyric video HERE.
Since the mid-1980s, MALHAVOC has built a reputation for intense songs and even more intense live performances. Frontman Jimi LaMort gives everything to the expression of the music through notorious stage antics: removing clothes, climbing stage gear, thrashing through the audience, and carving a pentagram into his chest while bleeding freely. Beginning in 1985, MALHAVOC became one of the first metal bands to incorporate industrial music and samples, often inviting comparisons to contemporaries Skinny Puppy and Ministry.
Fans followed the band’s evolution from thrash metal (Age Of The Dark Renaissance, 1985, and Shrine, 1986), through industrial metal (The Release, 1990; Punishments, 1991; and Premeditated Murder, 1992), into electronic influences (Get Down, 1994, and The Lazarus Complex, 1996, both produced by Dave Rave Ogilvie). After the release of Get Down, LaMort and Ogilvie produced remixes for Mötley Crüe, Tool, NIN, and Monster Magnet. LaMort also contributed production work to Voivod’s heaviest album, Phobos. As DJ Jimi LaMort, he has made dance floors throb in goth bars, gay clubs, bathhouses, and fetish balls, while continuing to draw enthusiastic crowds to periodic MALHAVOC live shows.
While The Masquerade’s Death is currently on deck for release, MALHAVOC is also currently in production on two upcoming releases, including Anthems For The New Flesh, a David Cronenberg tribute featuring all cover songs.
https://www.instagram.com/jimi_lamort
https://malhavoc.bandcamp.com
https://x.com/malhav0c
https://www.youtube.com/@malhavocband
https://cursedblessingsrecords.com
https://cursed-blessings-records.myshopify.com
https://cursedblessingsrecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/cursedblessingsrecords
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The post MALHAVOC: Decibel Magazine Premieres The Masquerade’s Death, The Conceptual New LP By Toronto Industrial/Thrash Metal Act; Album Drops This Friday The 13th On Cursed Blessings Records first appeared on Earsplit Compound.