The Defiants - Zokusho

[Crazysam 12]

very good album and easily my favorite release of 2019, thus far

[AlphaMale 45]

My first run through:

Love Is A Killer             8/10
Standing On The Edge         8/10
Hollywood in Headlights     9.5/10
Fallin' For You             8.5/10
Hold On Tonite               8/10
Allnighter                  8.5/10
U X'd My Heart               9/10         
It Goes Fast                 8/10           
Stay                        8.5/10
Alive                        8/10
Drink Up!                    7/10               
Forever                      8/10

82.5%

 

[kourosofsteel3 14]

On 9/12/2019 at 3:55 PM, CureTheSane said:

I really tried.
For me the harmonies were the same, and to a degree I guess I am not a fan of the vox, they had their time and place years ago, but just not what I want now (I was a big D2 fan and really liked Paul Laine's stuff back then)

Lil Miss RNR is probsthe standout for me
Save Me Tonight is nice
Take Me Back is different enough to enjoy
Same with Underneath The Stars

I created a Best Of folder for them and the first 7 songs made it, but the first couple only just I guess.

 

Sir, one heart for Lil Miss RNR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Glen 41]

6 hours ago, AlphaMale said:

My first run through:

Love Is A Killer             8/10
Standing On The Edge         8/10
Hollywood in Headlights     9.5/10
Fallin' For You             8.5/10
Hold On Tonite               8/10
Allnighter                  8.5/10
U X'd My Heart               9/10         
It Goes Fast                 8/10           
Stay                        8.5/10
Alive                        8/10
Drink Up!                    7/10               
Forever                      8/10

82.5%

 

more like 90% for me. 

[Darkstone 29]

19 hours ago, Glen said:

more like 90% for me. 

Agreed. I think most of us can agree that these guys are the benchmark when it comes to our music. I was hoping for another "Tokyo Motor Fist" album to coincide with this release to get my full D2 nostalgia fix. Hopefully soon.

Edited September 15 by Darkstone

[simo 1]

I would appreciate if you guys could answer the following question :

Has anyone heard the GUIRO (if you don't know what it is please google it) in "Love Is The Killer"? And does it bother you?

I just noticed it while listening to the album with headphones. They already used a guiro on the debut ("Waiting On A Heartbreak") which I thought was strange at first but it's only during the chorus and I've since gotten used to it. But this time they really went overboard with it it's so irritating. You can hear it throughout the entire verses and the solo... 

Edit: it's also on U X'd my heart, although a bit more subtle. What's the fascination with this (sorry to say) useless instrument? The only thing it does is ruin a perfectly good song

Edited September 15 by simo

[lettard 31]

12 hours ago, Darkstone said:

Agreed. I think most of us can agree that these guys are the benchmark when it comes to our music. I was hoping for another "Tokyo Motor Fist" album to coincide with this release to get my full D2 nostalgia fix. Hopefully soon.

https://heavyharmonies.ipbhost.com/topic/37218-tokyo-motor-fist-new-album-in-2020/

[Darkstone 29]

14 minutes ago, lettard said:

https://heavyharmonies.ipbhost.com/topic/37218-tokyo-motor-fist-new-album-in-2020/

Ha! I actually made some comments in that thread. Completely forgot about it.

[lettard 31]

1 hour ago, Darkstone said:

Ha! I actually made some comments in that thread. Completely forgot about it.

[KarpetRydOFunk 43]

18 hours ago, simo said:

I would appreciate if you guys could answer the following question :

Has anyone heard the GUIRO (if you don't know what it is please google it) in "Love Is The Killer"? And does it bother you?

I just noticed it while listening to the album with headphones. They already used a guiro on the debut ("Waiting On A Heartbreak") which I thought was strange at first but it's only during the chorus and I've since gotten used to it. But this time they really went overboard with it it's so irritating. You can hear it throughout the entire verses and the solo... 

Edit: it's also on U X'd my heart, although a bit more subtle. What's the fascination with this (sorry to say) useless instrument? The only thing it does is ruin a perfectly good song

Nope. Doesn't bother me at all. I'm a drummer, so I appreciate all forms of percussion, and I believe most music needs more!

[Glen 41]

nope doesn't bother me either. it's part of their sound. 

[Geoff 48]

Bands like Vega could do themselves a favour and listen to how a rock album is produced properly; regarding the drums. This thing is immaculately produced, and exactly how I love an album to sound. 

