It’s been a few years since Athens hardcore band Malignant last appeared on No Echo, and they’ve kept busy in the meantime. Their 2023 EP, The Defragmentation Begins…, was followed by shows throughout Europe, including a Balkan run supporting Malevolence and festival appearances in London, Athens, and elsewhere.
Tomorrow, Malignant return with a six-song split alongside Sofia, Bulgaria's No Half Measures. The record features three tracks from each band, with Malignant bringing in Joey Drake of Splitknuckle, László of Escalate, and Mike Law of Whispers for guest spots.
More importantly, the collaboration celebrates the relationship between the hardcore scenes in Greece and Bulgaria, and all digital sales from the release will benefit Palestinian mutual-aid organizations The Sameer Project and Middle East Children’s Alliance.
Today, No Echo is premiering the entire record below. First off, here is the Malignant side of the collaboration:
For Malignant, the years since The Defragmentation Begins… have included plenty of time spent figuring out how to make the band more effective in a live setting.
“We’ve been putting more and more work into our live game, constantly pushing ourselves to deliver the tightest and most intense performance we can,” guitarist Mario Garofano tells me. “There’s still a lot we want to do touring-wise, but we feel like we’re moving in the right direction and constantly building momentum with every show and opportunity. We are very grateful for all of them and to be able to represent Athens Hardcore on the international stage.”
Those experiences also began influencing how Malignant approached songwriting. “Playing bigger shows helped shape how we were writing or changing some of the songs. I think we’re focusing more and more on how a track is going to feel onstage, so we’re excited to finally have this new stuff out.”
Malignant considers their last EP an important turning point, but the band also sees plenty of room between that record and where they are today.
“We think The Defragmentation Begins… was a very special release for us because it really established a better vision for what our sound could actually be. Honestly, looking back, I see a lot of limitations and things I wish we did differently, as is always the case, but that release gave us a foundation to build on and explore how far we could push things.
“I think focusing even more on the live aspect helped us decide how to approach and change ideas with these new songs. That mentality, alongside a very dynamic and collaborative writing process, has made us take things further, striving to be more aggressive and relentless while also stripping things down to the basics at other times for balance. We feel like we definitely achieved that on this new release, and we could not be more proud of how these songs turned out.”
Musically, Malignant continues to pull heavily from ’90s metallic hardcore and the European XVX and metalcore scenes of the early 2000s. Reprisal, Sentence, Kickback, Hatebreed, Arkangel, Point of No Return, and All Out War remain part of the band’s DNA, while more recent groups including xRepentancex, Year of the Knife, Splitknuckle, Simulakra, Temple Guard, and Mouth for War have also left their mark.
“The SFLHC scene is always a point of reference, and the Glasgow hardcore scene has been a big influence on us since before COVID and continues to be now that their respective bands have completely exploded internationally in recent years. Hopefully, the listener can hear our mix of styles and eras all over the new material and maybe pinpoint which parts or songs pay homage to what.”
This time around, even drummer Paris Malamatianos contributed riffs to the writing process. He also recorded and mixed the Malignant material, giving him an increasingly important role in shaping the band’s sound.
“Since he was also the recording and mixing engineer on this release, we increasingly use him as a producer within the band, so it helps make the process more dynamic and full.”
The collaborative nature of the split extends beyond Malignant itself. The band describes its relationship with No Half Measures and the Sofia scene as a “longtime brotherhood,” and that connection shaped how the new songs were written.
“This split is the result of a longtime brotherhood with the guys in No Half Measures and our sister scene in Sofia, Bulgaria, a place this band holds very dear to our hearts. In the spirit of having a celebration of unity, we approached the songs wanting them to be collaborative."
Here is the No Half Measures side of the split EP:
“I think hardcore, just like hip-hop, is at its best when lots of people and artists come together and create something new, so that was the thought process for these tracks. We already had certain vocalists and bands in mind when writing specific parts, and that shaped the final result greatly.”
That includes Joey Drake of Splitknuckle on “Industrialized Terror,” a song Malignant describes as the most UKHC-influenced of its three contributions.
