Malevolence aren't a houshold name...yet.  But based on their recent release titled Martyrialized, that is bound to change.  Using death metal as the basis for their sound, the band really expand on it with lots of unusual time signatures, acoustic guitars, and unique arrangements.  This Portugese foursome are quickly establishing a following  around the world and vocalist/guitarist Carlos Cariano fills us in on the band's background...

Did you have any band experience before Malevolence?
I have never been unto other musical projects before starting Malevolence unto existence. Some of the new musicians have already played with some less know metal acts but there’s no need to mention them as they were all just so unknown even in a Country like Portugal. What mainly attracted myself to crate this kind of music I guess it was the constant need to expel my negative energy unto some positive creation. I mean we often feel very insubordinate towards the models & codes settled by the entire segregating society in general. That just leaves us with two opposite options. We opted for first option that’s just performing this extreme metal creation. The 2nd option would be more negative in all levels as we would end up arrested or annihilated upon the electric chair by killing almost all the people that we hate over the streets as some sort of immoral serial killers if you ask me…

How did you decide upon the name 'Malevolence'?
Like all thy other bands around we also needed a name, a denomination that would describe the musical & lyrical ideology from ourselves. So we decided to elect the name Malevolence as the denomination that implies the words from others with second meanings. This name does not mean that we are bad intentioned people, diseased individuals, or even moral declined like the name directly suggests. It’s just the opposite thing with the adoption of this malevolent name if you ask me. Only for itself Malevolence is a word completely impregnated with powerful meaning. I guess this name is also one of the most direct ones when it comes to words that are able to choke or wound with strong gravity the feelings of the individual persons over Humanity. This name at the same time expresses our own will to prophet the disgrace and all the unhappiness of Humanity unto a very sagacious way. Our main intention is to bring some sensibilisation to the various individuals of society for all the execrable situations full of malignancy that are made in detriment of the next fellow creature. Our rebellion, our aversion e bad will is just directly expressed to morality and to all the pre institutionalised injustice of nowadays. Malevolence is the name, the formula that we have achieved to fight against all the segregation from society to their own fellow creatures. 

I haven't heard Dominium - how does the sound on it compare to Martyrialized?
The differences between each single new release from Malevolence are always huge. What mainly differs in between all of our full-length achievements it’s our refined & polished individual potential to play & compose even greater audio hymns to remember each time that we release a new work. All the preceding years have taught us the highest experience & granted us with enough knowledge in order to deliver much more than a simply normal album saga upon the metal masses. There’s always a whole new universe that we can use to develop our music one step further. So we will never loose the already achieved integrity & identity upon the band as you can be sure that we will always be very pissed off individuals. I guess that we positively know extremely well how to handle our own instruments, so that’s only a matter of using our inner force, our mental madness as well as our strong individual imagination to keep on breaking the boundaries of metal & keep on twisting everything louder than anyone else. We do not have a specific formula to produce our multidimensional metal so we will just keep on gathering all our extreme voracious emotions with our dark enigmatic atmospheres upon each single new musical achievement. In conclusion there’s not a great comparison between the material from “Dominium” and the new one from “Martyrialized” having in mind all the recent progression in terms of musical skills & metal attitude inside of the band.  Every single album or work that we accomplish must reflect the period of life we are inhabiting in so as the World is always unto evolution than I guess you have to face the same over Malevolence. Not that we do create the music for the masses or something like that to follow the fashions out there. It’s just the opposite with our music. We just make some additional progression from album to album to keep also the interest flowing between ourselves as single individual musicians. The differences are always huge so it’s just a matter of seeking “Dominium” out there when possible to know more about the previous work from the band. 

