Defiance
Product Of Society

This American thrash metal quintet debuted in 1989 with this album, produced by Jeff Waters, guitarist and mastermind of Annihilator (who debuted that very year with "Alice In Hell").

The Thrash they offer is typical of the Bay Area of San Francisco, thus influenced by Exodus and Testament. However, the sound is less compressed than the aforementioned bands: still grated guitars but a bit cleaner. The singer Ken Elkington has a typically American voice tone which I don't dislike, not on the level of Baloff (R.i.p) or Sousa, but still better than Sean Killian of Vio-Lence. However, towards the end of the album, the voice gets a bit tiring. On the guitar axes, we find Jim Adams and Doug Harrington, who are skilled both in rhythm and solos, while the bassist Mike Kaufmann is a bit behind the scenes, contrary to the drummer Matt Van Der Ende who is precise, fast (certainly not like Hoglan on "Darkness Descends," for example) and consistently uses the double bass drum.

Ten tracks, with two instrumentals: "The Aftermath," characterized by a medieval-flavored guitar arpeggio, and "Tribulation," which summarizes the Speed sonorities of the album. Indeed, no title was more fitting since I played it for my wife, a precarious worker, and she confirmed that it is the perfect soundtrack for her precarious adventures. The other tracks are very similar to each other, with the double bass continuously active, melodic solos not as frenetic as those of Hanneman-King, and some intros that are somewhat atmospheric like that of "Forgotten" (which reminds me of "Open The Grave" by Heathen from "Breaking The Silence," I think) and "Insomnia." I prefer the two initial tracks: "The Fault" and "Death Machine," they strike me more than the others. However, what doesn't elevate the album to the level of other Bay Area releases is the songwriting. In this album, we don't find a killer track like "Angel of Death" or "Master Of Puppets," but a series of very similar and well-played songs, which thus flow well but don't evoke cries of a masterpiece.

I really like these Defiance guys, I've visited their website and you can freely download their three albums as well as demo songs from other bands formed by the group members after the split (which happened in 1993, I think). To conclude, a curiosity: in the two albums following this one, Steev Esquivel, future founder of Skinlab, will sing, who doesn't particularly impress me as a vocalist. This is my first review, I hope it’s at least decent.