No respite for Defiled.
Barely more than a year after their last opus, the veteran Japanese Death Metal band featuring Yusuke Sumita (guitar), Keisuke Hamada (drums, ex-Chernoblank), Shinichiro Hamada (guitar/vocals, ex-Chernoblank) and Takachika Nakajima (bass, Coven Japan) continue their alliance with Season of Mist and unveil Horror Beyond Horror, their eighth album, illustrated by Wes Benscoter (Autopsy, Bloodbath, Cattle Decapitation, Hypocrisy, Mortician, Vader… ).
We get off to a strong start with Smoke and Mirrors, a first composition that easily displays its raw power with complex riffs and solid vociferations, all at a not inconsiderable speed. The eponymous Horror Beyond Horror follows with a highly polished approach, especially on drums, but the Old School dimension doesn’t shy away from bringing an aggressive edge to the composition before discovering menacing tones on Syndicate, coupled with obvious ferocity. The jerky rhythm remains perfect for headbanging, but the break offers us a moment’s respite before setting off again on the last wave, followed by The Alchemy, which bombards us with its convoluted patterns, regularly exploding. Demagogue is more threatening, with more straightforward riffs, but the composition remains very short, and quickly gives way to The Terminal Phase, a barely longer track with relatively effective jolts, before the sound returns to a more constant pace on Trojan Horse. The rest of the album follows in the band’s chaotic footsteps, as does the virulent Spectrum of Fear, which doesn’t shy away from its devastating jolts before giving way to The Crook and Flail, which features softer tones before letting go of the reins. A few keyboards embellish the middle of the track, but the musicians return to their virulent ways before giving Replicator Dynamics more ominous overtones before the bulk of the rhythm hits. Equinox continues in the same unpredictable but catchy vein from the Japanese, and so does The Chains, which moves on to polished accelerations between two more restful periods, except for the overexcited drummer, but the band hasn’t finished with us yet and throws us into Psychopomp. The track is heavier and more impressive than its predecessors, but retains that touch of madness as it leads into To See behind The Wall, the ultimate creation where the musicians accelerate to show us their power one last time.
Defiled remains true to itself, offering us fourteen short compositions forged in technicality and chaos. Horror Beyond Horror is as solid as unpredictable, provoking waves of uncontrollable fury as well as much more worked passages for music lovers.
85/100