Every release from Defeater offers another insight to a tapestry depicted a broken, dysfunctional working class background and the struggles within, a theme becoming more and more common in modern day society and poignant in today’s climate. This release is no different, apart from the fact it further pushes the expectations of fans, proving to be a magnificent product of the band’s collective experiences in life, and musically.
The adrenaline and anger is let loose from the get go as intro Bastards storms straight in with visceral, heartfelt yelps amongst fast-paced punky chords and racing drums making your heart beat faster. Yet it unpredictably plunges into tranquillity and then silence mid-way through, much like the calm before the metaphorical storm. This angst and inner-hatred is continued by No Shame starting broodingly, raising the hairs on the back of your neck as it builds to an ear-shattering climax, whipping the listener into a frenzy of excitement then dropping them weak and breathless to the floor from the last, excruciating note.
Hopeless Again and Rabbit Foot both feel slightly more musically focused and calculated rather than an all-out assault on your ear drums. The former starts with dampened drums which sets your pulse racing then continues to demonstrate bursts of melodic, controlled and harmonious use of plucking and chord progression helping you lull into a sense of euphoria. Rabbit Foot starts chillingly slow with screeching chords adding an eerie element to the slow and winding melody underneath the crashing guitars, like waves in the midst of a tsunami. The use of almost silence in this song is what makes it send out, the slow ticking encapsulates the war within this album, as it is the tension before the final explosion of passion that is so satisfying as you wonder what is to come and how the devastation shall unfold.
Lyrically, Blood in My Eyes and No Faith raise the album to poetic heights as they both tell sorrowful and dehumanizing tales that hit straight home to listeners, providing more than just a display of anger and aggression, instead offering feeling, a back story and a glimmer of hope as you see just how far this band has come.
The album goes out in the most fitting way, as the rollercoaster of adrenaline and woe comes to its conclusion, Bled Out starts like a slow moving funeral dirge with poignant, echoing chords with lyrics reminiscent of Bastards showing a circular narrative. The song plunges from calm and winding to big and atmospheric with all instruments working as one to create one final, aweinspiring climax to knock the listener off their feet. Defeater are well and truly on top form.
The story that Defeater began to craft now spans genres and half a decade of trials and tribulations has finally came to an end, and it will without a doubt catch your ear. This album really does show the talent behind this band; every song is as captivating as the last, each guitar hook more breathtaking, each lyric rawer, each listen drawing you in more and more.
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