ALBUM REVIEW: Shadowlight – Defences

Facing reality, self-reflection, and learning to accept inner darkness are just some of the themes Hertfordshire quintet DEFENCES explore on their new album Shadowlight. 

Shadowlight feels like an album of three parts. Though only ten tracks long, it packs a punch. Weaving emotional screams and mesmerising vocals to create the perfect soundscape for the themes this record touches on. 

The first three songs are part one of the journey, in these  DEFENCES set the scene for the whole album. Opening track The Curse, contains the line ‘living in a nightmare’ repeats throughout. Creating an untrustworthy reality, matched with racing guitars and heavy bass it leaves little room to hear beyond the nightmare. Track two Gold In The Dark continues this feeling, with its cascading melodies, as if falling deeper into the nightmare. A sense of awareness comes through with Perish. Released as a single earlier this year, and holding vocalist Cherry Duesbury’s scream debut this track is full of incredible power! Any fans of SLEEP TOKEN or SPIRITBOX should make time for this song.

There is almost a sense of claustrophobia on this record. Not so much that it makes it unlistenable, more so a testament to how the tracks are composed. Imagery of walls closing in, and being pulled under. However, by the fourth track, it becomes apparent that an outsider is not causing this trapped, claustrophobic sensation. ‘No escape, I’m making you take a look in the mirror to face your mistake’ feels like an aha moment during Ego (Maniac). There’s a self-reflective nature to the whole album that comes to the forefront. After this track, it’s as if all the others have context now.

The wars in someone’s mind can be the most suffocating of all, fighting inner demons. Making Silence & The Sound as a following track so clever. Music with a striking resemblance to Tubular Bells opens the song and repeats throughout. This being music from the infamous movie The Exorcist…a movie about a literal demon inside a person! *chefs kiss*

Inspirit seems to kick off the third and final part of the album. It sounds transcendent yet fragile. Echoing guitars give it an ethereal sound, as the drums sound distant but not out of reach. the song includes the lines ‘Rest easy’ and ‘The space you left feels so heavy.’ After the walls were closing in earlier in the album, there’s now space, albeit heavy, which creates room for acceptance. This is only confirmed on the thrashing track The Almost. An anger that has been bubbling finally came to the surface. While the profound concept of a lifetime of living in the almost is repeated again and again. 

The record ends with levity, hope and sweet acoustic guitars that offer a breath of fresh air compared to the claustrophobic, self-aware therapy session the rest of the album is. From lyrics to melodies, and incredible soundscaping it’s a wonder how they fit all that into ten tracks. When speaking on the album they said it was about: “- open(ing) yourself up to the possibility that you may not achieve what you believe in your core to be something you deserve, that you may not reach your potential.” Adding about the track Perish to: “-Appreciate life for what is, rather than what you wish it was.” 

Rating: 8/10

Shadowlight is set for release on November 8th via Long Branch Records.

Like DEFENCES on Facebook.