The Defiled
Daggers

4.0
excellent

Review

by DatsNotDaMetulz USER (62 Reviews)
July 29th, 2013 | 20 replies

Release Date: 2013 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Middle Finger Metal for the masses

The Defiled are a known quantity if you have any interest in modern British metal music. Their delicate blend of industrial metal, metalcore and groove metal earned them many plaudits among the British music press (being hailed as one of the champions of British metal by both Kerrang! and Metal Hammer) and since their inception in 2005, they’ve grown to become one of the biggest bands in the UK underground scene with relentless touring and 2 acclaimed released (2009’s “1888 EP” and 2011’s “Grave Times”), despite being unsigned. Early in 2013, though, after a fan funded recording session for their sophomore effort the group found themselves joining the swelling ranks of Nuclear Blast and now find themselves a platform to grow on an international level. With “Daggers” being the first chance to show the world what they’re made of, The Defiled do not disappoint.

The metalcore and groove influences are slightly less apparent on this album than on their debut album, with the most obvious –core tracks being the singles (and opening tracks), “Sleeper” and “Unspoken”, and “As I Drown”. After this, however, we see the group taking more standard industrial influences while attempting to carve out their own sound which has built on their previous releases. This attempt is somewhat successful, as the album is packed with tight musicianship and big choruses (see “Unspoken”, “Fragments of Hope” and “The Infected” for examples), although there are times when the group somewhat wears its influences on its sleeve (“Porcelain” could easily be seen as a Marilyn Manson track if Manson were still any good). The guitars tend to carry on with their general industrial strength chugging on this album but this is hardly a problem as the electronics sitting in the background tend to provide much needed depth to the songs and make sure there is always something going on in the music. The AvD’s contributions do sometimes end up coming to the fore and carry the song along though, with “Porcelain” and slow burner “Five Minutes” letting the electronic elements have some air to breathe and show what they bring to the table.

The problems with this album are few but still noticeable. The drumming from new guy Needles doesn’t exactly bring anything to the band (even though it’s a nice (and very much welcome) change to have a live drummer on the recordings as opposed to the programming used on “Grave Times”) while Stitch D’s clean vocals can feel a little bit flat at times (see “New Approach”), and there isn’t really that much variety to the music overall. However, the music is still very enjoyable and Jason Suecof’s production job really brings each member’s contributions enough clarity to make sure they’re noticed without jumbling up the sound.

Overall this album is a nice progression from a promising debut and is sure to help the quintet win new fans oversees as they set off touring outside the UK for the first time. Sure there’s nothing really new here but it’s a good modern industrial album which you don’t see as much of these days - it will appeal to younger fans while keeping the majority of older metal fans happy. It’ll be interesting to see where they go from here now they have a big label’s backing behind them.

Album picks:
Unspoken
Saints and Sinners
Fragments of Hope
The Infected

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