Review: DEF CON ONE “II” 2014

Review By Larry Paterson

Artist: DEF CON ONE
Album: “II”
Label: Scarlet Records
Release Date: 19 February 2014

Tracklist:

1. H8 Ball
2. Broke
3. Soul Possessed
4. Scarred For Life
5. Debt To Society
6. Skinhead Shaped Dent
7. Need A Reason
8. Die Again
9. Damned Disgrace
10. Drag Me To Hell

I like DEF CON ONE. After hearing “Warface”, hearing and reviewing “Brute Force and Ignorance” and seeing the band live several times I was pretty confident that I was going to like this new full length album too. But, then again, I’ve been wrong before as a fan of bands who were once on a winning streak before heading in a direction that left me behind. Fortunately, this is not the case with the Newcastle crunchers. The aptly named “II” (yes, it’s their second album) opens with ‘H8 Ball’ playing to DEF CON ONE’s strengths right from the word go. With a riff from Johnny Hunter that plays across the ‘alternating accent’ drum line laid down by Antton Lant, it heads straight into the kind of über heavy groove metal that DEF CON ONE have made their own. Davey Meikle’s vocals shine as always and Steve Miller’s bass line nails the whole thing together into one mighty wall of punchy metal.
Suffice to say, the entire album is rock solid with a stylistic thread running through all of it that never crosses the line into repetition but keeps each song tanking along at the right pace and feel. Third track – and the one that the band released as a sampler for the album – is ‘Soul Possessed’ which opens with some tasty clean guitar and vocals before crashing back into full-on driving Defcon-ness. It’s got a particularly interesting structure and Davey’s voice showcases some more of the diversity that he really started to use to greater effect than ever before on the “Brute Force And Ignorance” EP. Here it leaves an annoyingly catchy chorus line stuck in my head for hours. Job well done. ‘Die Again’ is another track that starts quietly, running for half its length at a perfect atmospheric pace – complete with a hint of keyboard – before Johnny comes in with some inspiringly emotive guitar work. In fact, this track may well be my current stand out favourite (though that’ll probably alternate with another one in about half an hour!)

Simply said, this is a great album that once again shows the way that the band are constantly evolving and pushing themselves forward. There are many bands in the UK currently that are – to my ears at least – receiving plaudits for recycling riffs and ideas that made the 80’s a great decade for metal: DEF CON ONE are not one of these and have carved their own identity and sound. If the metal scene has any justice in it then they should be forging ahead professionally to match their artistic progress. They have excelled themselves with a bloody great album that show the band moving along an ever inclining upward trajectory they began with the excellent “Warface”. I cannot wait to see this new stuff live on stage because, ironically perhaps considering the strength of the band on album, they are a live animal: you may see bands on stage as good as DEF CON ONE, but you won’t see better. Onwards and upwards!

Rating 9/10