Defiled – ALTERED STATE Compact Disc Digi

While an active member of its golden era, Defiled are neither relics nor custodians for old-school death metal. Like the Japanese salamander, the Tokyo legends have evolved in isolation away from scenes or trends. The band’s ninth album continues their mastery of the form, but Altered State bears only a passing resemblance to the genre’s past or present. After hearing them pound out three albums in four years, metalheads would be forgiven for assuming Defiled had reached the highest level, that there were no horrors left for them to reveal. Altered State quickly quiets any leftover suspicions. Lead single “Portal” opens with a reminder that the band can sharpen even traditional riffs before breaking into a series of tempo shifts that unlock another plane of existence. Though still influenced by sounds that came out of the underground during the ’80s and ’90s, the album delves even deeper into their psychic perception of our warped reality. Occultists gather around the shapeshifting groove that seizes hold over “Obsession”. Altered State isn’t afraid to wind through the darkest and most mysterious corners of our collective consciousness. But listen closely to Defiled and all secrets will be revealed. “Receive the power”, the band command on the album’s title track with a chaos that only they can control. On Altered State, Defiled unleash a dizzying blast of death metal straight from the future.