Malice
Crazy In The Night

Already active since the early '80s, this promising Heavy Metal formation made a name for themselves with two tracks ("Captive Of Light" and "Kick You Down") on the historic first volume of the compilation "Metal Massacre" from 1983, alongside other debutants of the caliber of Ratt (unfortunately not present in the subsequent CD reissue), Cirith Ungol, and Metallica.

After the release of two excellent albums like "In The Beginning..." and especially "License To Kill", Malice's rise seemed unstoppable, but a disastrous tour with Slayer in Europe, during which, alas, they were boycotted by Kerry King's fans (not to mention insulted), and the unreliability of the otherwise excellent singer James Neal (apparently he sometimes didn't show up for concerts...) effectively put an end to their career.

We are in 1989 and Metal Blade releases "Crazy In The Night", an intermediate four-track EP, of which only three are unreleased, published when the band was officially disbanded.

The proceedings are opened by the aforementioned "Captive Of Light" with its menacing pace and the piercingly high-pitched screaming vocals of an impeccable James Neal, now crystal clear, now sharp, and let me say, with his power and expressiveness, he wipes out most of today's Power singers in a handful of verses.
Following are two tracks from the soundtrack of the hilarious movie "Vice Versa" which even featured Malice in a memorable scene during a (fake) concert: let's clarify right away that the first of the two tracks, "Vice Versa" indeed, is sung by Paul Sabu (also known as a composer and producer mainly active in the AOR sector), while the second track "Crazy In The Night" again features James Neal on vocals, contrary to what is erroneously reported by many online biographies.

In closing, the Priest-like "Death Or Glory", in my opinion the best track on the record, retrieved from the sessions of "In The Beginning..." and strangely discarded at the time.

For fans of this type of music, I would first recommend purchasing the two LPs, which have finally been reissued on CD (there are also bootleg editions with numerous demo tracks!) and can be obtained through the band's official website (recently reformed unfortunately without James Neal and expecting a new album), but this EP remains a gem not to be overlooked.