MALEPESTE – Ex Nihilo

MALEPESTE is a black metal band founded in 2010 in the Lyon region. Initially formed as a trio (Xahaal, Flexor, Nostra), the band quickly found its balance with the arrival of Larsen on vocals, laying the foundations for a dirty and abrasive black metal sound.

A first demo was released in 2011, followed by ‘Dereliction’, a self-produced debut album in 2013. This record inaugurated an immediately recognisable sound: slow tempos, dissonant arpeggios, incantatory vocals, and a raw stage aesthetic, adorned with tattered costumes and smeared corpse paint: a possessed desire to cause harm.

A split with the Italian band Krowos, entitled ‘Mysterium Conjonctionis’, was released in 2014, adding a few tracks to the repertoire that would be played during tours with Cirith Gorgor and Hetroertzen.

The following year marked a new stage with the album ‘Deliquescent Exaltation’ in 2015, still self-produced, which saw the arrival of Herjann, a second rhythm guitarist. This evolution freed up the composition, while accompanying a strong thematic shift: rags were replaced by togas covered with Theban inscriptions, and concerts, saturated with incense, became suffocating and turned into ostentatious rituals. The occult dimension of the band became clearer. A ritualistic black metal, fuelled by inner resonance. The entity continued its momentum through a series of concerts and a tour with Malhkebre.

In 2018, Malepeste released a split album with Dysylumn, ‘Ce qui fut, Ce qui est, Ce qui sera’ (What Was, What Is, What Will Be), which featured clear-voiced choirs for the first time. The sound was more controlled and organic, without losing the uniqueness that defines the band.

After a break devoted to founding the Grande Loge project, the band returned to compose their third album, ‘Ex Nihilo’. Delayed by the pandemic and the vagaries of life, this long-awaited project will be released in autumn 2025 on Les Acteurs de l’Ombre. At the height of their artistry but still true to their essence, Malepeste continues on its path, at the crossroads of the sacred and the ruined…