Defeater – Defeater LP (Epitaph Records)

After eleven years and four albums, Defeater treated us with a brand new self-titled album. They kept us waiting for four long years since their Abandoned LP, but with a more than a good reason. After the constant touring and some problems inside the band, Defeater went on an indefinite touring hiatus, so after a couple of months of charging batteries and collecting ideas, band members started to share ideas for a new album remotely. Since some of them are located in Europe, the band gathered every few months to work on those ideas and eventually they’ve desired to record those ideas and create another comprehensive collection of emotionally packed tunes. Even after a few snippets of a brand new album, it’s more than clear while Defeater let us waiting for such a long time period. They have matured as musicians and artists even more and this self-titled material sounds like a novel comprised of some fine stories and poetry, mainly because of Derek Archambault’s almost novelistic writing abilities. They have matured as people as well, Defeater sounds even darker, serious, depressive, but realistic according to the life struggles we are all facing every single day. Musicwise, Defeater is moving forward through with their well known melancholic melodies which are conflicting with progressions shredded by the second guitar. With some warm tones, but also super chunky at the same time, basslines are brilliantly filling dualistic guitar works while the impressive drumming is giving that infamous chaotic and depressive Defeater atmosphere which we all love and admire. The song structures are amazing, and as I said before, their brand new songs are like fine poetry accompanied by some eerie atmospheres which are bringing different moods depending on the theme. The album is also accompanied by the great grungy photo of hands holding a pack of playing cards, possibly depicting the life as a neverending game of various circumstances. Brand new Defeater album has been published by Epitaph Records and it’s available in some attractive eye-catching bundles, as a standard black vinyl or as a digital download.