BEHEADED: THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF BRUTALITY part one

From Malta's early death metal underground to an international institution

There are bands that become important because of the records they release, bands that become important because of the musicians who pass through their ranks, and bands that become important because they manage to change the perception of an entire scene. In the history of Maltese heavy metal, Beheaded belong to all three categories. Formed in 1991, the same year that would also see the birth of fellow Maltese institution Forsaken, Beheaded have spent thirty-five years building a legacy that extends far beyond the confines of the island on which they began. From the primitive and fiercely independent underground of the early 1990s to international tours, respected record labels and a catalogue of increasingly sophisticated brutal death metal, their journey is one of persistence, evolution and an almost stubborn refusal to accept geographical limitations.

In 2026, as Beheaded celebrate their 35th anniversary, their story has become inseparable from the history of Maltese extreme metal itself. They were among the first Maltese bands to demonstrate convincingly that a group from this small Mediterranean island could compete internationally within one of the most demanding branches of heavy music. Over the decades, they have survived changing musical fashions, numerous line-up alterations, periods of inactivity, long gaps between albums and the disappearance of the underground infrastructure through which they originally established themselves. Yet they have continued to return, each time with something new to offer. Their latest album, 2025's Għadam, perhaps illustrates that spirit better than anything else in their history. After three and a half decades spent developing their own interpretation of death metal, Beheaded produced an album performed entirely in Maltese and inspired by the work of Maltese horror writer Anton Grasso, turning their attention towards the culture and language of the very island from which they had once sought to break into the wider world.

Souldead Line up 1993 - 1995 photo: Beheaded (Facebook)

To understand what Beheaded achieved, however, one has to return to Malta in 1991. The island's music scene was very different from the one that exists today. There was no social media through which a newly formed band could instantly reach listeners around the world, no streaming platform through which a song could be uploaded and discovered within hours, and no sophisticated digital infrastructure connecting local musicians with international promoters and labels. For an extreme metal band, the underground was largely built through personal contacts, record shops, specialist magazines, fanzines, cassette trading and correspondence. Geography mattered enormously. Malta's position in the Mediterranean made international touring considerably more complicated and expensive, while the local market was inevitably tiny.

It was within this environment that Beheaded emerged. The band was formed in 1991 in Fgura, with guitarist David Bugeja and drummer Chris Brincat among the founding members. Vocalist Marcel Scalpello was also part of the original formation, while David Cachia joined during the band's formative period and would ultimately become the one constant presence connecting the earliest days of Beheaded with their modern incarnation. The group was initially exploring death metal and grind-oriented extremity at a time when the genre itself was undergoing a spectacular transformation internationally. The groundbreaking work of bands such as Death, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Obituary and other pioneers was redefining what heavy music could sound like, and the young musicians in Beheaded were eager to participate in that evolution.

The early line-up was not static. As was common with young underground bands, Beheaded went through changes while searching for the right combination of musicians and the right musical direction. Tyson Fenech was among those involved on guitar during the early period, while Cachia became increasingly central to the band's development. Metal Archives credits him with joining in 1993, and his subsequent longevity would make him arguably the most important continuous link in the band's entire history. The Beheaded of 2026 is very different from the Beheaded of 1991, but through Cachia there is a direct line between the two.

Souldead Line up 1993 - 1995 photo: Beheaded (Facebook)

The first major milestone came in 1995 with the recording of Souldead. In an era when a demo cassette could determine whether an unknown band remained a local curiosity or became part of the international underground, Souldead was hugely important. The recording circulated beyond Malta and began attracting attention from listeners, musicians, fanzines and labels abroad. Its significance went beyond the quality of the music itself. It demonstrated that Maltese musicians could produce extreme metal capable of standing beside recordings coming from countries with far more established death metal traditions.

One of the tracks associated with this formative period, “Vae Victus”, also appeared on the Maltese compilation The Storm Has Begun. Such local compilations were important documents of Malta's developing underground, providing bands with a means of presenting themselves collectively and demonstrating that a genuine heavy music community existed on the island. For Beheaded, however, the ambition was already larger. Souldead became a calling card that could be sent abroad, and the band's growing international contacts eventually resulted in a recording deal with Sweden's X-Treme Records.

That agreement led to the recording of Beheaded's first full-length album at Temple Studios in Malta. The album was recorded in 1996, but its eventual release would be delayed until 1998. That delay could easily have undermined the momentum generated by the demo, but instead Perpetual Mockery arrived as a powerful statement of intent. Released by X-Treme Records in June 1998, the album introduced international listeners to a band that was already considerably more developed than the rawness of a first demo might have suggested.

Perpetual Mockery artwork

By this point, Omar Grech had replaced Tyson Fenech on guitar, joining a line-up that included Marcel Scalpello, David Bugeja, David Cachia and Chris Brincat. Perpetual Mockery revealed a band still exploring its identity, but one already displaying impressive technical ability and a willingness to move beyond straightforward death metal formulas. The music contained the aggression expected of the genre but also demonstrated an awareness of dynamics, tempo changes and atmosphere. It was not yet the relentlessly brutal Beheaded that would emerge during the following decade, but the foundations were clearly there.

The international reaction was encouraging. Metal Archives records strong retrospective ratings for the album, while contemporary and later assessments have recognised Perpetual Mockery as an important early statement from a band that would eventually become one of Europe's better-known brutal death metal acts. More importantly, the album established something that would remain central to Beheaded's identity: they were not simply a Maltese band attempting to imitate foreign musicians. They were a serious death metal group whose geographical origin happened to be Malta.

The release also opened the door to international touring. Beheaded began appearing on European stages, including performances in countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany, and sharing bills with established names in the death metal underground. For musicians from Malta in the late 1990s, this was no small achievement. Every trip required the band to cross the sea and overcome the logistical and financial complications inherent in being based on an island. Yet those difficulties did not stop them.