After carving out three albums in almost as many years, even the band’s most disciplined disciples can be forgiven for believing that Defiled had reached the highest level of old school death metal. But on their new album, the Japanese samurai wield deadly lessons that only a true legend can master.
“‘Horror Beyond Horror’ again finds Defiled stuck on the upswing”, Decibel wrote in their 8/10 review.
In customary fashion, this fall, Defiled have been ushering in Horror Beyond Horror with a lengthy tour of Japan. This Friday, the band will bang heads with their fans in Bangkok alongside Batushka and Malevolent Creation.
“Malevolent Creation are death metal pioneers”, says Yusuke Sumita, who’s been Defiled’s guitarist since the band started in 1992. “In the late ’80s and early ’90s, they gave us an idea for how to smoothly transition from thrash metal to death metal. We’re excited to meet our maker soon”.
Following two added dates in Cambodia and Vietnam, Defiled will return home to Tokyo for a second round with Malevolent Creation before capping off another gloriously hellish year in their 30-year history alongside Hellchild and Satanic Hell Slaughter.
“As a Japanese death metal band, we wanted to reflect on where our scene started”, Sumita says. “Hellchild and Satanic Hell Slaughter are legends who built the Japanese death metal scene in the early ’90s. We are honored to have them return to share the stage with us. We want the young Japanese metalheads to come to this show. Don’t miss it”.
Horror Beyond Horror Asia Tour 2024
November 29 – Bangkok, Thailand @ Mr. Fox Livehouse w/ Batushka + Malevolent Creation
November 30 – Phnom Penh, Cambodia @ Cloud Bar
December 1 – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam @ Saigonkick Bar
December 6 – Tokyo, Japan @ Garrett w/ Malevolent Creation
December 8 – Tokyo, Japan @ Earthdom w/ Hellchild + Satanic Hell Slaughter
Horror Beyond Horror will ring in metalheads’ ears deep into the new year. Defiled will kick off 2025 with a rip-roaring date with their fans in Machida. Then come March, the band will host Left to Die for back-to-back sick and screaming tributes to Death’s first two classic albums.
“Of course we are inspired by the masterpiece ‘Leprosy'” says Sumita. “Rick Rozz taught us ‘evil dive bomb arming’ through this album. Because of Rick, both guitarists in Defiled worship Kahlers. We’re very honored to support Left to Die’s show in Tokyo”.
Horror Beyond Horror Japan Tour 2025
January, 26 – Machida, Japan @ Classixx
March 13 – Tokyo, Japan @ Space Odd w/ Left to Die + The Convalescence
March 14 – Tokyo, Japan @ Space Odd w/ Left to Die + The Convalescence
Horror Beyond Horror is out now on Season of Mist. Order & Stream at https://orcd.co/defiledhorrorbeyondhorror
Listen to Horror Beyond Horror:
Tracklist1. Smoke and Mirrors (2:35) [WATCH]
2. Horror Beyond Horror (4:01) [WATCH]
3. Syndicate (3:59)
4. The Alchemy (2:47)
5. Demagogue (2:13)
6. The Terminal Phase (2:18)
7. Trojan Horse (2:35)
8. Spectrum of Fear (2:30)
9. The Crook and Flail (3:08)
10. Replicator Dynamics (2:42)
11. Equinox (3:04)
12. The Chains (3:16)
13. Psychopomp (3:14)
14. To See Behind The Wall (2:45) [WATCH]
After they first took to the stage in 1995, Defiled needed nearly a decade before finally erupting with wrath on their debut album. But ever since the band’s lineup solidified around original member Yusuke Sumita, they haven’t stopped to look back and admire all the ugliness they’ve revealed. Horror Beyond Horror comes hot on the heels of the album they released just last year, which Metal Injection listed as one of the can’t-miss releases of 2023.
Like a poisonous dart, Defiled come shooting out of the shadows on Horror Beyond Horror. Blast beats pummel at unforeseen angles amidst “Smoke and Mirrors”. “Every lie has been revealed”, fearless frontman Shinichiro Hamada shouts, taking aim at perpetual frauds and tyrannical technocrats. The band charges into the pit behind bassist Takachika Nakajima’s greasy groove, which is snapping plenty of necks on their current Japanese tour.
“We wanted this album to be natural and realistic”, Sumita told New Noise. “We did not use any editing or artificial techniques in the recording process”.
With 30 years and eight albums under their belt, Defiled know where to stick the blade on Horror Beyond Horror. The album’s title track shreds through the corrupted torment of mind control with riffs that are honed from the jagged influence of ’80s thrash and hardcore. “The time has come”, the band spit at their captors with utter disgust. “Death strikes you with derision”.
