MALEFICE, Silent Screams @Academy 3 21/9/12

Silent Screams are a band that is very much a product of their time. They are young, covered in tattoos and ambitious. They share much in common with former touring partners Bring Me The Horizon, and a producer with Asking Alexandria, which gives some clues about where they are coming from musically.

Their preparation for this tour hasn’t been ideal, literally days ago have just suffered a change of vocalist, but if new man Joel Haywood is suffering from nerves on the second night of the tour, he doesn’t show it. Boasting an impressive stage presence and a decent line in screams and growls, he seems right at home tonight. The band rampages through “Burning Bridges,” “When It Rains” and the almost Trivium like “Till There’s Nothing Left” during in an energetic set. And, whilst this will never be the sort of music that troubles RTM too much, in the right circles Silent Screams could go down very well indeed.

In between bands we listen to Rick Astley’s 80s pop bobbins “Never Gonna Give You Up” for half an hour on a constant repeat. Malefice singer Dale Butler later admits to liking the song. If it’s true we will have to forgive him the lapse. Malefice, you see, are very good indeed and are entitled to dance round their handbags to Stock, Aitken and Waterman songs then so be it.

This is the fourth time RTM has seen the group in the last 12 months. Opening the main stage at Bloodstock as well as being on the bill with Sylosis and Rise To Remain is one thing, this though, is quite another. A major headline tour with plenty of dates and your name on the top of the poster is a big deal, and it is up to Malefice to pull off a headline show.

That they do – and do so well- should not have come as a surprise to anyone. In short, these boys know what they are doing. It is a tried and tested set, which sees them start with the string intro from the title track of the astonishingly good 2011 album “Awaken The Tides” before having a crack at “Delirium,” arguably that album’s stand-out song.

There’s a couple of songs from the previous album “Dawn of Reprisal” in the shape of “Sickened” and “The Midas Effect” a trawl back to almost their beginnings with “Dreams Without Courage” getting an airing, before an encore of sorts with recent single “Omega” getting played.

In fact, the only thing wrong with Malefice is that rest of the country hasn’t quite latched onto their brilliance. Not for nothing, you suspect is this trek called The Perseverance Tour.” The problem for a band like Malefice is that whilst they don’t have a sound that can put them in Kerrang! And into the mainstream, they should be right at the forefront of the UK metal scene, and yet there is barely 70 people here for this. On a Friday night in Birmingham that is probably not good enough at this stage of their careers.

Butler tells us at the end that Malefice have finished album number, perhaps scheduling a further period of activity in 2013. No doubt, it will be fantastic and maybe, finally the perseverance will pay off. We can only hope.