UMUR
"Horror Beyond Horror" is the eighth full-length studio album by Japanese death metal act Defiled. The album was released through Season of Mist in September 2024. It´s the successor to "The Highest Level" from April 2023 and the two albums feature the same quartet lineup. After longer gaps between album releases in the past, Defiled have picked up the pace in the last couple of years and are now releasing albums within shorter intervals.
Defiled have evolved and experimented some over the years, but their unconventional technical death metal approcah is still present and accounted for. They have the same old school death metal approach to playing brutal technical death metal as an artist like Suffocation. Which also means that it´s the thrash oriented old school version of death metal that Defiled perform. I´d actually mention Ripping Corpse/Dim Mak as great influences too, because of the extremely aggressive and articulated growling vocal style of lead vocalist/guitarist Shinichiro Hamada. But as always Defiled are completely their own with abrupt tempo changes, unconventional rhythm patterns, and shifts in riff styles, which may on surface sound like business as usual to some, but if you listen a bit closer Defiled certainly aren´t your everyday death metal act. Defiled have always challenged the conventions of the genre, and they continue to do so on "Horror Beyond Horror".
"Horror Beyond Horror" features an organic, brutal, raw, and detailed sound production, which suits the material well. Upon conclusion "Horror Beyond Horror" is a natural successor to "The Highest Level", but to my ears Defiled have made better production choices this time around, and therefore "Horror Beyond Horror" is a step up in quality from the last release (which itself wasn´t a bad release at all). Defiled just seem to thrive better when they apply more organic sounding productions to their music, like they do here. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.