Defiled aren’t afraid to crack open people’s skulls, either. Horror Beyond Horror descends deeper and deeper into the psychological shadows the further you go down the track list. “Syndicate” conspires around a greasy, pit-dwelling breakdown but drummer Keisuke Hamada never stops chopping up the tempo. “The path to your elimination”, Shinichiro Hamada cries, digging in amidst a flurry of blast beats during the album’s final boss “To See Behind the Wall”. Whether they’re slicing, dicing or leaping into a furiously fast solo, the band’s riffs take no prisoners.
“We still love death metal and are very proud to be recognized as a death metal band”, Sumita tells Antichrist Magazine. “At the same time, it’s clear from our songs that we do not follow trends. Who would be interested in a Japanese bands that follows Western trends? We have our own perspective, and we have been going our own way for many years now, and we are convinced that we are on the right path”.
On Horror Beyond Horror, Defiled unleash the kind of old-school ass-kicking that only true masters can deliver.
More praise for Horror Beyond Horror
“The one-two punch of tight musicianship and an inclination to pummel into submission without the need for flashy antics makes for a dazzling experience” – Ghost Cult
“It’s phenomenal what they’ve done and can do in the realm of death metal” – Distorted Sound
“Encapsulates both the oldschool familiarity and the modern aesthetics of death metal” – Metal Trenches
“By the time you’ve become deep within the album, you’ll be wondering just what else they can possibly jut up when they’ve already hit you ten or eleven times already with completely unique songwriting” – Razors Edge
From the depths of Tokyo’s darkest alleys, Defiled have emerged once again, claws sharpened, eyes bloodshot, ready to unleash a fresh dose of unadulterated savagery with their latest full-length studio album, Horror Beyond Horror. Marrying the grotesque with technical prowess, these samurais of sickness are poised to carve another notch into the archives of death metal’s sordid history.
Since crawling from the primordial soup of the underground scene in the early ’90s, Defiled have forged a path littered with broken souls. Their journey of destruction first sank its teeth into the international jugular with Erupted Wrath, mixed by the masterful Jim Morris in Tampa, Florida. This brutal assault opened gates to a global bloodletting, from leveling stages in South Korea to crushing skulls at the Milwaukee Metalfest, and not even the November to Dismember fest could foresee the carnage they’d bring.
Commandeering the technical tightrope between anarchy and precision, Defiled evolved, much like an aberrant spawn isolated on the Galapagos, grotesque yet ultimately superior. Their subsequent onslaughts — Ugliness Revealed, Divination, and the sheer violence of In Crisis — built a monument to atrocity that ascends to new heights with Horror Beyond Horror.
Taking no prisoners in their three-decades-long campaign of terror, Defiled have become the indestructible behemoth of Asia’s death metal scene, powered by the relentless engine of their oldschool roots and the twisted wreckage of technical thrash and progressive rock innovation.
But enough with the history lesson, you came here for the carnage, didn’t you? Horror Beyond Horror is a 14-track massacre, riddled with riffs sharp enough to slit your throat and a rhythmic onslaught that’ll pulverize your pathetic bones. Each track, from the visceral “Smoke and Mirrors” to the haunting “To See Behind the Wall”, is a calculated strike, precision-engineered to leave no survivors. Let’s not forget the eponymous “Horror Beyond Horror”, a track that cements Defiled’s legacy as harbingers of the apocalypse.
With a sound as raw as exposed nerve endings and as unrefined as a mass grave, Defiled stands defiantly apart from the polished poseurs and shameless sellouts. They don’t peddle in cheap gimmickry or nostalgia; they deal in the currency of pure, unfiltered destruction. As they look out upon the charred landscape of the genre they’ve helped to define, Defiled is not content to rest on their laurels. Horror Beyond Horror sees them, once again, ascending to the blood-soaked throne of death metal sovereignty.
Line-up
Shinichiro Hamada – Vocals, Guitar
Yusuke Sumita – Guitar
Takachika Nakajima – Bass
Keisuke Hamada – Drums
Recording Studio
Studio Zot, Tokyo, Japan
Production Credits
Sound Engineers – Shinichiro Hamada & Keisuke Hamada
Produced by Yusuke Sumita
Mixed & Mastered by Kenji Kikuchi at Studio Nest, Chiba, Japan
Biography
Defiled, with edits by Sébastien Gamez
Follow Defiled
Website : http://www.defiled.info/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/defiled
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/defiledjapan
Bandcamp : https://defiledjapan.bandcamp.com
Soundcloud : https://soundcloud.com/defiled
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@defiled
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6KDc0SB4ero6zAgrafjVrt
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/defiled/72867298
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/music/player/artists/B001GJ407S/defiled
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