Touring a different road now that Brett Hoffman has passed on, we're now introduced the the Malevolent Creation of a new era. It seems to me that they should've changed their name, but nevertheless it remains the same. The vocals and the music sound like a totally different band. But whatever, this is what it is. I'm not trying to discredit the musicians on this album, it's just that since Brett is gone, it just seems very different. I would say it's for the better because the last few Malevolent Creation albums (to me) weren't the greatest releases that they put forth. 'The 13th Beast' shows us a darker, more morbid revelation.

The music on here is really heavy a lot of tremolo picking guitars and blast beating. It's probably a more heavy songwriting that they've shown here. That's pretty good that they still have the fire and their newest addition to the band, vocalist/guitarist Lee Wollenschlaeger, wants a different direction for the band. It seems that they want to keep it heavy and morbid. He has big shoes to fill but I think he did a great job. A person listening to this that knows Malevolent Creation wouldn't know it's them because of the change only until you reveal it to the person. But still, Lee's vocals are grim and it fits well with their guitar riffs.

I believe this band is in a new era. They will remain the same name but just no more of 'The Ten Commandments' (1991 debut album) or anything like that. Lee's ideas for the music is seem to be super heavy and thick guitars, I believe that they really needed someone like him to fill the shoes and develop death metal in its purest form. The tempos vary, even though there's a lot of blasting in the first few songs but at times they slow it down with pure brutality. I'd have to say this is one of their heaviest albums yet. Now that's a bold statement to make, but Lee turns everything around with his approach to the music and vocals.

I like this version of Malevolent Creation. Some bands turn stale as they move onto record and record. These guys have a while til they call it quits, as long as they continue to make albums like this, they'll win over my contribution to their albums. The music is uncompromising, the vocals are deeper than Brett's, the production quality is superb and the mixing just right. I would make the suggestion to download this first before you make a purchase of the CD to see if you like them now that Brett's gone. You may like the direction musically and the fact that they're even more brutal now!

Rating: 8½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
09/02/2019 19:41