Looking back at Dominium, are you still happy with it?
Our debut album “Dominium” represents the band at a specific period of time. Over that album we just made what we were able to do at that time in terms of lyrical & musical skills. Back unto 1996 “Dominium” was a very good start for a band like Malevolence and we had a very positive rejoinder from some of the underground media concerning all the possible promotion we have to make alone for the album. I guess I will never deny my own metal roots in music and “Dominium” still is a very fine documentary for what the band was already trying to develop unto the beginning of our album career. As always I guess that the past is still alive unto our own metal hearts even we are often more interested in proceeding our refined evolution towards our musical approach than to waste our precious time to talk about the past releases. At this moment I can say that I feel very pleasurable with that album but if it were recorded today it would have been better for sure with all the latest musical skills we do possess. Looking to our past I just can say that I would change something unto that album if I were going to record it today. But if we were going to have in mind the musical career from a band, I would not change anything since that’s history and we shall feel proud of our past achievements in all thy levels.

What happened with Danger that caused you to part ways with them?
We decided to leave Danger Records unto the middle of 1996. Our debut album was released unto March 1996 when we opened for the Uk black mettalers Cradle of Filth unto our own Town after some huge delay from the label to release it for the masses. In the beginning when we signed the deal for 2 full-length full albums with them they had made us many promises about the promotion & distribution they were going to make for the album. As we were also very inexperienced about independent labels we never thought that what they were telling us was not more than just the promises. So after we have made the first “National Tour” for the album we decided that it was about time to leave them as many people were writing to us telling that it was impossible to get thy hands over the release unto their own Countries. That allied with the deficient promotion of the label helped us to construct a bad idea from Danger Records so we just broke the 2-album deal after the recording and release of that debut album. In conclusion the label did nothing to promote the band abroad Portugal or even too much promotion unto Portugal as well. I guess many of the albums that we were even able to sell for that specific record were a direct fruit from the inner promotion we were doing by ourselves. We even decided to buy some original copies from the label to send away for our own promotion upon loads of radios & magazines. Besides that we also made a lot of tape recordings with that album to spread it a bit more all over the underground metal scene so I truly believe that all the good results & interesting reviews that we were able to catch with that procedures also made the final sales figures look better having in mind all the chaotic state for that album. There’s in fact many people dying to obtain one single copy & I know that Maquiavel Music Entertainment lda do have still some 20 copies left upon their own mail order so if you are still interested unto that one get in touch with the label at: Maquiavel Music Entertainment Lda, P.O.Box 172, 2401-971 Leiria, Portugal. 

How did you hook up with Maquiavel?
Well, to be honest with you, we have never been afraid of signing this new deal. All of this sudden praise & recognition on this new label for Malevolence is directly related also with all the previous hard work & extreme effort that we have been putting all around this band since it’s own creation. I mean just because we have never received any kind of support or promotion in our previous career this does not mean that we cannot be more confident about the future than for the past by signing a new deal even if this label was totally unknown until today. This time we positively felt the necessity to promote our band by our own means & capacities all around the contacts that we were getting from the underground metal Scenario of violence we actually live in. So while we were on the process of research for a new label we actually received 4 proposals back to the 25 promotional tapes that we made strictly for promotional effects to approach some labels that could show possible future interest upon signing the band. Two of those proposals were Nationally based while the remaining two were coming from outside of Portugal. On the end we just decided to stuck to the one from Maquiavel Music Entertainment Lda as this one had the best conditions from all the previous three offers presented to us. In fact we could have managed to sign throughout one of the major International ones but their proposals were just too much indecent in our own point of view. I mean we will never change the style of our musical approach or even the bands name to catch a deal with anyone just for the purpose of being more commercial rooted to sell also a couple more of records around the World. Just fuck those extravaganzas & label restrictions, as this is really what kills the real metal scene. With Maquiavel Music Entertainment Lda we have just found the opposite to that mechanisms of destructive metal behaviour. So I guess what lead us to sign with them as precisely their natural & promotional simplicity above all the competition.

