Malice

Featured on the pioneering 1982 compilation Metal Massacre, Vol. 1 alongside Bitch, Cirith Ungol, and the soon-to-be-iconic Metallica, Malice stood out with a pair of tracks, “Captive of Light” and “Kick You Down,” that displayed greater polish than Metallica’s still-raw “Hit the Lights,” positioning the group for rapid success that ultimately slipped away.

Jay Reynolds, the guitarist, had spent the late ’70s in voluntary isolation in Hawaii, escaping the disco boom by playing in local groups while deepening his fascination with Judas Priest and the emerging New Wave of British Heavy Metal acts Iron Maiden and Def Leppard. In 1980 he headed back to his native Portland, Oregon, to cut recordings with the Ravers; vocalist James Neal soon followed him to Los Angeles, where the two began assembling Malice. There they rehearsed early material with second guitarist Mick Zane, bassist Mark Behn, and drummer Pete Laufman before handing the results to ambitious record-store employee Brian Slagel, who also published the fanzine The New Heavy Metal Revue. Impressed, Slagel placed two of their songs on his 1982 showcase of unsigned metal acts, Metal Massacre, which also introduced Metallica; the latter band even opened for Malice at the Troubadour that Thanksgiving weekend.

Rather than accept the independent-label offers quickly snapped up by their peers—Metallica on Megaforce, Slayer on Slagel’s own Metal Blade—Malice held out for a major deal. By the time the lineup, now featuring drummer Clifford Carothers, finally signed with Atlantic and issued In the Beginning in 1985, the rise of thrash had rendered their Judas Priest-derived style outdated. Audiences paid little attention. After supporting Alice Cooper, Queensrÿche, and W.A.S.P. and completing their 1987 follow-up License to Kill, the band found itself supporting longtime acquaintances Slayer on the European leg of the Reign in Blood tour. Mounting internal tensions and creative clashes with vocalist James Neal prompted founding guitarist Jay Reynolds to depart for Megadeth, where he filled in for Chris Poland on the road; friction with Dave Mustaine soon sent Reynolds back to Malice, only for Atlantic to drop the group six months later. After parting with Neal, the remaining members recruited ex-Americade frontman Mark Weitz and cut the 1989 EP Crazy in the Night for Metal Blade—an ironic homecoming—before vanishing from view. Among later sightings of former members, Reynolds’s return to Metal Church in 2004 proved especially noteworthy.