Review: Mallavora – What If Better Never Comes?
Artwork by: Flowers & Bones
Style: Progressive Metal, Metalcore, Alternative Metal (Mixed Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Spiritbox, Entheos, Bad Omens, Poppy
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 27 March 2026
Living with a disability—of any kind—is to experience the world in a wholly different way, a way that often causes friction within a society unwilling or reticent to accommodate. Doubly so if you have an “invisible” disability. For example, I’m visually disabled, yet most people see my glasses and assume that, with them, I must have twenty-twenty vision. Driving is out of the question, which is something of an issue when living in the US, where apparently we think of nothing else than how to inconvenience others. And with costs rising everywhere and working-class wages refusing to meet them, ride-share options are not exactly a cure-all for the car-less. Likewise, people living with diseases like fibromyalgia wage an invisible war every day, fighting to be taken seriously by skeptical employers who can’t see their disability, so how can it be real? Stop griping and get back to work. As the eternally online might say, being disabled can feel pretty “sub-optimal”—and in a world increasingly designed for “optimization,” where do we fit in?
Rightfully everywhere, according to UK newcomers Mallavora. Despite their recent emergence, they’ve wasted no time making their message the mission: to shed light on disability within the metal community and ensure that every fan, no matter their disability, can attend their headlining shows. The band have even gone so far as providing free sunglasses for photosensitive fans, and posting venue accommodations on their site.1 Both vocalist Jessica Douek and guitarist Larry Sobieraj deal with illnesses that have informed not only their mission but their music as well. Debut LP What If Better Never Comes? sees the band mixing the crushing, djent-textured modern metal of groups like Spiritbox with more atmospheric, radio-ready ballads that hint at crossover appeal. Although their mission gets an automatic ten from me, we’re here to talk about the music. Do these Brits have the grit to put words into (musical) action, or is better still on the horizon?
Despite the rapid-fire opening of first true track “Smile” and its blitzkrieg aggression, What If Better Never Comes? reveals itself to be far more concerned with melody than pure metallic rage. That’s not to say this is a soft album—Sam Brownlow’s drumming is appropriately loud and punishing, even when the band is navigating slower waters—take the big arena-ready hits and tribal prowling of “Empty,” for example. Likewise, Sobieraj’s guitar rarely moves from chugs and grinding resonance, crashing down on the listener like a ten-ton wave of gnashing nanites hungry for organic matter. Douek’s harshes offer more variety than initial expectations, as she wields steady roars, larynx-shredding cries, and even some low-throated deathcore bellows. She counterbalances her vicious assaults with grounded cleans that offer a lot of power for their moderate range. Tracks like “Waste” and “Lilith & Esther” smartly counterbalance her screams with her melodious timbre, creating the sort of arena-ready call-and-response design that has proven popular with acts like In This Moment. “Lilith & Esther” also brings on “fairy metal” artist Banshee to layer on some black metal screams for added texture and menace.
What If Better Never Comes? is, ultimately, a far more straightforward affair than their more dramatic contemporaries, and it’s here where listening mileage may vary. Lacking the cult-like theatrics and psychosexual energy of an In This Moment, or the synth textures and electronica explorations of Spiritbox, Mallavora bring little trick or trapping to their melodic metal sound, keeping their performances front and center to the experience. However, this in turn highlights the album’s biggest weakness; that is, an overall lack of variety. By the time you reach midpoint cut “Birth of a Sun,” you’ve heard most of what Mallavora have to offer, which is mostly a tracklist following the “heavy-soft-heavy” template favored by many an arena-seeking outfit. The back half of the album also suffers from some mild pacing issues; “Empty,” for example, could have done with a minute or so shaved off and been a tighter and more impactful song. Pairing it up with “Make the World Wait” feels like a miscalculation, as neither track has the gravitas and energy of predecessor (and personal highlight) “Sick,” and so wounds the flow established by the album’s first half. “Host” picks things up somewhat, injecting some late-game aggro into the otherwise mid-paced crooner, going out big with Douek screaming over swelling instrumentals and Sobieraj’s crushing guitar tone. But, with the eponymous closer sitting at a fairly hefty nine-plus minutes, I can’t help but feel that striking either “Empty” or “Make the World Wait” off the board would make for a slicker listening experience—especially given that, sonically, “What if Better Never Comes?” covers similar ground to both tracks, but with arguably more variety baked within (especially in that noir-ish conclusion).
Mallavora have marched out with a confidently executed slab of metal for our modern times, a moody, broody platter full of all the frustration, angst, and anger we’ve inherited. What If Better Never Comes? doesn’t see the band rewriting the playbook, yet nonetheless they manage to slide out from under the shadow of established contemporaries by way of a more direct avenue of attack. Douek makes for a compelling voice to lead Mallavora’s opening charge, burning with a charisma and heart that pulls through her confrontational roars and melancholic croons, while Sobieraj and Brownlow bring appropriate thunder and feeling to match. Of the cohort, bassist Ellis James goes woefully unheard, a victim of metal’s all-too-common practice of burying their anchor beneath layers of thick production. With a bit of editing in mind next time around, Mallavora could have the makings of a modern metal contender on their hands. Of course, better is never a guarantee—all the more reason to celebrate the accomplishments of today.
Recommended tracks: Waste, Lilith & Esther, Sick
You may also like: Vexed, Vanitas, The Defect
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Church Road Records
Mallavora is:
– Larry Sobieraj (guitars)
– Sam Brownlow (drums)
– Ellis James (bass)
– Jessica Douek (vocals)
With guests:
– Banshee (additional vocals on “Lilith & Esther”)
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