Release Date May 22nd, 2026
Format Digital/CD
Genre Funeral/Doom/Sludge Metal
Origin Twentynine Palms, California, USA
Maliciouz is the one man doom band of Michael Mucklow, based in Twentynine Palms in the Mojave Desert. The band began taking shape in late 2022, when forming a full lineup became impossible after Mucklow received a cancer diagnosis and underwent surgery to remove a kidney. The physical aftermath ruled out hauling equipment and standing through rehearsals or live sets, so Maliciouz developed as a solitary studio band. That limitation became its practical shape, with Mucklow assembling low tempo metal around enormous guitar tones, extended riff cycles, and a desert scorched atmosphere. Two albums arrived during 2025, “Sarberus” in January and “Tortoise” in August, before “Sympathypnotic Intercession” followed in May 2026.
Maliciouz sits between funeral doom and sludge, with psychedelic drift surrounding riffs that move at geological speed. There is no live history attached to the name and no conventional lineup story behind it. This is one musician using the studio as the only workable outlet, creating heavy music through illness, anger, recovery, and the need to remain productive after his physical limits changed. Circumstance dictated the solitary setup, though the steady release rate shows that the situation has not reduced Mucklow’s desire to create. Each album documents another stage in a difficult period, using low frequencies and drawn out compositions as a means of processing what happened.
“Sympathypnotic Intercession” is self released and runs for roughly sixty nine minutes across eight songs. Its subject matter concerns grief, pain, healing, and surrender, expressed through pacing, tone, and recurring musical patterns. The title combines emotional hypnosis with the idea of giving up the right to heal alone, placing music in the role of an outside
presence capable of easing distress for a short time. That concept could have slipped into empty spiritual language, though the album remains grounded in physical sound. The guitars arrive in huge, low tuned waves, the bass sinks beneath them, and the percussion marks time with a funeral pace rather than chasing impact through speed.
The production lets the lower frequencies spread across the mix while maintaining enough separation for the main riffs to remain readable when the music becomes suffocating. Psychedelic layers hover around the central patterns as a narcotic blur, adding distance, heat, and unease. Changes emerge through altered chord pressure, drum spacing, feedback, sustain, and gradual shifts in texture. Mucklow gives each central riff a long lifespan, allowing it to sink deeper before another section enters. There is enough variation in guitar tone and percussion to prevent the entire album from becoming a single continuous drone, though some trimming would have sharpened its internal movement.
“Sympathypnotic Intercession” is bleak, personal, and physically imposing. Its healing theme is presented through endurance rather than comfort, with drawn out chords pressing against the same wound until the initial pain becomes numbness. The album offers several excellent riffs, an oppressive desert atmosphere, and production capable of handling extreme low frequencies without turning everything into shapeless noise. It is lengthy, stubborn, and occasionally too fixed on its central ideas, though its better stretches justify the descent.
|7.5
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