ALBUM REVIEW: THE DEFILED

Listening to The Defiled’s latest album Daggers is like being a kid with a wicked sweet tooth that just stumbled into a candy shop where each thing item sampled is exactly what you wanted, and the next is even better than the last. Once you see it and hear it, you will be craving it and coming back for more.

Debuting Needles’ inhuman drumming skills and produced by Jason Suecof, who brought us all Chimaira’s ‘Resurrection’ and Trivium’s ‘In Waves’, showcases why this album is a masterpiece, with a large-sized portion of epic served on the side.

In previous interviews, Stich D (Lead Vox/Guitar) has stated that their debut album Grave Times was full of filler material and the structure of some songs incoherent. In my opinion, Daggers is the exact opposite of that assessment; offerering up a plethora of influences and techniques that Grave Times failed to achieve. For instance, AvD’s keyboards are showcased in every song on Daggers, whereas on Grave Times, you could only hear them where they fit in.

“Sleeper” was the band’s first release as a lyric video (not a single) but once “Unspoken” kicks in, it’s no wonder why the band picked that as a single. Not only does the music video kick more ass than Chuck Norris did in that scene during The Expendables 2, it is one of the main highlights of the album. It’s a song for an introduction to the band, not to mention how catchy it is with its industrial overtones and AvD’s keys cutting through.

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Along with the death metal influenced “Saints and Sinners,” the band then rolls in with the groovier “As I Drown,” combined with a clean chorus. Thankfully it’s not a contrived “We’ll try to be brutal then calm it down for the ladies”, but more of a “Our sound is so big – it’ll punch you in the face, then we’ll take a break and then start punching you again!” “Porcelain” was obviously put halfway through the album as a calm-down period, which is thankfully short with the crushing guitar sound and Needles pummeling away on his drumkit.

“New Approach” is certainly a single-worthy song with its soaring sound, and oddly marks a new approach (no pun intended) on the latter half of the songs on the album. Offering up a heavier and somehow more melodic sound are “Fragments of Hope” and “Infected,” the latter of which is odd, as it has a radio-friendly vibe. It sounds like a pop-rock song but this is The Defiled – so it’s here to melt faces. “Five Minutes” is a bittersweet acoustic track that almost has no place on the album, but it somehow matches the tone of the album perfectly – dark and menacing.

Closing the album is “No Place like Home” which could easily be on the soundtrack for either a massive battle scene or a Fast and Furious race, but with AvD’s synths breaking through effortlesslyalong with Stitch D’s rough vocals and an overall band delivery that’s on top form, it’s a perfect conclusion to their sophomore album.

One thing that does annoy me though is the whole ‘No Solo’ thing. What seems to be the main front of The Defiled’s sound on this album are the synth undertones which are consistently featured, leaving Stitch, Needles, Aaron and Vincent to fill in the background, which was really the only thing I wish was done differently.

Overall, The Defiled have put out a very solid album with Daggers, proving that they’ve developed tremendously as musicians into sheer brilliance. Kudos to this band that was unsigned for a hell of a long time, and never gave up. After relentlessly touring and playing at virtually every venue and festival, they were signed to one of the biggest record labels in the world, Nuclear Blast. Having just finished a highly successful U.S. Tour with Davey Suicide and still they somehow managed to release one of my favourite albums of the year – well done!

4 out of 5 SKULLS!