REVIEW: Empty Days And Sleepless Nights By Defeater

One could argue that all genres in music contain diversity. Although this may be the case hardcore is a genre that has become especially diverse in recent years. Obviously you have your heavy, aggressive bands like Terror and Madball. Then you have bands that play a more melodic style, bands like Comeback Kid and now defunct Auckland legends The Chase. And then you have bands like Converge who fit into a completely different category of their own. Boston based hardcore band Defeater also fit into a completely different category of their own. The five piece play what I like to call an ‘arty’ brand of hardcore largely for the fact that the music flows in a way that is very different to most hardcore bands. Their third release Empty Days and Sleepless Nights reinforces them as a band that is continuing to make hardcore the highly diverse genre it has become.

The most notable thing about Defeater’s sound on this album is the sheer power and intensity coming from not only from the instruments but from vocalist Derek Archambault. Whilst the instruments still play a huge role in the bands sound, Archambault’s vocals are essentially an instrument in itself. You only have to listen to the first few seconds of the first track ‘Warm Blood Rush’ to know that Empty Days and Sleepless Nights is going to be an album driven by some pretty intense emotion. When I say emotion I don’t mean that horrible buzz word ‘emo’ but a kind of emotion that is powered by cleverly crafted guitar parts that mould with ear piercing vocals and lyrics. The album very much follows in the footsteps of other more ‘arty’ hardcore bands such as Have Heart and The Carrier– i.e. bands whose sound is largely driven by the power and intentions of the vocalist.

Empty Days and Sleepless Nights is a concept album about a fictional family set in post World War II. It comprises of two parts – Empty Days being one and Sleepless Nights being the other. Empty Days consists of 10 bombastic hardcore songs whilst Sleepless Nights contains 4 acoustic, more folk oriented tracks. The thing that stands out to me about this album is that it carries a rather uncomfortable vibe. Not an uncomfortable vibe that makes you want to turn it off but a kind of uncomfortable vibe that creates a clear picture of desperation. You can almost feel the pain that is encompassed in the story that the band is trying to tell. This is an album drenched in raw emotion and as a band, Defeater convey that perfectly.

Although the acoustic tracks on the second disc are a pretty extreme contrast to the tracks on empty days, they are actually really impressive. Whilst the songs carry a pretty typical singer-songwriter vibe, there are some pretty catchy vocal lines and passages. I think it’s pretty phenomenal that Defeater are clearly not afraid to do something that is pretty much unheard of in hardcore. Initially one would think that acoustic tracks would seem wildly out of place on a relentless hardcore record. Although this is the case Defeater make it work pretty well. Even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, you can’t help but admire the band for having the guts to add a completely different dimension to their album.

Defeater are playing Auckland, Hamilton and Palmerston North with Australian hardcore legends Miles Away on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of April. Tickets available from Under The Radar.

By Hugh Collins