"the songwriting is incredible...the band rips through thrash, hardcore, punk, post-hardcore and doom...this band can do more than just hammer out various loud genres...The band deconstructs the idea of genre to achieve the desired effect of totally blowing the minds of those who usually listen to heavy music. These guys are composers." --Independant Clauses

 

"These kids plant their flag in a lotta terra simultaneously—metal, noise rock, hardcore, ambient soundscapes, and just straight-up noise—and end up releasing one doozy of a listen. There’s precious little here that could be described as “melody” and the going’s pretty much a full-bore assault on one’s hearing with nary a letup in sight. That said, underneath all the skronk and slam-banging can be heard a lot of texturing and layering of sound and the utilization of a wide variety of instrumentation, sampling and such by folks who clearly know their way around what they’re plunking on. The results show a bit more sophistication than the average pack of assholes with little more than a yen to damage some eardrums. Far from easy listening, those who can manage to hold on tight and weather the ride will find the effort worthwhile." –Jimmy Alvarado/Razorcake

 

"[Mala In Se] whips out a completely weird mutation of noise, mathrock /core, psychedelic and quite a few other tidbits as well. The instrumental section and overall style of song composition is absolutely hard to define, since there are a ton of genres, tempos and layers of sound flying around...Tempo and melody changes are almost omnipresent, yet you always feel as though everything is in order and there are no stray tones... I am really impressed by "Mala In Se". Not every band can manage to throw at you such a bomb filled with chaos and succeed in taming it. This trio has a specific talent with that and I am honestly looking forward to hearing some future work from them. Until then, definitely check out their self titled release, you won't regret it!" --Natures With No Plagues

 

"7 songs of hammering noise rock with metal overtones. After it was all done Aleve didn’t work nor did Excedrin and I’m STILL wincing, Yeah, I said WINCING." --Daggerzine

 

"Damn, this band totally kills. Mala In Se are a Cincinnati, OH based band who play blasting/ spastic noisecore that brings to mind bands such as Swing Kids, Majority Rule, and Pg. 99 mixed with European bands such as Lack or old Jr. Ewing. The end result is a noisy, messy and discordant style of music that incorporates post-punk, thrash, noise, and math-rock into a whiling dervish of chaos and destruction . Mala In Se's debut album is incredible. Highly recommended! Enjoy! --Elementary Revolt

 

Mala In Se is a pretty cool slice of noise rock and definitely one for fans of ear abuse to check out. --Nostalgia For Infinity

 

“[Mala In Se] feels like someone is using your head as a battering ram to break through a wall of sound constructed of recordings of jackhammers, rejected AmRep demos, and the screams of the damned.” —ROCTOBER

 

“The art of perverting metal and hardcore, like the most evil pieces of Converge but adding another layer of derangement and sulfur, strewing pieces of samples that are not mere stopgap but participate in the development of terrifying climate ...[have] not heard such a hallucinated butcher since Today is the Day, destroying the codes of metal with a fervor, a relentlessly hysterical anarchy… You lose your senses, you grind, you tear the flesh. Evil music. It’s wicked psychedelic, wild, raw and complex.” —PERTE ET FRACAS

 

“[Mala In Se] is an excellent album for fans of high speed noise rock and experimental metal sounds with screamo vocals and sludge dirt!” —NOIZINE

 

“For as chaotic as the sound is, you can tell there is a lot of organizing thought behind what they’re doing; being able to combing a lot of dissimilar sounds into an extremely tight whole. I grappled with this one listening to it, I’m had a hard time writing about it, but ultimately I think it’s brilliant. It’s art.” —TO ELEVEN

 

“Extreme noise and screamo for fans of Lightning Bolt and High On Fire. Truly an amazing blend of various elements. We talking mainly noise-core, post-hardcore and math-core here. On a high noise level, you name it, it’s all there.” —THE SIRENS SOUND

 

“[Mala In Se] blend punk and metal for a combination that will scorch your eardrums.” —SNOBS MUSIC

 

“Mala In Se’s self titled album is punishing directly from the start. Their eclectic blend of sludge/hardcore will take you on a musical journey, grinding you through an intense, chaotic battlefield of sounds, and then suddenly drop you off into a swirling, ambient trip through the cosmos of your own mind, all while maintaining a down to earth, punky feeling to it the whole way through. Basically, the songs remain fresh and continually growing without going over the top, unlike many of their musical peers.” —HGDM BLOG

 

