Malevolence, Splinter, Outsider @ Jive, Adelaide 22/5/2025

‘The last time we played here we were shit! Tonight, we will not be!’ Alex Taylor, vocalist of Sheffield heavyweights Malevolence proclaims.

It’s the band’s first Adelaide headliner. Space is tight, the music loud and the pit is bubbling. It seems Taylor was right after all.

While Malevolence blow up back home in ol’ Blighty, here in Australia we’re slowly catching on and personally seeing them back at Jive – an old raucous intimate gem of a venue – is something spine tingling and special.

With a new album about to land, a mammoth regional Australia tour with Alphawolf in tow, the guys are tighter than the t-shirt around my dad bod. Effortlessly searing, powerful and an immovable force of musical might.

But first, Adelaide band Outsider open up following on from their support to Thrown earlier this year. They run, jump and land a 10 from all the judges who approve of the spitting venom hardcore heavy riffs. The windmills in the pit are common and in that true hardcore all-inclusive way, guest vocalists from the crowd join in. Visually, the symmetrical positioning of the warriors just adds to the fearsomeness of the breakdowns, a four pronged killing machine of a band.

Hailing from Newcastle, Splinter bring more doom that I expected for a hardcore band and I ain’t complaining. Every riff hits like a giant hammer being pounded on an anvil. A healthy space in the packed room is left for the moshers and ignited by the heavy artillery of the music, those pitters generate enough electricity to light the room. Which is sadly only twenty minutes or so, a short and sweet set which left me thirsty for more.

However, the night belongs to Malevolence, who appear like prize fighters waiting for that bell to ring. When it does, a quick one two punch of Malicious Intent and Life Sentence stuns the crowd. Taylor stalks the stage like a lion going in for the kill while the audience, still wobbly on their feet, surge back in response during Waste Of Myself as Josh Baines searing solos effortlessly weave.

From that point, and Taylor’s previous comments introducing new track If It’s All The Same To You, nowhere is safe from being stained from the bubbling melting pot of the pit and stage combining. Wall of Deaths, stage divers and, most importantly, a community sense of looking out for others who fall, means everyone can let themselves go and get lost in the show. This is the magic that live music is all about.

Karma resembles a war zone, each song an anthem that Taylor, smiling like a cat who got the cream, shares vocals with any fan willing to give it a shot. Trenches sound huge as the band bounce the stage like a bomb waiting to go off.

Finishing with Keep Your Distance and On Broken Glass, the sound deafening, the drums pounding, the voices hoarse and bodies bruised topped off nicely by another Baines ‘I-can-wow-you-my-eyes-closed’ solo, Malevolence are done. The audience buzzing and the night is still young.

You know they’ll be back soon but it will not be this intimate again. A magical evening to remember.

Live Review By Iain McCallum