Well it’s about time! No longer do Lake Malice have to bear their status as the UK scene’s most prolific appearance-makers with the same setlist they’ve sported for over two years!
Chances are, if you’re among said scene, you’ll be intimately familiar with Lake Malice. At a conservative estimate, they’ve taken up around half a million support slots and festival sets in recent memory, building momentum that was never going to be indefinite. It couldn’t be; no one could make that so. Thus, most recently, Lake Malice are perhaps best known for their sometimes troupe of backing dancers Khaos Kreatives, and their copious number of Reels that are as insufferable as when any band makes them. Especially given that second one, a significant move like this is long overdue.
And upon actually listening to I Wanna Know If It’s Real, you begin to recognise the extent of that overdueness. Lake Malice are a band whose main thrust is a mix of metalcore and hyperpop, and yet, on the live stage that their image has primarily been cultivated on, you don’t get that full extent. It’s a very modern, Bring Me The Horizon-coded strain of metalcore, sure, but anything specifically hyperpop? That’s been a bit of a stretch. With a full body of work now, though, there’s much more grab onto and understand. The direction does work, and they get significant mileage from it.
For starters, it’s a more egalitarian approach than the usual metalcore or alt-metal sludge with some sharper beeps attached. Even when it is closer to that, the cybernetic feel of latter-day Bring Me The Horizon remains a good foundation. The important thing is that Lake Malice aren’t shying away from any of this, or downplaying the most interesting elements of themselves. A title like 3D Robocop deserves to accompany a cyborg rebuilding of a ‘traditional’ alt-metal sound. It’s good that there’s still considerable weight among this, too. The opening duo of Scatterbrain and Ghost In A Hell really show that off well, with production that’s still pummelingly dense and hard-edged.
In fact, it seldom registers that, when taken on its own, the metal of I Wanna Know If It’s Real isn’t that far removed from what’s flooding the market right now. It’s Lake Malice’s willingness to adventure that prevents this review from being far more excoriating, and what ultimately elevates everything that goes on here. Chrome Red and Real Life feel so much more alive and dimensional with their respective nocturnal jitters and added glassiness. Compared to a song like M.C.E (Main Character Energy) and its fewer bells and whistles, you get a great sense of where Lake Malice’s best lies.
Naturally, then, when there’s an upsurge in robo-pop dominance and Lake Malice let that run wild, I Wanna Know If It’s Real arrives on something truly cool. The first most noteworthy example is rly ok, where firmer guitars do still have presence, but between the cold synth rattles, Alice Guala’s poppiest vocal performance across the board, and the saxophone that’s there simply because it can be, it’s a more unique beast overall. Even more so is 90s btch, made from stitching together swatches of electro-pop into something a bit unwieldy, but never not attention-grabbing. (The own-brand Show Me Love synth plinks on the first pre-chorus are genuinely great, though.)
Overall, I Wanna Know If It’s Real brings about so great steps forward for Lake Malice, a band who’ve been pawing at the ceiling above them for way too long now. It certainly would’ve been optimal to get to this earlier, but there’s still enough momentum behind them for it to count. Thus, it’s the kind of debut that revs up Lake Malice once again and reasserts why they’re worth getting excited about. For as profoundly windless as metalcore’s sails are, something like this with an almost bottomless supply of spark is well worth celebrating. If it sees Lake Malice return to that live freshness they exhibited early on, even better.
For fans of: Bring Me The Horizon, As Everything Unfolds, Luna Kills
‘I Wanna Know If It’s Real’ by Lake Malice is released on 11th September on Blood Blast Distribution.
Words by Luke Nuttall
