Glam-metal chaos from one of the hottest new bands around
Having missed The Defiled on their recent tour with Deathstars, it was intriguing to finally see the London glam-metallers in action. Imagine walking onto the set of a Japanese horror movie based on the life of Jack the Ripper. Only with more eyeliner. In a mock-traditional English pub. For one of the country’s hottest unsigned acts, the Defiled are slick, showy, and waste no time in building up a serious moshpit of fans. Which begs the question as to how these guys have remained unsigned.
The sound is melodic but abrasive, sharp and threatening as a knife to the throat. It’s violent, wicked stuff that mixes powerful industrial carnage with stagecraft rooted in pure Alice Cooper theatricality. They spend more time than any other group so far just talking amongst themselves and the audience, which means they didn’t play the longest set, but they didn’t bore anyone rigid either.
By the end of their set, one of their guitarists has decided he’d love to play whilst stood atop his amplifiers, while their keyboard is ritually sacrificed (i.e. smashed to pieces) in the middle of the floor. Which puts a rather definitive, if messy, end to the stage 3 shenanigans for the afternoon.