When it comes to Japanese death metal, there is no shrewder sensei than Defiled. Since they started their training in the world’s most vulgar of art forms back in the early 90s, the band have toured everywhere from their native Tokyo to Milwaukee Metal Fest with the likes of Mayhem, Incantation, Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse.
Now, after 30 years of destroying the opposition at the highest level, these self-proclaimed samurai of death metal are back with their eighth studio album. “Horror Beyond Horror” is the kind of good ol’ fashioned ass-kicking that only a true master can deliver.
Watch the video for the new track “To See Beyond the Wall” below.
After they first took to the stage in 1995, Defiled needed nearly a decade before finally erupting with wrath on their debut album. But ever since the band’s lineup solidified around original member Yusuke Sumita, they haven’t stopped to look back and admire their war path. “Horror Beyond Horror” comes hot on the heels of the album they released just last year, which Metal Injection listed as one of the can’t-miss releases of 2023.
Anyone who took “The Highest Level” at face value will be pleasantly surprised to hear that Defiled have only added another grimy coat of blood to their blade. “To See Behind the Wall” is the final boss on “Horror Beyond Horror”, but the album’s first single wastes no time charging into the fray behind a barrage of old-school death metal. Whether they’re slicing, dicing or leaping into a furiously fast solo, the riffs take no prisoners.
“The path to your elimination”, Shinichiro Hamada cries, digging in amidst a flurry of blast beats, before unleashing an ungodly war cry.
“What is behind the wall?”, Defiled ask on their new single. “The truth that has been hidden? Our sanity as human beings? Are we, who are inside the wall, now in a world of deceit and madness?”…
“Horror Beyond Horror” comes out on September 20th, 2024, via Season of Mist.
Available Formats:
• Digital Download
• CD Digipack
• 12″ Coloured Vinyl Gatefold – Crystal Clear & Transparent Gree
Pre-order & pre-save “Horror Beyond Horror” here.
Tracklist:
1. Smoke and Mirrors (2:35)
2. Horror Beyond Horror (4:01)
3. Syndicate (3:59)
4. The Alchemy (2:47)
5. Demagogue (2:13)
6. The Terminal Phase (2:18)
7. Trojan Horse (2:35)
8. Spectrum of Fear (2:30)
9. The Crook and Flail (3:08)
10. Replicator Dynamics (2:42)
11. Equinox (3:04)
12. The Chains (3:16)
13. Psychopomp (3:14)
14. To See Behind The Wall (2:45)
From the depths of Tokyo’s darkest alleys, Defiled have emerged once again, claws sharpened, eyes bloodshot, ready to unleash a fresh dose of unadulterated savagery with their latest full-length studio album, “Horror Beyond Horror”. Marrying the grotesque with technical prowess, these samurais of sickness are poised to carve another notch into the archives of death metal’s sordid history.
Since crawling from the primordial soup of the underground scene in the early 90s, Defiled have forged a path littered with broken souls. Their journey of destruction first sank its teeth into the international jugular with Erupted Wrath, mixed by the masterful Jim Morris in Tampa, Florida. This brutal assault opened gates to a global bloodletting, from leveling stages in South Korea to crushing skulls at the Milwaukee Metalfest, and not even the November to Dismember fest could foresee the carnage they’d bring.
Commandeering the technical tightrope between anarchy and precision, Defiled evolved, much like an aberrant spawn isolated on the Galapagos, grotesque yet ultimately superior. Their subsequent onslaughts — Ugliness Revealed, Divination, and the sheer violence of In Crisis — built a monument to atrocity that ascends to new heights with “Horror Beyond Horror”.
Taking no prisoners in their three-decades-long campaign of terror, Defiled have become the indestructible behemoth of Asia’s death metal scene, powered by the relentless engine of their old school roots and the twisted wreckage of technical thrash and progressive rock innovation.
But enough with the history lesson, you came here for the carnage, didn’t you? “Horror Beyond Horror” is a 14-track massacre, riddled with riffs sharp enough to slit your throat and a rhythmic onslaught that’ll pulverize your pathetic bones. Each track, from the visceral “Smoke and Mirrors” to the haunting “To See Behind the Wall”, is a calculated strike, precision-engineered to leave no survivors. Let’s not forget the eponymous “Horror Beyond Horror”, a track that cements Defiled’s legacy as harbingers of the apocalypse.
With a sound as raw as exposed nerve endings and as unrefined as a mass grave, Defiled stands defiantly apart from the polished poseurs and shameless sellouts. They don’t peddle in cheap gimmickry or nostalgia; they deal in the currency of pure, unfiltered destruction. As they look out upon the charred landscape of the genre they’ve helped to define, Defiled is not content to rest on their laurels. “Horror Beyond Horror” sees them, once again, ascending to the blood-soaked throne of death metal sovereignty.
Line-up:
Shinichiro Hamada – Vocals, Guitar
Yusuke Sumita – Guitar
Takachika Nakajima – Bass
Keisuke Hamada – Drums
Recording Studio:
Studio Zot, Tokyo, Japan
Production Credits:
Sound Engineers – Shinichiro Hamada & Keisuke Hamada
Produced by Yusuke Sumita
Mixed & Mastered by Kenji Kikuchi at Studio Nest, Chiba, Japan
Biography:
Defiled, with edits by Sébastien Gamez
Cover Art:
Wes Benscoter
Photographer:
Shigenori Ishikawa
Weblinks:
www.defiled.info
www.facebook.com/defiled
