UMUR "The Highest Level" is the seventh full-length studio album by Japanese, Tokyo based death metal act Defiled. The album was released through Season of Mist in April 2023. It´s the successor to "Infinite Regress" from January 2020 and it features the exact same quartet lineup who recorded the predeceding album. Defiled are by now one of the most prolific and dare I say legendary death metal acts from Japan, and they´ve pushed the boundaries of the genre more than once.

Stylistically the material on "The Highest Level" is technical and quite brutal death metal. Suffocation is not the worst reference, but Defiled have always had...and still have their own take on the genre. They play an interesting combination of almost hardcore punked and simple death metal and quite brutal and technical death metal, occasionally spiced up with some Voivod influenced dissonance. One of their greatest strengths is the pairing of the savage, raw, and primitive, and the more sophisticated and complex technical parts of the compositions. I struggle to remember any other death metal artists who sound like Defiled...and then again "The Highest Level" is actually their most "regular" sounding release yet, and I was initially a little disappointed that they sounded this normal. But when you dig a little deeper, "The Highest Level" still features quite a few unconventional and challenging moments, so Defiled haven´t completely forgotten what makes them stand out.

After releasing a few albums which have featured what I would deem near experimental sound production values, Defiled have now opted for a more (again) normal/standard for the genre type sound production. To some ears that´s probably a relief and an opportunity to give Defiled a chance again, if your ears weren´t able to appreciate the production oddness of the last couple of releases, but to my ears it´s a bit of a shame, as all the weirdness in regards to both the actual music, the performances, and the odd sounding production jobs of the last couple of albums, were the elements which made Defiled stand out on the death metal scene. So while "The Highest Level" is arguably another high quality death metal release from Defiled, it´s unfortunately their least interesting release in years...please bring back the weirdness. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.