After a UK headline tour, Download Festival and opening for Skindred, Mallavora released their new EP on Marshall Records in November 2024.

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The best way Mallavora guitarist Larry Sobieraj knows to articulate his experiences with chronic illness is to translate them into music. “It’s almost like a therapy tool to process these complicated and difficult things that a lot of people don't understand, things that are hard to put into words,” he says. “I want to be able to sit there and listen to the music and feel how I felt while writing it.”
 

He passes his instrumentals to vocalist Jessica Douek, who uses her emotional response to the music to craft vocals. In essence, it’s a creative dialogue. “It makes it quite powerful in the sense that I can feel what he has written, and then I put that into words, associated with grief of becoming ill or losing a healthier version of yourself,” says Jessica, who is disabled and lives with fibromyalgia. “There’s a lot of rage about societal barriers and being treated differently.”

Completed by bassist Ellis James, Mallavora have become some of alternative music’s fiercest advocates for accessibility, committing to only headlining venues accessible enough for them and their audience. Ultimately, it’s a mantle they must take up out of necessity. “The industry, as it currently is, isn’t sustainable for us with what we're dealing with,” says Jessica. “There’s an existential worry that we won’t be able to have the career we want unless we forge this change ourselves.”
 

Nonetheless, this is just one facet of Mallavora’s artistry. On their new EP Echoes, they’ve distilled every aspect of their lived experience into fifteen minutes’ worth of blazing alt-metal, exploring topics including identity, neurodiversity and difference while blending in elements of R&B, soul, pop and cultural music associated with Jessica’s Jewish-Middle Eastern background. Personal, uncompromising and showcasing the full breadth of the band’s identity, these four tracks comprise a gigantic statement of intent.
 

Mallavora crafts a visceral, kaleidoscopic sound that transcends metal’s subgenres. They’re not just different—they’re unapologetic, forging a community where everyone can belong. Everyone’s invited, except for bigots.