“It was written with his vocal style and flow in mind, knowing where and how he would fit into it. The same applied, to different degrees, to the other songs featuring Escalate and Whispers. László of Escalate is a good friend, and we love that band so much, so we wanted to have him on as well, and he killed it.”
The appearance by Whispers vocalist Mike Law on “Path to Annihilation” was even longer in the making. “The Whispers collaboration was a long time coming since it was supposed to happen on the previous EP already — those 2022 recordings still exist on my hard drive — so we wrote ‘Path to Annihilation’ with Mike’s style in mind as well.
“We wanted to create parts that accurately incorporated what we love about these bands and vocalists, and we feel very honored to have such great people and voices on our release. They brought a lot of depth to the songs.”
Malignant’s politics remain just as central to the band as its musical influences. The members describe the group as an “explicitly political project” and see hardcore as something that should extend beyond what happens inside a venue.
“Lyrically, I like to ‘meet the moment’ we’re in and express how it affects me and those around us. So, given the state of the world getting increasingly more dire and regressing toward fascism, that is reflected in the lyrics we put out. “This has always been an explicitly political project with a mission to push people to take action and get organized beyond the four walls of a venue basement.
“We feel that speaking about our beliefs and the values we and the hardcore scene are supposed to represent and fight for is now more important than ever. Hardcore has always been about more than just music. It’s about using your voice, standing for something, building community and a counter-hegemony, and refusing to turn a blind eye to what’s happening around you. True counterculture.”
The benefit component of the split continues Malignant guitarist Mario’s involvement with the Hardcore 4 Gaza initiative, which has raised more than $25,000. All digital sales from the new record will be donated to The Sameer Project and Middle East Children’s Alliance.
While Malignant spent much of this year finishing the split, the band will hit the road with No Half Measures for a Balkan run shortly after its release. They’ll also return to Ntopio Hardcore Fest in Athens in December, with hopes for a more extensive European and/or UK tour in 2027.
Before that, Malignant points to its time supporting Malevolence as one of the more memorable experiences of the past few years. “Malevolence is a band we grew up listening to that shaped us as musicians. We used to cover ‘In the Face of Death’ when we started out in high school. So getting to share the stage and road with them has been amazing and very insightful.
“Seeing how down-to-earth and genuinely supportive they are made these experiences even more special. I think we learn a lot from them every time we get to do that, and we’re very thankful that they bring us out with them on these occasions. They support the underground in ways that few others in their position do.”
As for what’s happening closer to home, Malignant recommends Weaponized, Runs Deep, BurialSite, TRUExFEELING, Never-Trust, Conceive, like june sky, Expectations, Poison Ivy, Rugged, My Turn, Ripping Wounds, and Notation Must Die from the Athens and Sofia scenes.
Further afield, the band shouts out xforever warx, Vulgarity, Temple Guard, Mārān, If It Rains, Rekrucify, IKHRAS, Blindfold, Times of Desperation, Fallen God, Moral Law, Unravel, Horsepower, Suicide Eyes, Infinite Wisdom, Ameretat, Manifest X, Wired Protocol, Bloodshed, and Defy.
Malignant leaves us with a scene observation that requires no additional explanation:
“Fuck your giant-ass horseshoes, especially in the West. Mosh hard, pile up, sing along at the top of your lungs, stay up front, more stage dives.”
***
The Malignant x No Half Measures split EP hits streaming tomorrow (Oct. 23). Physical copies and merch are available now to pre-order through the bands and Bound By Modern Age (EU, CDs & tapes), Guillotine Records (UK, CDs), and Holding On Records (Thailand/Asia, cassettes).
As a continuation of the Hardcore 4 Gaza Initiative (fundraised over 25,000 USD), which Malignant’s guitarist co-organized, this release is also a benefit for Palestinian mutual-aid organizations, operating on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank: All digital music sales will be donated to The Sameer Project & Middle-East Children’s Alliance.
Tagged: malignant, no half measures
