Malefice
British metal band
title: "Malefice" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["english-heavy-metal-musical-groups", "english-melodic-death-metal-musical-groups", "english-metalcore-musical-groups", "english-thrash-metal-musical-groups", "extreme-metal-musical-groups", "metal-blade-records-artists", "musical-groups-established-in-2003", "musical-groups-from-reading,-berkshire", "rock-music-groups-from-berkshire"] description: "British metal band" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malefice" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary British metal band ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Malefice |
| image | Malefice (band).jpg |
| caption | Malefice interviewed in 2010 |
| origin | Reading, Berkshire, England |
| genre | |
| years_active | 2003–2017 |
| label | Anticulture 2007–2008 |
| Metal Blade 2008–2012 | |
| Transcend 2012– | |
| current_members | Dale Butler |
| Ben Symons | |
| Andrew Wilson | |
| Tom Hynes | |
| Chris Allan-Whyte | |
| past_members | Craig Fenner |
| Craig Thomas | |
| Lloyd Griffiths | |
| Alex Vuskans | |
| :: |
| name = Malefice | image = Malefice (band).jpg | image_upright = | caption = Malefice interviewed in 2010 | alias = | origin = Reading, Berkshire, England | genre = | occupation = | years_active = 2003–2017 | label = Anticulture 2007–2008 Metal Blade 2008–2012 Transcend 2012– | website = | current_members = Dale Butler Ben Symons Andrew Wilson Tom Hynes Chris Allan-Whyte | past_members = Craig Fenner Craig Thomas Lloyd Griffiths Alex Vuskans
Malefice was an English metal band from Reading, Berkshire, formed in 2003. They released four studio albums before disbanding in 2017.
History
The original members consisted of university friends Dale Butler, Alex Vuskans, Craig Thomas and Craig Fenner. After formation, they began writing their songs straight away. Their first major break was to open a four-band bill charity gig at the Rivermead Centre in Reading. Henceforth, their fanbase began to grow. Through constant touring around Reading and London, they managed to get a distribution deal for their first EP Relentless through Hangman's Joke.
Then in early 2007, they signed to Anticulture Records. They then recorded their debut album Entities under the production team of Dan Weller and Justin Hill of WellerHill at Craig's parents home in South Wales. The band eventually announced their amicable split from the Anticulture label via their Myspace page.
Since the album's release, they had been support for the SikTh tour as well as DevilDriver and God Forbid and played shows with the likes of Soulfly. In January 2008, they played a show at The Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth, which was recorded and planned to be released on DVD. In June 2008, Malefice opened the second stage of the prestigious Download Festival on Saturday.
In November 2008, Malefice announced through their Myspace page that they had signed a worldwide deal with Metal Blade Records. In March 2009, they released their second album Dawn of Reprisal. On 12 September, they played at Butserfest alongside Go:Audio and We Are the Ocean. On 26 September 2009, they played in India at the annual cultural fest Rendezvous of IIT Delhi.
In March 2010 the band featured on the BBC TV show The Bubble. The following month, it was announced that drummer Craig Thomas had left the band, to be replaced by Chris Allan. Following this, Malefice also played on the Jager stage at Sonisphere UK, playing a 30-minute set on Saturday evening. In 2012, they recorded a song titled "Omega" with footballer Marcus Hahnemann for the Jägermeister UK "Ice Cold Session".
In June 2012, the band signed to Transcend Music.
In March 2017, the group disbanded in order to pursue solo careers.
Musical style
Laut.de described the group's sound as a combination of melodic death metal, thrash metal and metalcore. Conversely, Rock Hard said they had "not much in common" with metalcore, instead drawing comparisons with Lamb of God, DevilDriver, Gojira and Hacride. Exclaim! compared them to Nightrage.
Band members
Current
- Dale Butler – vocals (2003–2017)
- Ben Symons – guitar (2003–2017)
- Tom Hynes – bass (2006–2017)
- Andrew Wilson – guitar (2011–2017)
- James Cook – drums (2014–2017)
Former
- Lloyd Griffiths – bass (2003–2006)
- Craig Thomas – drums (2003–2010)
- Alex Vuskans – guitar (2003–2011)
- Chris Allan – drums (2010–2014)
Timeline
ImageSize =width:800 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea =left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:0 Alignbars =justify DateFormat =mm/dd/yyyy Period =from:01/01/2003 till:03/01/2017 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2003 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2003 TimeAxis =orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend =orientation:horizontal position:bottom
Colors= id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:studio value:black legend:Studio_albums/EPs id:bars value:gray(0.95)
LineData= at:01/01/2006 color:black layer:back at:08/20/2007 color:black layer:back at:02/27/2009 color:black layer:back at:07/15/2011 color:black layer:back at:07/28/2013 color:black layer:back
BackgroundColors= bars:bars
BarData= bar:Dale text:"Dale Butler" bar:Ben text:"Ben Symons" bar:Alex text:"Alex Vuskans" bar:Andrew text:"Andrew Wilson" bar:Lloyd text:"Lloyd Griffiths" bar:Tom text:"Tom Hynes" bar:Craig text:"Craig Thomas" bar:Chris text:"Chris Allan" bar:James text:"James Cook"
PlotData = width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Dale from:01/01/2003 till:end color:vocals bar:Ben from:01/01/2003 till:end color:guitar bar:Alex from:01/01/2003 till:11/01/2011 color:guitar bar:Andrew from:11/01/2011 till:end color:guitar bar:Lloyd from:01/01/2003 till:06/01/2006 color:bass bar:Tom from:06/01/2006 till:end color:bass bar:Craig from:01/01/2003 till:01/01/2010 color:drums bar:Chris from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2014 color:drums bar:James from:01/01/2014 till:end color:drums
Discography
Studio albums and EPs
- 2006: Relentless (Hangmans Joke)
- 2007: Entities (Anticulture Records)
- 2009: Dawn of Reprisal (Metal Blade Records)
- 2011: Awaken the Tides (Metal Blade Records)
- 2013: Five (Transcend Music)
Promotional videos
- 2006: "The Force That You Fear"
- 2007: "Risen Through the Ashes"
- 2009: "An Architect of Your Demise"
- 2011: "Awaken the Tides"
- 2012: "Omega" (feat. Marcus Hahnemann)
- 2013: "V"
- 2013: "Blueprints"
- 2014: "Heroes"
References
References
- (2008-11-14). "MALEFICE Signs With METAL BLADE RECORDS".
- "Dawn of Reprisal - Malefice {{!}} Album {{!}} AllMusic".
- Neil. (28 April 2010). "MALEFICE announce new drummer". Rock Sins.
- "Malefice – Band".
- (20 July 2011). "MALEFICE - Awaken The Tides [Rock Hard Vol. 291]".
- Whish, Bill. (October 25, 2007). "Malefice - Entities".
- "Malefice Reveals New Album Details".
- "MALEFICE REVEAL DETAILS & ARTWORK FOR NEW ALBUM".
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