Review Summary: Defeater falls just short of a classic album.
This album is a double LP. 10 songs that have their original hardcore sound and 4 acoustic songs. Defeater has 1 LP and 2 EPs prior to this album. Their 1st LP called “Travels” was a groundbreaking album and it’s the album that put them at the top of the hardcore genre. After Defeater released an EP with 2 songs from the new album , everyone became really excited for the new album….even me.
While listening to the lyrics in their songs you can just like picture yourself being in his position. Most of the hardcore songs on the album all have the same formula. The formula is to have aggressive vocals and aggressive guitar chords and aggressive drums and have very creative story telling lyrics and screams that give you chills. Similar to the band More than Life. Defeater does all of these things almost perfectly on every song. They do these things the best on the songs “White Oak Doors” “Empty Glass” and “Waves Crash, Clouds Roll”. In my opinion those are the best hardcore songs on the album.
Now lets talk about the acoustic songs. First off, I think the acoustic songs should have not been on the album. With the way the last and most epic track “White Oak Doors” ended it would have left me wanting more and waiting for their next album. I’m not saying the acoustic tracks are bad, there just not as good as I hoped and I don’t get what the point of them were. They seem so out of place and should instead have been released as an acoustic EP. Not only that but the chords of the acoustic guitars are pretty simple. My favorite acoustic songs are the song “Brothers” and “I Don’t Mind”.
If Defeater did not have the four acoustic songs then I would have no problem giving this album a 5. But instead I will be giving it a 4.5 which isn’t that big of a difference. I can see myself listening to this album over and over again for along time, even with the acoustic songs. I really suggest you go check this album out if you already havent.