“Dark, strident, and confrontational, Mala In Se take the animosity of metal and integrate elements of avant-garde noise, pained vocals, and even jazzy time sequences to create a disturbing listening experience that is impossible to ignore… This band is in a world unto themselves, and while the influences are many, the final product is entirely original. The magnificently titled opener [from the band’s self-titled debut], “Time Lapse Photography of Decomposing Animals” highlights the band’s bombastic talents, while “Devil’s Dung” and the particularly piercing “Portions for Trade” are schizophrenic bursts of controlled chaos. “Stay Afloat” is a prime example of staggering skill, as the band blends the best elements of hardcore, metal, and post-punk into a swirling beast of an effort. However, this is not blind fury—Mala In Se deliver violence with a supreme sense of style. Even the closing ambient “Outro” is engrossing as it concludes the disc on an ominous note. This is brilliant.” —JERSEY BEAT

 

“Brutal, creepy, dissonant, sludgy, angular and spontaneous with Math-y rhythmic switch-ups, huge, lacerating riffs, primal-scream vocals and the ability to go from earth-shaking to pin-drop quiet in a blink, Mala In Se is like a Black Flag Progressive Rock album written and produced by Mike Patton. Though played with unbridled creative energy and deft precision, the compositions are intricate and complex, making it a challenging listen for the average music fan. But for those who get off on the thrill of music that consistently surprises, Mala In Se is like musical porn.” —CITYBEAT MAGAZINE

 

“...a crushingly dark powerhouse metal band from Ohio who sprinkle their chugging, ten ton hammer heavy riffs with a dash of punk rawness and oddball yelped vocals… their self-titled debut is a perfectly loud and abrasive introduction to their sound and should grab any fan of High On Fire-esque guitar mangling or Primus-style wackiness by the throat and pull them into their lair without any trouble at all… boulder-heavy riffage at a pace faster than a pack of rabid wolves and it doesn’t let up for the rest of the album save for sudden ominous passages of eerie post-rock, best demonstrated on closer “Outro” that give their sound an interesting tension… you can truly hear the anger pouring out of the speakers… nasty and unrelenting stuff and shows potential to solidly join the ranks of the sludgier powerhouse side to metal in time to come.” —ROOM THIRTEEN

 

“There is nothing that even comes close to this band. Take Speedmetal and make it faster, Screamo and make it louder and combine as many instruments into the mix as you can imagine, and you still wouldn’t be close. This is Level 12 on a scale 1 to 10.” —NEUS SUBJEX

 

“Wonderful, shouty stuff that packs just enough melody to be utterly catchy… driving riffage keeps these songs from descending completely into the sludge. And boy, things do get heavy from time to time. Nonetheless, the tempo generally stays brisk. Don’t know if the boys get bored easily, but these songs move along with aplomb.” —AIDING & ABETTING

 

“Mala in Se is this metal punk noise outfit from Cincinnati, Ohio which could be art if you consider huge cannon-like nailguns something you’d want to hang in a audio gallery… for a trio, they sound like 10 men battling to an epic death with their guitars on fire… If you like The Boredoms you surely will pick up on the strangeness of music that Mala In Se sculp… they do their thing fast, too, with classic thrash style tweeps and twerp notes that will fuck with the sense of what you think your inner metal actually is. Decide for yourself but enter exposition at your own risk.” —REVIEW STALKER

 

“the shit kicks ass in seven different ways… Mala In Se are all over the place. A pretty wide variety of sounds, reflecting numerous influences, with kind of that technical progressive jazz feel. Not a boring moment on [their self-titled debut]” —MUSTARD RELICS “

 

[Mala In Se] mixes just about every brand of heavy music that you can think of. There are hints of various metal sub-genres, noise rock, and even some drone and progressive/math rock tendencies that pop up on occasion. ...while there are a number of passages that get in your face and turn the volume up to the maximum level, there are just as many where the instrumentalists mellow out a bit and experiment with ambient/drone and even some mellower math rock. Mala In Se is not one of those bands that is interested in hitting the listener full force for an entire album, as they would rather create some carefully controlled chaos that builds up to a roar before dying off to a whisper. Some of the noise rock/hardcore bands have tended to bury their screams behind a wall of sound, but Mala In Se has taken the opposite approach and let them stay front and center on many of the songs and this helps to give them a more distinguishable sound. [Mala In Se] have definitely succeeded at making all of these sounds merge together into seamless arrangements. Their combination of harsh and dissonant as well as technical and loose isn’t going to be for everyone, but if you enjoy noise rock and experimental hardcore punk and are open to some other influences then definitely check this one out.” —COSMOS GAMING

 

Interviews Spotlight Q & A with Cincinnati’s experimental metallic punk band Mala In Se by Joshua Cohen / April 19, 2011 “Today we feature Cincinnati’s experimental metallic rockers Mala In Se. If you dig the high-energy experimental sounds of Lighting Bolt or the multi-genre approaches of bands like High on Fire, give these guys a spin.” (follow link for full interview) —BLOW THE SCENE.