Most people think of electronic music as a mechanism for escapism. It’s a sonic portal to technicolor utopia, characterized by glowsticks and an ecstatic state of collective effervescence. As the soundtrack to rave, EDM, and festival cultures, electronic music is stereotyped as the empassioned embrace of the world’s brightest beauty. It’s a channel for evading – or denying – a less-than-ideal state of reality.
So, it makes sense that dubstep’s most striking quality lies in its notoriously dark aesthetic. The genre is arguably a celebration – but it’s a celebration of evil rather than bliss. Dubstep embodies a complex philosophical outlook, especially for a style more reliant on instrumentation than words. Aesthetically, the genre’s tradition is often described as “deep, dark, and dangerous”. Among dubstep’s most sinister artists emerges Malleus.
The new addition to Sub.mission’s agency roster already has a reputation for crafting the most twisted tunes electronic music has to offer. Malleus’s affinity for horror films and life’s grotesque pleasures shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with his music. His style is unapologetically insidious, often in unexpected ways. Unlike many popular artists who fancy themselves purveyors of evil, Malleus forgoes the spectacular cinematics in favor of genuinely creepy nightmare vibes. His tracks emanate blackness – the anti-celebration at the heart of dubstep’s demonic essence.
Malleus’s rich musical background is apparent in his production as well. His ear for unconventional, discordant, sometimes cacophonous anti-melodies is demonstrated throughout his release catalogue. Likewise, Malleus’s attention to detail is crucial to his mastery of minimalism. The artist’s trademark is in the perfect placement of those echoes and slowly-approaching creaks: the touches that make his music chilling instead of campy. His command over tension within tracks explains much of his undeniable success. Malleus’s tracks add a fitting flourish to those sacred sets that rumble pitch-dark venues across the world.
Last year, Malleus made his debut on Joe Nice’s iconic Gourmetbeats label alongside Moonstones for the label’s third EP. The artist recently announced a second Gourmetbeats release, this one with fellow Sub.mission Agency artist Saule. Check out the preview clips for GB005, and stay tune for more news on the forthcoming release.
Follow Malleus on SoundCloud. For booking information and more on Malleus, check out his agency page.
Amye Koziel