DEFILED — In Crisis (review)

DEFILED — In Crisis album cover Album · 2011 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"In Crisis" is the 4th full-length studio album by Japanese death metal act Defiled. "In Crisis" was released in January 2011 by Season of Mist.

The recording break between "Divination (2003)" and "In Crisis" has been rather lengthy and it´s always interesting to hear if an act has gained momentum or gotten rusty in such a long the time between releases. Let´s just say Defiled sounds as fresh and brutal as always. This is definitely not an act that´s gotten rusty, but rather an act that has spend those 8 years writing powerful and crushingly brutal tracks.

Defiled have a pretty original take on the brutal death metal form. The unique nature of their music is in large part due to the bass playing by Haruhisa Takahata. Picture Suffocation-like technical brutality and then add the crazy bass playing of early Atheist played with a bit more aggression. After listening to the 12 track, 44:39 minutes long album, it´s safe to say that the album isn´t too varied and it´s definitely a slight issue. But what Defiled loses on the variation barometer they win on their fiercely energetic playing and one of the most filthy distorted sound productions I´ve heard in a while. The latter is bound to pose a problem for some, but I greatly enjoy the messy distorted production which provides badass attitude and authenticity to the music.

The music is very technical but Defiled succeed in incorporating multible tempo- and time signature changes without sacrificing power and that´s quite the achivement in my book. The vocals are brutal deep growls. Completely indecipherable and personally I could have wished for a bit more variation, but fans of really brutal death metal shouldn´t have a problem with the vocal style.

All an all "In Crisis" is a very impressive album albeit with a few flaws. It´s the kind of album where my jaw drops to the floor several times during the playing time because of the technical details, but it´s also the kind of album that makes me wanna bang my head like a madman and mosh like a lunatic. This is how I like my technical death metal and a 4 star rating is deserved. "In Crisis" is a prime example that technical playing don´t have to ruin flow, power or brutality.
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J-Man wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Looks like I'm in a minority here :-) Good review as always!
more than 2 years ago
I like the album a lot, too!!!!

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