Are you pretty happy with Maquiavel so far?
With Maquiavel Music Entertainment Lda we do not have any kind of restrictions imputed to our audio bastardisation or even to our musical themes & dark philosophies in general. This also means that we are more than able to keep our imagination as well as our ferocious metal rebellion intact & persevered from all those infiltrators behind our back. Actually we were able to travel all the way to Sweden to record in one of the biggest metal professional Studios, we had the chance to discuss all the final layout of the album as well as finding an artist designer compatible with all our visions, we also have now for the very first time a decent & effective distribution all over Europe & in the rest of the World and I guess this really means something. Besides all that and due to the promotion of our new label we have already made more than 700 exclusive promotional interviews to support the release of “Martyrialized” all over the World in the most notable magazines & radio shows available for this kind of musical approach. We have been inserted upon some dozens of CD samplers all around the World and we were even able to appear for the very first time in some of the most professional magazines running from the most notable ones like Terrorizer in England or even Hard’N’Heavy in France to the most underground ones like Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles in Canada or Grinder in Chile. Sales for the new album are going good so far with more than 8000 copies of the album already achieved out there and the entire rejoinder from the media is just amazing to this moment. Without Maquiavel Music Entertainment Lda we could never reach so far as we have already with the band and the new effort. It’s just the same to say that we are finally able to be among all the best metal acts around the World, to have exposure unto the same magazines and radios that only the bigger bands could afford until this moment. I guess that we would not even make this interview if it were not a direct effect from the very professional promotion the label has been making for us during the latest months. Everything changed for better and I am now proud to state to you that we are finally happy with all the latest achievements unto the recognition, promotion, distribution and sales for the new full length effort. 

Carlos, in 1998 when you were the sole remaining member, was it a difficult decision to carry on Malevolence?  Were you surprised at all by the departure of the other members?
First of all I would like to express here that Malevolence since the beginning of 1998 left behind a fragile act where some people were vegetating & rotting to become a simple project created by my own musical sensations & inner philosophies. In any case I’m still the only member remaining from the original line-up that was assembled this act back on the dawning of 1994. All the 4 remaining new members on Malevolence actually must be seen by unanimous decision, as being only & exclusively, musicians & metal partners of mine that are sharing the same emotions as well as some of the influences identical to mine. Inserted upon this same context we can state to the underground masses that the Lusitanian act Malevolence since March 1998 is constituted by Carlos Cariano on the vocals & rhythmic section, by Frederico Saraiva on the solo section, by Aires Pereira on the bass, by Gustavo Costa on the drums & finally by Paulo Pereira on the keyboards & over all procreations. All the new members have been working unto some different projects than Malevolence on the past but there’s not a great need to mention them, as you would not know them anyway. What happened in general to make this line-up transformation was that I have been just working & devoting a lot of my individual time to people that in the end would sell you for less than a dime if you get what I mean. I was more than sick of that situation by having to deal with all the composition of the band alone so I positively decided to left the other guys in order to seek for more professional & reliable people to start on working a step further for the recognition of the band abroad. I really had to take this decision, one of the hardest ones from my entire life if you ask me since I am 100% dedicated to music in my life nowadays. What matters is that I was able to keep the band proceeding with their career. Malevolence does have the strongest & Machiavellian line-up ever & everything is working finally unto perfection after 4 years of constant delusions of systematic plagues. I was the one departing from all thy other members if you ask me and since I have created the band I just kept the name intact as it does mean the entire musical & philosophical path I have embraced for the name unto 1994.

Is the current line-up pretty solid now?
For the first time in my own musical career unto thy Machiavellian hordes of Malevolence I am able to state to the underground metal masses that we do have the most stable and powerful line-up ever. Like I have told you, now everything works perfectly between us. The new members are just more than enthusiastic to make their own individual contribution for all the final future results. In the past it was just impossible to obtain that special development but things have positively changed with the latest line-up transformation that we had operated upon the band on March 1998. We are just producing even a superior result for the third full-length album by now as we do have already some musical structures & thematic philosophies to start on expanding in the very brief meanwhile.

The song-writing on Martyrialized sounds very complex, with each instrument doing quite a bit.  How are the songs written?  Is it a collaborative effort?
On the writing procedures for “Martyrialized” I have been again the main composer like I have done already unto the past for our debut album “Dominium”. Anyway this time over this new material I guess that all the other remaining 4 members have contributed a lot for the final devastating arrangements in all levels. The situation like I told you previously is working now more than fine and better than never between all the new members. There’s a very fresh chemistry of mutual co-operation unto thy entire band right now and we shall keep it that way since all the members are interested in breaking all the musical barriers imposed to the band by making the union of all the power & inner strength inside of us all. For our third work we are already changing those procedures & all the members are now contributing with many different & unique ideas. Malevolence is actually a vehicle to amplify and bring about all the twisted musical accomplishments from 5 individual minds and that’s the reason why you may find our musical structures so complex. Every goddamn Machiavellian soul has to make his contribution for the band if you really ask me. I guess for the new one the only main composing aspect that I will have to handle alone will be the lyrical themes. Anyway even on those fields I will request the support from all the new guys. 

