If you saw a picture of The Defiled and your first thought wasn’t ‘they’re probably shit’ then you’re either lying, very un-judgemental, or you’re a fan of Black Veil (holding back the urge to spew) Brides. Whichever way, the lesson learnt here is not to judge a book by its cover, and never has there been a better example of such saying than what you see right here.
With a sound combining Nine Inch Nails, Fear Factory, Rammstein and Bring Me The Horizon, mixed with bags of creativity, crushing heaviness and a musical maturity that’s rarely found this early in a bands career, The Defiled don’t hang about in kicking you firmly in the bollocks. All of this is then weaved into a tapestry boasting everything from massive hooks to guttural vocals, from alluring synths to predictable beatdowns and from balls out pace to the dark, slightly southern inspired ballad, Final Sleep. Admittedly the album doesn’t quite hit a high level of consistency throughout, the beatdowns come a little too often for my liking and none of the hooks are in the same league as the anthemic Call to Arms – an early shout to make the song of the year list – but, when the Defiled are at their best – most notably on The Resurrectionists, The Ill Disposed and obviously Call of Arms – they have the potential to bring something wall poundingly special.
As modern day debuts go though, this is a shimmering display from a band with a massive future. For people in the early stages of finding metal, this could easily be an entry point to so many other bands, you could logically go from The Defiled to the likes Lamb of God and DevilDriver, and equally head down the route of Bring Me The Horizon and Parkway Drive. It’s fairly easy to say that no matter how broad, or narrow, your spectrum of the metal genre spans, the likelihood is, you’ll find something in Grave Times that will be easy to attach to. To sum up, whilst this album has its faults, it does bring a much needed freshness to an unrelenting swarm of new, largely generic bands. This might not be the best that The Defiled are capable of, but it’s certainly good, give these guys a few years and they could easily become flag carriers for the younger generation.
For Fans of: Fear Factory, Bring Me The Horizon, Nine Inch Nails and Rob Zombie
Album Highlights: Call to Arms, The Resurrectionist and The Ill Disposed
