Finally I catch up with the renowned and long-standing Japanese death metal band Defiled. The subject of updates on the excellent uniteasia.org heavy metal webzine, they achieved a form of notoriety in 2019 when Christian authorities in Malaysia forced the cancellation of shows – strange, as Malaysia is a Muslim country. “Horror Beyond Horror” is the eighth album from this band which has been going for more 30 years.

Comprising 14 blasts, “Horror Beyond Horror” is what you might expect: frantic drumming, dirty guitar work, raw death metal and all-round carnage. “Smoke and Mirrors” tears us apart and appropriately leaves its trail of smoke before the title song sets off like a train. The sound has an underground live feel. I like this. I can picture myself in a darkened concert hall with hair flailing and everyone completely into the primitive vibe of this harsh and uncompromising assault. It is a sophisticated assault in fact as “Horror Beyond Horror” takes different technical twists and turns in its vivid representation of different dimensions and horror beyond horror.

Defiled are adept at launching a frenzied attack, slowing it down a bit and relaunching the assault with any loss of venom or energy. The vocalist has plenty to growl at us of course in accompaniment to the frenzied hammering and chaos-mongering going on around him. Moments of cascading melody intersperse with straight line attacks. “The Crook and Flail” threatens to burst into heightened drama, and it’s a pity that it didn’t but largely this is a case of battening down the hatches and absorbing one multi-directional assault after another. “Turmoil”, growls the vocalist on “Replicator Dynamics”. There’s plenty of that and more, as track after track Defiled brutalise us relentlessly with their direct dirty harshness. “To See Behind the Wall” takes us to the world of blackened forces and never-ending bloody strife with a riot of music and technical knifings to the heart to match the theme of the song.

No punches are pulled as we would expect. “Horror Beyond Horror” is death metal in its most energetic and venomous form.

(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://www.facebook.com/defiled

https://defiledjapan.bandcamp.com/album/horror-beyond-horror