The production on Martyrialized is excellent.  Were you happy to work with Fredrick Nordstrom?
Thank for your fine compliments. That’s great to know that you find the production unto “Martyrialized” great ‘cause in fact that procedure was done by ourselves and not by Fredrik Nordstrom. Fredrik only made the final mixing of the stuff we have pre produced and recorded over Fredman. I still remember that Fredrik once told us that we were a very talented band & that he was not expecting such a professional tight metal unite from Portugal to record over there. He told us that while we were just accomplishing the final mixing for the 9 tracks from “Martyrialized”. He also told us that he was more than surprised with our natural & powerful ability to not sound Swedish all over our musical pores as every goddamn band that goes there strikes only for that single purpose & achievement. I also remember his own words: “This material sounds really good, definitively not Swedish, but that’s also twice good for you as a metal band”. Than when we were also making the final mastering for the work with Mr Göran Finnberg, who also mastered the works from In Flames & Arch enemy and many others more, he also told us that he found our musical approach very original & refreshing from all the other stuff that he had already worked with. Believe me man, we were the first ones to be caught by real surprise on that and this are really their opinions & words so everything worked perfectly between all the parts involved this time and we are more than pleasurable with all the final results as well. 

What did Fredrick do in the studio that was different from other producers you've worked with?
One thing is for sure. Malevolence now is able to be among all those higher level acts & is even capable of surpassing almost all of them in terms of achieving now better reviews & amazing rejoinder from all the metal press masses. This does include that we are able finally to be exposed unto the most underground magazines and also over the most notable & professional radio shows all over the entire World. I have to agree with you in the case that sometimes certain names involved can just give you a bigger chance to succeed all out there as people will watch your work also with other kind of perspective in all levels. But in the other hand you also have to make something interesting as the name of the producer does mean only in my opinion 20% of the total final work you have to present to the masses. We are also more talented & skill full now than we were on 1996 for sure in all levels but that does not mean that we are now suffering from a king syndrome or something like that. I mean just because now Malevolence reaches a higher audience & its just obtaining phenomenal criticism from the entire metal masses leading us sometimes to be the chosen nº1 in some radio/magazine play lists, that does not affect me or any member from the band to an extent of just becoming a superior human form. You see Fredrik only made the final mixing of the album while we were the responsible ones for all the pre-production and full recording of the new album. We have already lost that idea of having just a strong producer unto our back to make things happen for this band. So this time we just explored all the ideas unto our rehearsal place to make the best final result possible over the Studio. What differs this time from Fredman Studios/Fredrik Nordstrom is that they know how to make you sound the way you have in your mind. Even if Fredrik only made the final mixing of the album I guess he pretty made a very killer job of support for the band unto those fields. We have always been very poor persons, very polite and down to earth ones so we shall keep ourselves that way even if our music is now more successful than never. We cannot even stand people that become 100 times prouder with a certain achieving ‘cause that people normally get also 100 times more stupid in all human levels as well. In conclusion, Fredrik is a human being, At The Gates or Arch Enemy are also made of flesh & blood so I guess Malevolence is pretty the same case. What’s really the main difference between them & us? We are all going to die sooner of later and be buried six feet under so I guess there’s not such a big difference unto this. The only important fact to mention for the difference is that you have to be really good at what you do and I guess that’s everything in the end of the day…

