:: Defeater - Travels

Defeater

Unless you happened to either be a fan of Topshelf Records’ roster, or stumble across it by accident, there’s a pretty good chance that the 2008 debut release from Sluts passed by you completely unnoticed. But while their debut may have, there’s absolutely no excuse not to track down the band’s sophomore effort ‘Travels’, which is the first to be released under their new name Defeater. And the reason why? Well in simple terms, ‘Travels’ is quite honestly one of the strongest hardcore releases I’ve heard in a long time. Rather than just simply following the pack, this Boston based five-piece act instead have incorporated a progressive edge to their hardcore sound, and linked it up with a conceptual theme in the lyrical sense, giving ‘Travels’ a sound and feel that stands out from the stock standard hardcore fare. Clocking in at just under the thirty-three minute mark, Defeater waste no time running through the album’s eleven tracks, with the opener ‘Blessed Burden’, ‘Nameless Streets’, ‘Forgiver Forgetter’ and ‘Carrying Weight’ just some of the more aggression driven numbers that they belt through in an efficient manner. But that’s not to say that the tracks are limited in their constructive form. On the contrary, the riff structures are well thought out and varied, while the rhythm section from behind the scenes more than compliments the harsh guitar attacks with a sound that reveals quite a lot of variation to give the song that more depth than what initially meets the ear. And then there’s the unexpected moments on the album that really shakes up ‘Travels’, such as the acoustic interlude on the percussive driven ‘Prophet In Plain Clothes’, and the overall brooding feel of the slower and epic like six minute closer ‘Cowardice’. ‘Travels’ is not an album that will immediately hit you with its brilliance, but with repeated listens, it does eventually make sense. There’s certainly no shortage of hardcore releases to sift through at the moment, but if you’re after an insiders tip, then I strongly recommend checking out Defeater’s debut effort.