Getting Erik Rutan to produce was a step in the right direction if the band were to trod a more well hewn metallic attack, and in songs like "To Wage a War" one can hear the a-melodic yet sing along-worthy choruses of death metal's Old Guard. On the other hand, "As Good as Dead" hearkens back to TtEotD's hardcore drenched past with mosh pit breakdowns and crystalline dual leads. Even in its most death driven moments, the riffs take on the stunted gallop of hardcore more so than the fluid triplet picking of speed metal. Album opener "Failure in the Flesh" most exemplifies these rhythmic punk leanings while tossing in melodic metal leads and cascaded descending riffs. Elsewhere, "Dead End Roads" and "The Undead Parade" jettison the metalcore altogether and focus in on a straight death approach. Overall, though, it's not the sound that makes a band like Through the Eyes of the Dead succeed, but the strength of the songs, and throughout the 38 minutes of _Malice_ there is nary a false move.