Could you explain a little about the concept behind the lyrics on Martyrialized?
Our texts are just spinning in this useless hole in time & over them we are often trying to expand ideas of igniting something to perfectly achieve something different, something that’s better than the present state of decline. The conceptual idea upon “Martyrialized” reflects that we will never agree on that idea that people are just supreme or flawless than others ‘cause in fact there’s not a global true upon mankind. Even if we take some lyrical influences from both Machiavelli & Emanuel Kant, we will never agree totally with their own thesis & inner formulas. I believe that both of them made a huge impact upon our systematic sound structures & thematic accomplishments but this does not necessary mean that they were perfect or even supreme than any other human form no matter if it’s just another writer or even a dissimulated human form. Therefore upon “Martyrilaized” you will be able to sense our own inevitable collision course with all those Christian persevering performances that people often take as true reality upon their life. We are just expressing that we are the opposition to that carnival of Christian madness. So instead of being abandoned in bleeding faith & afflictive penitence when the speech of the saviour (=Christ) always sounds the same, we just prefer to be considered as the new researchers of progressive & supreme apocalyptic art. With the thematic side on Malevolence we have always been trying to show to people that we all must unite our own efforts to get rid of that moralistic raping madness by taking the shinning onslaught as our new name. That’s the same to say that we need to be in constant battle with all the tyrannical ideals upon the carnival of morals & politics that we have to face since the ancestral times not only in Portugal but also all over other many countries as well. At this point in “Martyrialized” we have expanded a conceptual view about the present state of decline over Humanity. The album becomes for us the perfect vehicle to amplify & bring about that twisted visionary accomplishment because we made on it the supreme reunion of all the biggest aspects that we consider of the highest martyrdom over our own existence on Earth. We are just materialising on the album all the entities, which have been previously marked & restricted by the laws of injustice, stealth customs & other several punishments of a society extremely dangerous & cruel for their own kind fellow creatures. “Martyrialized” also shows to people in general that all those entities that have suffered these treatments will make an inevitable collision course with all the aspects of thy martyrdom. Throughout the use of their own individual reflection they will start to renounce over & over the same codes & models settled by the entire segregating community. So in conclusion you have also a fine phrase upon the album that sums the entire concept when I say ironically that men teaches men to kill their brother men. Just watch & listen the statement I make: “I send my brothers to teach the brother men, I teach my brothers to kill the brother men...” upon the song “A Shinning Onslaught Of Tyranny” upon the new effort to get a glimpse of that particular conceptual idea of the band.

The cover art is rather mysterious.  How does it relate to the album title and concept?
You will find a major reflection upon the cover that does possess some of my individual & major points of view towards life on the new millennium so the cover for thy new album reflects a visionary element that in fact does possess some mysterious & supernatural atmospheres. Our ideas of malevolence, aversion, insubordination, & human decline are just exposed there. The album cover does reflect our constant struggling for an inevitable collision course upon the upcoming millennium with all the persevering performances of all the researchers of progressive & supreme apocalyptic art. You have the cross burning that symbolises our own aversion & insubordination towards the codes & models settled by the entire segregating community in general, you have the strange figure of a disfigured face focusing a supreme entity watching the perfect time to renew existence taking the shinning onslaught as his new name and in the end you also get that inflaming yellow abuse that ignites the ashes of morality to taste the first signs of deconstruction. I shall say that the eerie atmosphere on the cover symbolises in conclusion the perfect reflection of knowledge for what I would like to see changing upon the new millennium as well. I must state that I would like to see some kind of powerful reflection upon each single individual mind swallowing the extreme light waves of thy actual dogmas & decline that we have to face over humanity in general. All the martyrdom aspects would than be forced to burn on this very same visionary altar image. Than all of us would be able to watch the perfect materialisation of man unto a new form of thoughtful mind based upon the strong inner confidence & individualisation from thy ashes of a certain cleansing ritual upon the humanity of the new millennium. The cover express all those ideas and visions but you can always have different interpretations from mine and that’s really what makes us moving…to create the unexpected to entertain all the metal masses all over the World. 

Was it more difficult to write a conceptual album?
Nowadays with all the excellent skills that I think I do possess in terms of lyrical background I guess that’s not a very hard task. It’s just a matter of making the perfect reunion from all thy ideas that I have the power to acknowledge during all the past/present moments of my own existence unto thy Earth. I do read many books nowadays, I watch many movies, I have a great sense of reflection about everything that surrounds me over my life and reality over mankind in general so everything turns normally easier than you would think. 

