DEFUELD

Defueld are a five piece band from Sweden, consisting of lead vocalist/guitarist Christoffer Wetterstrom, guitarist Alexander Anfalk, bassist Emil Bygde, Fredrik Hedbeg and drummer Patrick Jansson. This eponymous release is Defueld's debut long player and was produced by the band themselves in Stockholm. Somewhat bizarrely they have a big following in Senegal and toured there in November 2007, playing to a crowd of 6000 in Dakar, Senegal's capital city. The press release issued with the CD states that it contains a mix of contemporary metal and rock and this pretty much sums up the album. The CD kicks off with ‘Spawn’, which features crushing riffs, a great guitar solo and intelligent and effective use of keyboards. In fact, the keyboards are a real feature of this album. All too often, with the exception of 'prog' rock, if a metal or heavy rock band uses keyboards they are used to supplement the sound and are way down in the mix. It is therefore refreshing that the keys on the album are used to enhance and improve the overall feel of it. The next track, ‘Forever’, has a more contemporary sound than the opener and manages to combine both good vocal harmonies and death metal style backing vox virtually side by side. One of the stand out songs is ‘Waiting in the Wings’, which has a slower tempo, features a strong performance from Wetterstrom on vocals and some more solid riffs. ‘Crime of the Century’ follows and is another strong track that bears no relation to the Supertramp classic of the same name! Other impressive tracks include ‘Eye for an Eye’, which has some atmospheric keyboard work as a highlight and ‘Rather Die Standing’, a cut that has some good acoustic guitar moments. The CD finishes with ‘Blind’, which is a piano led ballad that is a complete change of mood from the rest of the album. Overall, the quality of this release is high, especially considering that it is a self produced debut. I can often detect the influences of a band within their sound but it is to Defueld's credit that the sheer originality of this record makes it hard to pinpoint where their influences may come from. In summary, I enjoyed listening to the eleven tracks that make up this CD and I look forward to their next release, whenever that may be!

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Wild Kingdom Records

Album

DEFUELD

Review by Dave Uphill

RUNNING TIME:

48:12

RELEASE DATE:

27th March 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) Spawn
2) Forever
3) Endless Roll
4) Hero(in)
5) Waiting in the Wings
6) Crime of the Century
7) Retarded
8) Eye for an Eye
9) The Boy Who's Transparent
10) Rather Die Standing
11) Blind

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Sweden

"...it is to Defueld's credit that the sheer originality of this record makes it hard to pinpoint where their influences may come from."