Abandoned
Defeater
Epitaph
Release Date: Out Now
Review by Kevin Prested
Although seemingly always lumped in with the traditional hardcore crowd, Defeater have always had more on offer than the usual tired preaching youth crew anthems, with concept albums, progressive elements and incredible musicianship. On the bands fourth album Abandoned they continue down this route with a slow burn intro leading into some explosive and dynamic arrangements.
With the move to Epitaph from Bridge 9 it will be interesting to see if Defeater make waves outside the often insular hardcore fan base, as they certainly deserve to be much lauded for some truly incredible instrumental sparring. This album continues in the dramatic long form storytelling vein that the bands past records have done, with sincere moments that draws influence from the creative ‘90s hardcore underground. Another tightly produced solid release from Defeater with the only downside being that vocalist Derek Archambault doesn’t dabble more with his clean sung style vocals of his second band Alcoa, which in this reviewers opinion would add some nice dynamics to an already talented band.