Defiance
Void Terra Firma

The Defiance, born in the mid-'80s, represent an unusual case within the Bay Area thrash metal scene of San Francisco, between the '80s and '90s; not so much for their sound, indebted to bands like Testament and Exodus, nor for their execution speed or lyrical themes, but for having changed three singers while using only two.

As a paradox, it seems irreconcilable: in the first album, there is singer Ken Elkinton, then in this follow-up, Steev Esquivel arrives and on "Beyond Recognition," Steev Esquivel lands mimicking Chuck Billy (Testament). Steev is a voice magician, being able to discipline it like taming a mongoose to perform a "gassa d'amante" on a cobra (not a trivial task). Esquivel appears for the first time in this "Void Terra Firma," released in 1990. The album, taken as a whole, is more than decent, mainly due to producer John Cuniberti, already seen in action in the debut with Forbidden and also with Joe Satriani. The sound of the debut "Product Of Society," curated by Jeff Waters (Annihilator), needed to be reinforced to be competitive, and indeed the instrument mixing is good: you can hear the bass, the guitars are well-present, the drum sound is clear. Yet, something is missing. The sound seems too nebulized, like a good old aerosol, undoubtedly rough, nothing to say, but lacking pathos, quirky like the noise of the old motor cart that Pozzetto used in the movie "Io tigro tu tigri egli tigra" to transport a load of manure.

"Void Terra Firma" is immediately striking for a colorful but incomprehensible cover, while inside the booklet, we notice a nice photo of the five musicians with their backs to a dock, with Steev quite satisfied and bassist Mike Kauffmann a bit gloomy, as if ruminating on the sound created in the album, certainly mouth-watering for a thrash fan hungry for years, but for a palate accustomed to the Exodus triptych "The Last Act Of Defiance," "Fabulous Disaster," and "The Toxic Waltz," this obsolete sound cries for vengeance. The opening dance is good with the title track stormy and swaying, where Esquivel already shows tonal limits and is undoubtedly aggressive but also infuriates us (we grind our teeth in dissatisfaction), while the rest of the band demonstrates technical progress, especially Matt Vander Ende, skillful in his slaloms behind the skins, accompanied by the persistent double bass, but much more creative than the debut. This drummer is really skilled as he has learned the lesson. In "Product Of Society," the compositions were pervaded by his "typewriter" drumming: ta-ta-ta-rolled and line break, whereas in "Void Terra Firma," he continues to surprise us by using the entire drum kit with finesse. However, the socio-themed lyrics make us think, as in the valid "Checkmate":

"Kings and queens send their pawns out to war/An unjust right reaped in past years/They take the life of a child and his dreams/Imagine people don't even stop to think..."

Or "Buried Or Burned," against the absurdity of war:

"Perfect child../Destined to fight, destined to kill/Child at birth born to kill/What will it be?/ Who will be his prey? Who will be the first?/The first to die..."

The most exhilarating track of the bunch is "Deception Of Faith" where the drummer mixes things up, both in the small roll, and when he speeds up, giving us an unprecedented increase in speed, with guitars chasing the air for about 20 seconds, almost reiterating the band's mode of play, their speed musical line. Didactic is the Iron Maiden cover "Killers," which doesn't stir the waters, as Steev fails to match Paul Di'Anno's charisma in both verses and chorus. In reality, this album, examined as the maturity of the pieces, is almost excellent (although the comparison with the first two Forbidden releases is clearly lost). Just think of a piece like "Skitz-Illusions," with an assailant opening in full Testament/Chuck Billy style:

"Trapped inside four walls of fear/Distant signs of pain growing near/Love the torture, love the pain/Endless torture driving you insane"

The final guitar solo is dazzling: the Jim Adams/Doug Harrington duo appears even firmer than at their debut. Not to mention the eclectic "Steamroller," full of rhythm and aggressive vocals. This is the sign we were waiting for: the album needs to be chewed many times, at different moments, as the compositional skill is submerged under the wall of sound, under Esquivel's hoarse voice. Not a missed opportunity, but an isolated sequence in U.S. thrash, since the technical capabilities of the individual members are indisputable, as Doug Harrington, Mike Kaufmann, Jim Adams, and Matt Vander Ende will demonstrate in the various projects they will be involved in after the Defiance split (Inner Threshold, Under, Gack), all under the banner of groove metal or post-thrash metal, so to speak. However, this album will be the band's biggest commercial success, and the hardest according to Esquivel, as he declared on the occasion of the release of "Dismembody: The New Flesh" with Skinlab, in 1997.

The third album "Beyond Recognition" (1992) will close the group's career in crescendo, under the banner of techno-thrash (let's put it that way), but never reaching musical mazes like "Deception Ignored" by Deathrow or "Life Cycle" by Sieges Even. Categorizing makes the teeth decay, as every fan builds their altar to beatify their favored group. Recently, guitarist Doug Harrington passed away during the recording of the fourth album, not yet released, the result of a reunion with the "Void Terra Firma" lineup, excluding drummer Matt Vander Ende, replaced by ex-Torque Mark Hernandez.