Defiled Horror Beyond Horror

Defiled have been a Japanese metal staple for decades now. The country’s legacy with heavy music is always interesting to dig into and between bands like Sand, Gotsu Totsu Kotsu (兀突骨), Kruelty, Babymetal, and Defiled, it’s as diverse as any country from the West that you could name. There’s just something about their scene that produces unique artists and when they go international, which partnering up with a label like Season of Mist is bound to enable, that’s when their mettle is truly tested.

Horror Beyond Horror is by most accounts not a phenomenal record, but one with enough idiosyncrasies that it’s worth not only a discussion, but a serious listen for death metal fans. There’s just some cool shit on here that works well flanked by some stuff that’s only a couple steps outside of middling. It all adds up to something I wish committed more to the arcane and weirder tendencies they show in spots and nearly overstays its welcome, but nonetheless is a good time.

“Syndicate” is a fierce competitor for some of the best drumming on the album, but really the drums across this whole thing are kind of Horror Beyond Horror’s MVP thanks to awesome fills, skipping and intricate rhythms that are fun to run back, and how they play with mid tempos often so you can really hear what’s going on. They’re so goddamn punchy regardless of speed too. Can’t be fast all the time, right? In fact, that benefits them across all of the instrumentation. 

“The Crook and Flail” and “The Chains” has some winding Carcassisms that sound and feel nice, groovy, and well-placed. If you told me Bill Steer guested on some of these tracks, I’d believe it - even the guitar tones sound a little similar as the frets are given a good workout. This is the kind of stuff that sets them apart from their peers in Japan and elsewhere: ensuring a varied pacing across the album, not pounding the gas pedal too much, and recognizing when a song benefits from more deliberate sections. Let the overwhelming speed and intensity feel like a treat, you know? Check “Demagogue” or “Trojan Horse” if you want more of that though.

“To See Behind The Wall” also earns a special mention for its wild rhythms, subtly Meshuggah-esque in execution and off-kilter delivery, but only for a moment. It’s a bold closer that hammers home the point and has the coolest solo, on bass even, toward its end too. Horror Beyond Horror flirts with progressive tendencies here and there, Defiled likely not wanting to paint themselves into a corner as just another death metal band - it works well enough!

Some people won’t like how the album is mixed, favoring the vocals over the instrumentation. It didn’t bother me that much as I find the vocals to be unique and uncharacteristically audible, and any time the instrumentation is particularly good is usually when the vocals have dipped out for the moment anyway. Lyrics aren’t anything to write home about, but certainly fit the wicked darkness the band evoke with their music with references to mass exploitation, corruption, and deception all bringing death and destruction. Metal Mad Libs if you will, but I ain’t mad at it. The production itself retains some old school edge and grime, a tribute to their own legacy as much as it is to the progenitors on which they hope to expand, and they succeed for the most part.

Bottom Line: Defiled escape average territory and keep things fresher than you may expect on Horror Beyond Horror. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but when so many veteran and legacy death metal bands are content resting on their laurels lately, that’s what enables albums like this to steal the spotlight if only for the moment. A solid release for sure!