Do you think you'll do another one next time around?
I have already made a conceptual lyrical work over the debut album “Dominium” exposing the ten forms of human domination over thy Earth. As I have also done another conceptual album in terms of lyrical themes for “Martyrialized” I am now in position to advance you that it will be very difficult to make another conceptual album over the third album for Malevolence. Anyway it’s yet to soon to wander or write about that since we never say never. At this moment I am not thinking unto that and for the 3 lyrics I have already made there’s no conceptual idea behind if you ask me but some ideas of mine might change before the next album release.

How big is the metal scene in Portugal?
To be honest with you I guess we actually have more than 200 underground moving over here trying to achieve their own niche unto the National scene. One thing that is also growing for sure in the latest years is the quality of the magazines and radios that are still supporting the metal scene in general. As for the bands I guess we do have one of the largest and professional underground scenes nowadays compared to some other Countries that are decreasing from day to day in terms of originality and memorable music. The only problem actually in the Portuguese metal scene is that many bands operating over here are more than jealousy about the work that their own metal brothers are developing on these days. So in conclusion the scene is very big down here but with all the lack of support in between all the bands I have to advance you that only the most strong ones are able to survive and fight back against all the enemies inside of the Country in terms of promotion, co-operation and distribution in all thy levels. I guess this is a shame on our underground scene but that’s the reality over here even if we would like to change a lot of that mentality we are just 5 individual guys and we cannot make miracles for all the bands so just try to check all of them during the future ‘cause I guess you will not be disappointed. 

Is there a lot of cooperation between bands there or not?
The Machiavellian Hordes do not install similar contact with other identical forms of metal upon Lusitania. We are very strong individual musicians & we don’t want to take part in any ambiguous Lusitanian conspiracy to a certain extent. We often prefer to spend our time in being more creative than to loose our time in supporting any paradoxical act from our local or National Scenario of Violence. Like I already told you we have a very strong underground scene that is growing from day to day but that’s not enough if people do not act in a more rational and co-operative way. We do realise that in fact we do possess some excellent metal acts around Lusitania so just try to check some metal acts like Sacred Sin, Ramp, Genocide, Heavenwood, Moonspell or Inhuman on the musical fields if you dare to. 

Is heavy metal in general popular in Portugal?  (Here in the US, it lost a lot of ground in the early 90s but started coming back about 3 or 4 years ago and is slowly getting stronger again.)
The situation upon our Country is getting more than better from year to year. When I speak that we do have a better situation for metal I also want to relate it with the infecting Christian movements surrounding us over Portugal. I mean everything is in perfect relation in my own opinion as there are many bands doing that cleansing ritual over here lately all for the good sake of metal. There are many people out there finally realising all the despotism of the priests, the short views of that religion & the insipidity of the current dogmas that were previously haunting their lives. In the long run I guess there will be an edge crushing transformation on every human, giving birth to a new form of thoughtful mind as strong opposition to that tyrannical idealistic morals. The new Portuguese generation is actually more informed than the previous ones so they are also able now to revive throughout all the ashes left by Christian people upon here in order to renounce all the adulterated paradise of thy intoxicating Christianity in all extents.  The same happens unto the musical fields nowadays since the new bands are more skilled than never and able to take advantage from all thy errors that other bands have made previously unto our scene. As long as there will be rebellion unto the heart of man towards all those situations that haunt our existence I guess that metal will always benefit in every direction as well. No matter if it’s in a small Country like Portugal or even over a bigger one like America. Metal is a generated musical cycle so that’s why the situation for the metal bands tends to be better again from day to day everywhere. 

