[1] Malice formed in Portland, Oregon in the early-1980s when former The Ravers guitarist Jay Reynolds assembled an embryonic line-up consisting of vocalist James Neal, future Wild Dogs duo, Matt McCourt on bass and Deen Castronovo on drums, and Kip Doran on guitar.

When the duo was unable to find suitable players for their new venture, they convinced Neal, bassist Mark Behn and drummer Pete Laufman to move down from Portland as well after the initial Malice demo caused a stir and garnered label interest from Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records.

[3] Adding drummer Cliff Carothers, formerly with the bands Snow and Assassin, in place of Pete Laufman, Malice set about recording new demos with producer Michael Wagener and soon found themselves in the midst of a label bidding war.

They were also the support act for Slayer on their 1987 "Reign In Pain" European tour, an ill-fated trip that saw Malice faced with open hostility from the headliner's rabid crowds which forced the band to drop off the bill once the trek reached Germany.

[7] Jay Reynolds joined a revamped Metal Church line-up in early 2004 and recorded 2 albums with the band, Weight of the World (2004) and A Light in the Dark (2006), before exiting again in 2008.

[10] In late 2011, it was announced that Malice had signed a record deal with Germany's SPV/Steamhammer;[11] Robert Cardenas of Agent Steel was confirmed as the band's new live bass player.