Defiled: An Interview with Yusuke Sumita

Active since the beginning of the 1990s, Japanese band Defiled have consistently pushed technical, brutal death metal from the depths of Tokyo’s underground to the world at large. Signed to Season of Mist alongside other metal titans such as Defeated Sanity and Cryptopsy, 2024 saw the release of Defiled’s eighth full-length album, Horror Beyond Horror. With a crushing new LP under their belt and shows all over Asia with heavy hitter lineups of international acts such as Batushka, Malevolent Creation, Satanic Hell Slaughter, Hellchild, and Left to Die, 2025 is already looking to be another strong year for Defiled. I had the privilege to discuss these recent happenings and more with the band’s guitarist and original member, Yusuke Sumita.

Defiled, by Shigenori Ishikawa

Defiled has a long and rich history as a band. Whom would you cite as your early influences? In recent years, have there been new influences on your playing and writing?

Yusuke Sumita: We started the band in the death metal movement. It was in 1992. A lot of bands went from thrash metal to death metal. We were no exception, but we wanted to keep the thrash metal vibe and add something different to our songs, like irregular time signatures and progressive rock-like compositions. There were also strong influences from hardcore punk. To put it simply, the sound is a mix of Slayer, Watchtower (demo era), Rush, Cro-Mags, and Voivod. It was clear that we did not want to do stereotypical death metal with death metal influences. That hasn't changed to this day, but also we didn't want to do "mixture" death metal. 

Having been active for so long, how do you think the Japanese metal scene has changed over the years?

Yusuke: The Japanese underground metal scene has a long history. Local bands come and go like soap bubbles, but killer local bands influence the later generations, so the overall level of the scene has been rising. Also, local metal heads become more discriminating listeners, so they judge bands harder. All of this continues to this day. Just like the US and Europe have their own local scenes, Japan has its own local scene. We are proud to be a part of it.

Are there other Japanese bands you think international audiences should be paying attention to?

Yusuke: There are a lot of killer bands in Japan. I could mention some of them here, but I won't. It wouldn't be fair if I accidentally forgot some bands. You might know a lot more about them than we do.

Your style of death metal is very technical and unique compared to some other bands. Did you always intend to write music that way or did it just happen naturally?

Yusuke: When we started, we had clear musical directions in mind. All the directions were set and everyone in the band shared the musical concepts at the beginning. So the songwriting came naturally.

How would you personally describe Defiled’s sound?

Yusuke: Our sound could be considered a fusion of traditional and unique styles. We know that our music may not be for everyone, but if you listen to it a few times, you'll discover that it contains our musical challenges. Of course, we respect other death metal bands, but we don't try to imitate them. As a result, not a few parts of our music deviate from the typical death metal. Some parts have more elements of thrash metal, hardcore, progressive rock, etc. We don't stick to typical death metal songs. We are much more free to compose what we want. But we are also not a “mixture” band, as I mentioned before.

Defiled's newest album, Horror Beyond Horror, with art by Wes Benscoter

You have a new album out this year, Horror Beyond Horror. What was the writing and recording process like? Do you feel like your approach to writing music has changed over the years?

Yusuke: Basically, the songwriting and recording process is the same as the last two albums, etc. However, we are not trying to make the same album every time. We are trying to expand our musical range and show a variety of approaches within our own style.

Do you have a favorite song on Horror Beyond Horror?

Yusuke: That's a tough question. All the songs on the album are our favorites. "Equinox" and "Spectrum of Fear" will be in our set list in the future, even if they aren't in the current one. As I explained to you, we have a thrash metal vibe from our musical roots and we want to bring that into our live performances.

I’ve noticed some similarities in the cover art style between your albums, do you use the same artist for them? They’re very cool.

Yusuke: That's right. With the exception of our first EP Defeat of Sanity, we have had Wes Benscoter do our artwork since our first full-length, Erupted Wrath. His exhibition was held in Tokyo almost three decades ago, where we met and developed a friendship. Since then, I have asked him to do the artwork for all of our releases. His work is dark but also intelligent. We feel it goes very well with our music and lyrics. I will ask him to do the artwork for our future albums.

You recently had a tour of Asia with a strong lineup of international bands, were there any cities you were especially excited to play?

Yusukue: We were very excited to play with the legendary Malevolent Creation in Bangkok and Tokyo. Both shows were great. It was also very exciting to play in cities like Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the first time since we started. Also, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam was the first time we played there in 16 years and we were touched that old fans still remembered us.

How is it playing alongside other such long established metal bands and artists? Especially ones like Hellchild who also have a long history in Japanese metal.

Yusukue: Yes, we recently played with Hellchild for the first time ever and had over 150 people in a local venue. Oddly enough, it was the first time we played with them in our 30+ year history. Personally, I have been a fan of Hellchild since before Defiled started, but due to the booking politics in the Japanese underground scene, it was too difficult to make it happen. I respected Hellchild for a long time, but we were in different leagues, so we never played together in the local scene, which was very fragmented. Not that we had any personal conflict or feud. As we both got older, we started to respect each other over the years. We also played with Satanic Hell Slaughter from Sapporo and Necrophile from Tokyo on the same day and it was a great honor to play with such legendary bands that were around before we started. It was great to connect the dots in Japanese death metal history and see how the past has led to the present.

How do you feel like the other metal scenes throughout Asia differ from Japan’s?

Yusuke: Every country has its local scene and they are proud to be a part of it. I think the difference between the Japanese scene and other Asian scenes is the length of the scene's history. I had a chance to talk to some local metal heads from other Asian countries. Especially in Southeast Asia, I heard that their scenes primarily started after 2000. In Japan, there has been a scene since the 1980s and it is still going on. No matter how long or short the history is, each local scene has its own cultural influences. It is interesting to see the difference in the sound of what should be a global music, depending on each country.

Are there any bands you’d like to work or tour with in the future?

Yusuke: I don't have a specific band in mind right now, but it should work out if we tour with bands that like what we do. If we can have mutual respect for each other, the tour will be something worthwhile.

What is next for Defiled after the Asia Tour?

Yusuke: We are already working on the next album and it will be finished very soon. We haven't toured Europe since the 2020 European tour with Vader was cancelled because of the pandemic. In 2025 we want to do as many live shows and tours as possible while finishing the next album. We will try to improve next year as well as this year. Stay tuned. Last but not least I would like to thank Will Yarbrough from our home, Season of Mist Records, the guys from Lambgoat for this interview and all the readers here. It is already the end of the year. Happy holidays to you all! Hope to see you on the road in 2025! Cheers!