Do you listen to much music yourself?  What kind of stuff outside of metal interests you?
I believe that each single metal musician should be directly & paralleled informed about everything that’s going around him even if I do not listen to too much music besides metal nowadays. That’s the way to keep on moving a step further above all thy competition no matter if it’s just over the extreme, the softer power metal scene or in any other singular style of metal performing. A this point all the musicians over Malevolence are musicians unto an extreme metal scene as well as very strong metal supporters to the entire metal scene in general. Speaking for myself I have just acquired the latest releases from bands like Cannibal Corpse, Emperor, Morbid Angel, Hypocrisy, Satyricon, Samael, Kovenant, Testament, Danzig, Type O Negative, Behemoth, Sodom, Kreator, Metalium, Dark Tranquillity, Arch Enemy besides many other new ones no matter if they are just more extreme or melodically oriented. My singular tastes also have a very wide range of open mind listening so to make a very long sentence short I can just let you know that I have always been unto other bands like for example Celtic Frost, Slayer, Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, Bathory, Destruction, Iron Maiden, Manowar, Death, Morbid Angel, Samael, Strapping Young Lad, At The Gates, Carcass, Coroner, Malevolent Creation, Therion, Tiamat, Dissection and even a few more. I have to keep my highly addictive musical drug always aware of what’s going on, as music is the major rule upon my life as a single individual. This is just my attitude towards the entire metal scene & as a metal supporter I also feel the necessity to be always informed about what’s going on unto a certain degree level.  Besides metal I only listen to a few classical composers as well. Plastic music does not have a sense of integrity for an individual mind like mine so metal is the exception to the rule.

I understand you just did a show with Sinister.  How was that?
The show with Sinister was great thank for asking. On that single show we also played with Purgatory from Germany and Asgaroth from Spain and everything went fine between all the bands involved. We played for something like 500 metal freaks and it was for sure another memorable one for Malevolence unto all the aspects of a Machiavellian live performance.

What are your tour plans for the summer?  Where will you be playing?  What band(s) do you plan to tour with?
In my strong point of view playing live as been great lately like always has been in the past for a band like Malevolence. That’s when you have that special chance to meet a great amount of your fans besides many other people related with metal. You can always see the rage flowing from their eyes from a different point of view that you don’t have while you are recording the material for the album. Believe me, this is just one of the best sensations you could ever get towards the musical approach you make unto rehearsals and later on Studios. It’s a sacred place where you can share all your emotions no matter if they are more aggressive or even more intense. When Malevolence plays live we can express even better our musical views & even get a great dose unto the mind of the attentive listener directly with no subterfuges. We do not use any effects in general upon our own shows & we are of those few who still believe unto the integrity & rawness of thy music to make people move with a certain vibe of energy. No one can stand deeply concentrated on one of our live shows without feeling a strong vibe for moving on & rolling off. We have played recently with bands like Behemoth from Poland and also some others from Portugal including Devillech, The Firstborn, Goldenpyre, Holocausto Canibal, Theriomorphic, Sirius plus some others. In the meanwhile there’s also some plans to share the stages in Portugal and also over Spain with bands like Necrodeath from Italy and Avulsed from Spain but nothing is decisive at this same moment. More lately we were also supposed to happen the shows that Testament made unto Portugal but that did not happened due to the fact that the promoter took us out of the bill in the final hour. Concerning European Tours we had an offer from Metalysee from Belgium during the middle of 1999 to open for the American act Immolation. Anyway we were at the beginning of the promotion for “Martyrialized” all over the place unto thy magazines and radios from the World and we just had to refuse that one due to the 700 exclusive interviews that Maquiavel Music Entertainment Lda had already booked for the band. At this moment there’s a huge demand from the fans over Europe to see the band live and we are going to try something out during the fall of 2000. If we cannot get something interesting in the meanwhile than we will take our time to concentrate upon the recording of the third album and than we will move towards the European Tour later on. Be sure that all of our shows are pretty intense & aggressive to keep there just standing. At least this happened over Portugal in all the shows that we have been able to accomplish over here, including also the live parties that we have made for the album presentation. So I just hope that we will have some kind of opportunity on the future to watch the same rejoinder on foreign lands all over Europe and even all over the fucking World. Be sure that we will give to you a great dose of intense & mesmerising moments on the live environment.

