Opening track “Best Kept Secret” could quite easily be applied to the band itself. While they may have been around for the last 20 years and have 5 previous releases, I don’t really recall ever taking much notice of them, even if I may have seen them while browsing through music stores. Formed in Kouvola, Finland Malpractice were originally a thrash band that evolved into a more melodic band as they matured and honed their skills. Starting with a not too technical rhythm drummed by Toni Paananen the guitars of Joonas Koto and Markus Vanhala aren’t too taxed as Aleksi Parviainen works from slowly spoken vocals to well sung higher notes as the song progresses with Jonas Mäki’s bass filling out the sound subtly.
“Weight Of The World” starts off as it were going to be a thrash track only to be reined in as the warm vocals start, keeping the guitars really melodic, especially during the choruses. During the lead everything turns up a notch again so the lead can actually be blasted out quite nicely.
A reasonably well paced drum intro “Irony Tower” works the song from heavy with nearly growled vocals to chilled with an airy lead that keeps climbing in pitch.
The very rocky sounding “State Within A State” has a very syrupy sounding chorus but the verses have a slight edge to them that the picked guitars work to their advantage as they break into solos.
There are subtle hints of Nevermore on “Turning Tides” in the way Aleksi’s vocals have a strong but soft melody that carry them over the much heavier guitars. But during its 15 minutes the song does go from mellow almost acoustic ballad to thrash rhythm over a swathing lead only to have the lead slow and the rhythm guitars fade for an actual solo.
“Symphony Of Urban Discomfort” reminds me so much of Mekong Delta it’s not even funny. It could be the ultra-sharp snare and quick changes in the guitar melodies along with the distinctive sound. Either way it’s a great instrumental that flows into the final track “Out”. A nice simple guitar rhythm is expounded upon and as the layers are added it becomes more and more complex but never to the point of becoming distracting from the overall feel of the song but definitely giving it a rather elevated ending.
I thought this was a good mid-paced album that has a couple heavier undertones in there, but at the same time has enough mainstream hooks that mean it could very easily appeal to a much wider rock audience, if they knew it was out there.
(7/10 – Marco Gaminara)
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