While there’s no doubt Malefice have eclipsed their 2007 debut twice since its original release, it’s impressive how well Entities has aged.
This reissue – including the previously unreleased track Reasons Lost – reminds you why the UK metal scene got excited quickly about these Reading metallers; that driving power groove, prior to this a predominantly American forte, spat confrontation and muscularity, but had a depth and technicality to it that still maintains its own character after that zeitgeist appears to have passed.
Those subtle flashes of death metal fury, along with the odd SikTh-like bit (long before the world and his wife were ripping them off) are perhaps why Entities remains a bruising experience at a time when Devildriver now feel a little stale. Either that, or because songs like Risen Through The Ashes still make you want to put your fist through the closest object.
Follow-up Dawn Of Reprisal may have captured their punishing live feel better, and third album Awaken The Tides had more hooks, but the raw energy of five thoroughly pissed off blokes remains strong on Entities.