Malice "In The Beginning..."

Malice is an American heavy metal band formed in 1981, best known for their appearance on the first Metal Massacre compilation and a pair of albums on Atlantic Records. Their heavily European influenced style elicited instant comparisons to Judas Priest due to vocalist James Neal sounding uncannily like Rob Halford in addition to fielding a guitar duo in the Tipton/Downing mode, with Malice's Jay Reynolds looking like a dead ringer for K.K. Downing.

Malice formed in Portland, Oregon in the early 80's when former The Ravers guitarist Jay Reynolds assembled an embryonic line-up consisting of vocalist James Neal, future Wild Dogs duo, Matt McCourt on bass and Deen Castronovo on drums, and Kip Doran on guitar. Reynolds next decided to make the move to Los Angeles, soon to be joined by fellow guitarist Mick Zane, to start an all original metal band. When the duo was unable to find suitable players for their new venture, they convinced Neal, bassist Mark Behn and drummer Pete Laufman to move down from Portland as well after the initial Malice demo caused a stir and garnered label interest from Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records.

"Captive of Light" and "Kick You Down" from the demo were both selected to appear on Metal Massacre I alongside tracks by Metallica, Ratt, Steeler and others. Malice made their L.A. live debut in November 1982 at the Troubadour headlining a bill with Metallica and Pandemonium as opening acts. Other memorable L.A. shows included opening up for then new major label signees Armored Saint at Perkins Palace in Pasadena, CA in the spring of 1984.

Adding drummer Cliff Carothers, formerly with the bands Snow and Assassin, in place of Pete Laufman, Malice set about recording new demos with producer Michael Wagener and soon found themselves in the midst of a label bidding war. Eventually, the band signed with Atlantic Records in the summer of 1984 and released their debut album, In The Beginning..., in 1985. It consisted of songs the band had cut with Wagener and material recorded with Ashley Howe producing.

Side A

1. Rockin' with You 05:01   
2. Into the Ground 03:48   
3. Air Attack 03:01   
4. Stellar Masters 03:58   
5. Tarot Dealer 04:21

Side B

1. Squeeze It Dry 04:03  
2. Hellrider 04:11   
3. No Haven for the Raven 06:07  
4. The Unwanted 04:37   
5. Godz of Thunder 04:20   

Time:  43:27  

- Tracks 1, 3-4, 7 &10 recorded at Total Access Studios, Redondo Beach, CA.

- Tracks 2, 5-6 & 8-9 recorded at Pasha Studios, L.A, CA and Cherokee Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA.

- Mixed at Cherokee Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA.

- Mastered at Sterling Sound, NYC