Progress towards that lofty goal truly started as the pandemic hit hard. We want to be up there with your Lamb Of Gods and Hatebreeds.” “When you think of metal, you think of Malevolence.

“I think we deserve to be one of those bands that is a household metal name,” he says with casual confidence. The Trivium frontman isn’t the only one who knows how good this band really are. It’s a fusion that doesn’t come out as ‘metalcore’ as we know it.”

Josh has told me, ‘We’re a metal band,’ but Alex and his style and sound bring in hardcore. They’re an amazing fusion of crossover hardcore and metal. “No one is doing what Malevolence are doing right now. “As soon as I heard Keep Your Distance, I was like, ‘This is fucking insane!,’” says Trivium’s Matt Heafy. Their music demands participation, from moshing to headbanging to the kind of epic pits that end up going viral. They’ve perfected their mix of distorted groove metal, relentless metalcore and vein-bulging hardcore across three albums, the most recent being 2022’s stellar Malicious Intent. They have been blasting out brutal, barrel-chested noise since their original incarnation formed in 2006 (they ‘officially’ became the Malevolence we know today when Alex joined in 2010). Malevolence are a 17-year overnight sensation. If that’s the case, it’s been a long time coming. It all screams ‘band on a serious career upswing.’ Alex’s PS4 is plugged into a wall-mounted TV. The communal space on their tourbus has leather seats and mahogany furnishings. Luckily, they’re travelling in something approaching comfort. When Hammer meets Malevolence in Prague, they have been on the road with Trivium for nearly two weeks, and they’ve got another month to go (Obituary and Heaven Shall Burn are also on this four-band bill).

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