How global is your fanbase?  What countries do you get the most response from?
That’s a very difficult question to answer in my own opinion. Anyway considering that all the reactions to our new full-length effort so far have been more than phenomenal both in terms of promotion & distribution I guess I can tell you that the band have already a very loyal legion of fans in some Countries of the Globe while in others we still have to improve with the next full length effort. To be honest with you we were positively the first ones to be caught by surprise this time. I mean we knew since the very beginning that we really had a very good & twisted accomplishment upon our hands when we got of the Studio but the idea that we had from the very first reactions have really nothing to do with all the major & amazing feed back that we have been receiving so far. In Portugal we were able to sell 1000 copies only in the very first two weeks of sales & until now we have already reached   the sales for more than 8000 copies sold world wide including three different licensing deals upon Countries like Poland, Norway & Malaysia. If we do have also in mind that only have passed by now one full year since the release of the album than I guess we are more than in the right path to duplicate the number of sales ‘cause there’s definitively a lot of promotion to be done to the album in the future as well. Overall, I guess we pretty have impressed people all over the World this time with all the strong promotion & distribution that the label organised for us. We have been doing mainly exclusive interviews for radio shows around the World including per example so many diversified places like Canada, Australia, France, England, Romania, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and a lot more. What really surprises me in the end of the day is the fact that we have also been able this time to be included with interesting & deep interviews in some of the biggest & professional magazines from the World including for instance names like Terrorizer, Hard’N’Heavy, Legacy, Nordic Vision, Grinder, Torment, Riff, The Grimoire Of Exalted Deeds, Ancient Ceremonies, Oskorei, Imhotep, Thrash’Em All, Necromance, Black Light, Metal Hammer, Masterful plus many others all the way around the Globe. At the time I am also answering this one you can be sure that I have also more 25 left to answer before the middle of this month and I have been doing this almost since the release of the album back unto April 1999. All of this sounds very amazing & I am the one still not believing in all this recent happenings for sure. I am more than surprised also with the name that we are spreading at the same time for the label as actually we already have exclusive distribution over Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, England, Holland, Slovakia, Greece, Czech Republic, Canada, Italy, Greece, Malaysia, Singapore, Scandinavia, Brazil, Russia, Belarus, Japan as well as in Chile. Besides that we also know that the label is actually working towards closing also a couple more exclusive distribution deals upon some other Countries like Australia & America even if there’s already some albums of Malevolence available at some mail order services over these both Countries by now. As for America just try to get the album over Century Media, Red Stream, Howling Bull Entertainment, Lost Disciple and Full Moon Productions. It’s just unbelievable what we have been able to accomplish with such a new label as well as with our 2nd full-length album so far dear metal brother.  If all that was not yet enough I can also advance you that we are receiving also lately some number one position over some radio play lists so what the hell can we complaint about this time when everything goes so marvellous for the band in all levels. Be sure that might be a great number of people already eating the Machiavellian music of our band even at the breakfast…

Do you have any long-term goals for Malevolence or is it just kind of a 'one step at a time' thing?
We do have many long-term goals for the band in many musical levels. Anyway and as you mention we are a band that is very selective and cautious about the future so it’s always better to take a ‘one step at a time judging from the strong position that we have craved with “Martyrialized” all over the fucking Globe. For the very brief moment we are going to try with all the support from the label to get our first European Tour to please all the requests from the underground masses that have been writing to us directly and also to the label. In the long run the main objective is to make another fine album of fucking memorable songs that can even surpass the actual material and quality presented over “Martyrialized”. That’s for sure a very hard task in many domains if you ask me but we are already taking some time to concentrate unto the writing of some new material and I have to advance you that we are going to be able to shock the masses again with the next full length release for Malevolence. Than we will also try to keep the attitude of the band intact from all the intrusion of the bigger fashions that infect the metal music of nowadays. That’s what I can advance for the very brief moment so to all the American fans of Malevolence I just can wish that they keep on fighting, conquering and discovering always-new dimensions unto this scorched Earth we inhabit in. Thank for all the support and keep the pain, the invention and the madness of The Plague running forever ‘cause we definitively need more powerful and dedicated metal magazines like yours unto the devastating metal scene. Bye now motherfuckers!!