Album Review: Defiled - Horror Beyond Horror
Reviewed by Sam Jones
When it comes to comeback bands lately, I don’t think many had been quite as successful as Japan’s Defiled. Formed originally in 1992, Defiled hail from Tokyo and whilst this isn’t a region of the world too populated with extreme metal, Defiled released some material early into their career which soon culminated into their first album come 1999: Erupted Wrath. The year 2001 would see Ugliness Revealed, and two years on the band would release Divination. It would however prove to be another eight years before they finally had their follow up prepared. 2011’s In Crisis finally released after years without a single smaller EP or Single release populating their discography in the meantime. While 2016 would see Towards Inevitable Pain drop, my personal exposure to the band came with 2020’s Infinite Regress and is where we find the band as a whole, a record I deeply enjoyed, and from then on have enjoyed a healthy stability within their member roster, and though I have yet to experience their last recent 2023 album, The Highest Level, I took this chance to check out their eighth and latest album: Horror Beyond Horror. Their sixth album alongside Season Of Mist, Defiled clearly enjoy the rapport they harbour with the record company and they’re evidently riding high right now owing to recent successes. But can this quality sustain itself? Let’s find out.
The production chosen for this record is probably the right choice since Defiled do give us an absolute plethora of tracks to experience, and thus they didn’t want a production that would consistently pummel us into the ground. While that intention is always sought by any extreme metal act, Defiled ensured their soundscape herein was punchy and could deliver the impact their fans have become used to receiving by them, however listening to them play gave me no issues for I never felt like the pressure they were placing upon me was hindering my capacity to digest their songwriting. The guitar tone possesses this warped tinge to it that allows it to seemingly spread out its impact into a wider surface area as opposed to one strike that’s much denser. It therefore doesn’t come off as punishing as you’d expect, and is a much easier listening experience than most records are. The riffs and the tone isn’t too high in the mix which is odd to hear, but it ensures the full band will be experienced without the risk of the riffs dominating the soundscape.
Though the band do have a large number of songs prepped for us, it surprises me, just as it did throughout Infinite Regress, how Defiled conduct songwriting. With a slew of shorter tracks you’d think Defiled would play out this record the way many would do: turn Horror Beyond Horror into a nigh-on Grindcore record with excessive speed round every corner that always picks up new energy with each new track. Defiled however don’t opt for that approach and treat each song, many failing to exceed three minutes, as a fully fledged piece that’s full of twists and surprises all the while being very short. From one perspective, Defiled don’t stick around long for their songwriting to risk losing its audience but, at the same time, the band do a striking amount of work within any individual track as they keep evolving the riff or sequence of songwriting so you’re always wondering what will happen next. This is no doubt aided by the band’s tempo as Defiled play it pretty steady and are in no rush to get you from one track to the next. It’s refreshing to recognise a band going against the grain, and are treating each succeeding track as a genuine example of effort that they want their fans to sink deeply into. Though each track isn’t too long, you can feel the hard work that’s gone into each one.
Easily amongst the strongest instrumental elements on record, the drums are perhaps the most brazen aspect the band employ. The drums are arguably a little higher within the mix than the guitar work is which enables us to listen to every pattern and strike of the kit without difficulty; for the kind of album Defiled play and write these days, this style of mixing works for them whilst it probably wouldn’t work all too well for other bands. But the drums feel as effective as they do because they haven’t been given this super baritone aesthetic within the record, the Tom-toms and blast beats are far tinnier than your regular blast beat performance which only showcases the looser mix Defiled wish to demonstrate. It’s honestly nice to have the freedom to hear the full kit played without anything getting in our way of doing so, and the bass drums, though not implemented as a double too often, certain injects huge energy into their performance. But devastation doesn’t seem to be the drums’ prerogative as it’s rare for us to feel like the drums are out to get us; they’re utilised more so to act as the band’s metronome and keep their sporadic pacing in line, for the drumming patterns used often mirror the trajectory the riffs are taking too.
What will likely draw people to Defiled should they be completely new to the band, and keep people in who’ve been longtime fans, is the astounding variety of tracks on display. There will reach a point, whether that be a halfway or towards the end, where you’ll realise you haven’t heard a single track twice. This is all the more startling when you consider the sheer number of tracks Defiled have ready for you and the lengths that these songs simply do not reach, but the band are still able to keep their songwriting continuously fresh all the while their riffs harness this perturbed style. In a way, breaking tracks into smaller pieces allows them to spread out the numerous ideas they have for any single album and gives the audience more to chew on. The fact that you can be reaching the twelfth track in this record and not feel tired out by the changing track progressions speaks volumes towards their variety in songwriting. Defiled aren’t aiming to destroy you in any form, but to keep you locked in and engaged, and on that front they succeed wildly.
In conclusion, Horror Beyond Horror is an album that just keeps on giving. When we encounter a record that keeps us guessing what will happen next the usual question is “What’s happening next?”. For Defiled however that questions is reframed as “What CAN they do next?”. By the time you’ve become deep within the album you’ll be wondering just what else they can possibly jut up when they’ve already hit you ten or eleven times already with completely unique songwriting from other acts, and yet not one track on record has the same feeling as any other. It’s possible the number of ideas thrown into this record could have been split amongst two, and the band could easily have put their feet up knowing the writing for this album, and a potential follow up, were already sorted; Defiled did not though, and so Horror Beyond Horror holds none of its ideas back. This isn’t the kind of album that will tear your face off, but will dazzle you with just how persistently it will engage you even as the band forgo most faster attempts of tempos whilst still providing a pacing that is constantly refreshed and interesting. Defiled always deliver when a new album is on the horizon and Horror Beyond Horror is no exception. It’s another notch in their recent display of quality releases.
