Review by Krys on February 21, 2002.

First of all The Defaced, according to Mattias (guitar) is not just another side project and even though 3 out of 5 members come from Darkane (Jorgen and Klas) and Soilwork (Henry) all of them approach this band very seriously and it shows.

For those of you who are hoping for a mix of the two aforementioned bands, I don’t have good news. The Defaced is not just another Swedish melodic death metal outfit but rather an imaginative, innovative group of people playing a new version of thrash with influences from early Machine Head and the alternative Seattle scene.

As expected from a thrashy band, fast and dynamic guitars are the core of their music and create a very energetic and grooving background for the mostly clear but muscular vocals of Henke. A very tight rhythm section that goes hand in hand with each stroke of the guitars manufactures a heavy feel to what are often quite melodic tunes, keeping them from crossing that much fan-hated ‘commercial’ line.

Due to almost limitless musicianship, most of the tracks have a wide variety of tempos, riffs and vocal styles to keep “Domination Commence” interesting from start to end. While songs like ‘Stoner’ or ‘Fanatic Minds’ will hit you full-force, the more toned-down and laid back ‘Sown by Greed’ and ‘Prozak Nation’ provide a nice variance and much missed element of surprise in many of today’s releases.

Bottom Line: Very impressive debut and well worth the purchase for fans of aggressive and dynamic music.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 9
Originality: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.2 out of 10