When you think of good British metal, what you’re usually thinking of is the least rubbish; the ones who at least have a stab at something innovative and fail miserably, the best looking, or perhaps the most prolific in a dreary little town that has spawned little else. Nobody really cares - they go through the motions of support and then happily skip off to watch the latest hypetacular US titans dropping by on their twenty-quid-a-ticket arena tour.

Malefice are the exception. From their crushing debut album ‘Entities’ to their fierce live show, they are undoubtedly a band who can stand toe-to-toe with the big guns. Extreme yet accessible and sacrificing none of the credibility in order to sound good, you don’t need to be a chin-scratching muso in order to enjoy it.

Formed in 2003, yet only really getting their act together over the last twelve months, Reading metallers Malefice have evolved into polished, professional unit as comfortable onstage with brutal underground stalwarts like Akercocke and Gutworm as they are the more commercial, yet hard-edged, unit-shifting sounds of Sepultura and Chimaira. As much one for the kids in the oversized Slipknot t-shirts as the discerning metalhead, ‘Entities’ is a powerful and polished mixture of pit-filling groove-thrash, jaw-dropping precision, utter brutality and soaring melody.

Had they grown up in Shitbucket, Idaho, they’d be on Headbanger’s Ball already.