I generally agree with the majority of thoughts so far. To me, 'Allnighter' is pretty weak, and 'Drink Up!' is even weaker, and easily the worst on here for me. I think it's really quite shit, to be honest. lol. I don't think I'll be keeping these two tunes. I do like 'Forever,' though. Nice closing ballad. 

The rest of it is excellent stuff. Just good, delicious melodic rock. The lyrics and themes are a little simple and suspect at times, but cool. This is essentially just Danger Danger V2 with a different name, and in that regard, it just sounds like a natural continuation from 'Four The Hard Way,' 'Returntoyourpenisandaguildersleeveorsomeweirdshitcantevenremembertobehonestbutitsagreatalbum' and then their debut, which is obviously a wonderful thing. 

Awesome stuff, and I'd agree with Alpha that it probably sits around an 80-85%. And immediately one of, if not the year's best so far. 

[Glen 41]

tbh I view it as a 10 track album with a bit of a laugh track thrown on the end.

I doubt I'll play drink up much but I'm happy with 10 great tracks even if Allnighter is a bit throwaway it's still prob an 8/10 and nothing I would even contemplate skipping 

[Geoff 48]

8 minutes ago, Glen said:

tbh I view it as a 10 track album with a bit of a laugh track thrown on the end.

I doubt I'll play drink up much but I'm happy with 10 great tracks even if Allnighter is a bit throwaway it's still prob an 8/10 and nothing I would even contemplate skipping 

Yep, very D2-ish. They always had a bit of a fun track in the mix. 

[simo 1]

Will task myself with creating a best of CD from their two albums once I'm more familiar with the new songs and know which ones to pick in what order. But one thing's for sure, that mix CD will be nothing short of amazing

[Jez 5]

As you know, I wasn't a major fan of the debut album, but this is way way better in every dept. Very good indeed

[Ponen 10]

On 9/14/2019 at 8:34 AM, AlphaMale said:

My first run through:

Love Is A Killer             8/10
Standing On The Edge         8/10
Hollywood in Headlights     9.5/10
Fallin' For You             8.5/10
Hold On Tonite               8/10
Allnighter                  8.5/10
U X'd My Heart               9/10         
It Goes Fast                 8/10           
Stay                        8.5/10
Alive                        8/10
Drink Up!                    7/10               
Forever                      8/10

82.5%

 

Love is a killer                           7.5/10

Standing on the edge              8.5/10

Hollywood in headlights         10/10

Fallin' for you                            10/10

Hold on tonite                           9/10

Allnighter                                   7.5/10

U x'd my heart                           9/10

It goes fast                                9.5/10

Stay                                             8/10

Alive                                            7.5/10

Drink up!                                     6.5/10

Forever                                        8/10

 

84.2%

[Glen 41]

16 hours ago, Jez said:

As you know, I wasn't a major fan of the debut album, but this is way way better in every dept. Very good indeed

it's basically exactly the same 

[Geoff 48]

1 minute ago, Glen said:

it's basically exactly the same 

My initial thought was this one was more "commercial" in terms of more kind of "radio-friendly" (a few decades ago) mid-tempo melodic type of stuff. If I look back at the debut's track list, there was still plenty of melodic rock / heavy AOR type stuff on it, but my impression of this one, right away, was that there was a bit more of it. 

[Glen 41]

21 minutes ago, Geoff said:

My initial thought was this one was more "commercial" in terms of more kind of "radio-friendly" (a few decades ago) mid-tempo melodic type of stuff. If I look back at the debut's track list, there was still plenty of melodic rock / heavy AOR type stuff on it, but my impression of this one, right away, was that there was a bit more of it. 

had them both playing on shuffle and you could barely notice any difference ....apart from the debut had 2 slower ballads 

[Geoff 48]

2 minutes ago, Glen said:

had them both playing on shuffle and you could barely notice any difference ....apart from the debut had 2 slower ballads 

I actually thought the new one was going to be completely ballad free, and then they throw one in, right at the last second. Nice tune, though. 

[Glen 41]

4 hours ago, Geoff said:

I actually thought the new one was going to be completely ballad free, and then they throw one in, right at the last second. Nice tune, though. 

jap bonus. I doubt many have heard it. I haven't 

[Glen 41]

just heard Forever on you tube. pretty dull, I can live without that tune

[The Rocker 4]

1 hour ago, Glen said:

just heard Forever on you tube. pretty dull, I can live without that tune

Agree!

[Eric3 4]

Yeah I've listened to this about a dozen times now and it's probably the album of the year unless Work of Art really comes through.

Not that this has been a great year for AOR (Frontiers in particular), but still.