CD: Travels Artist: Defeater Label: Top Shelf Records Rating: 3/5 Best Song: Prophet in Plain Clothes Reviewer: Bobby Gorman

I had not heard about about Defeater when I first saw them. The artwork, filled with grainy, black and white portraits of different people, grabbed my eye but the label kind of gave me some doubts. While Top Shelf Records was relatively new in the scene, the first two releases by them failed to strike my interest. A hybrid of The Used and Matchbook Romance, Across The Universe and Feels Like July were forgettable releases which in turn pushed Defeater lower in my review pile.

However, a four-star review praising the band from PunkNews forced me to pull the record out and give it an honest opportunity to wow me; and wow me it did.

This was not your run of the mill emo outing, far from it. Defeater was abrasive, abrupt, angry hardcore. It blasts out of the starting gates and never stops. It's an unrelenting attack of ferocious vocals alongside intricate and heavy guitars. It's technical while not following a certain trend of rampant breakdowns and chugging guitars. No, instead Defeater delivers a hardcore album akin to Modern Life is War that fits somewhere between the two dillingers - not as metallic as The Dillinger Escape Plan nor as punky as Dillinger Four. It falls somewhere in between the two acts, making it a delightful hardcore record. One that, while not the easiest to listen to, falls into place nicely and becomes a much needed reprieve from the current trend of making records so palpable. Instead, they take the hardcore sound and build on it with non-stop vigor and energy to create something that would make Bridge Nine proud (but its not as chaotic as Ceremony).

Despite that, the real appeal of the album comes from the lyrics; even though they are undecipherable most of the time. For you see, Defeater have made Travels into more than just a regular album - its a full fledged concept album. But unlike the current idea of concept albums, Travels actually follows the story perfectly. They tell the story of an unnamed man, from his birth in 1945 until his suicide. It tells the tragic tales of an unwanted son, a loving mother, a torturous brother and abusive father. Defeater follows the unnamed hero as he searches for an escape from his past, a new release and the final confrontation.

The most striking portion of the story always reveals around train tracks - both as a child and an adult; however the part that really sticks out comes on Prophet in Plain Clothes. Its halfway through the album, thus halfway through the life, and our faithful protagonist is homeless and wandering the streets. He sees a busker and the story goes "home is never home" said the prophet in plain clothes as he strummed his guitar and he screamed and he sang... it then breaks away from the hardcore outing and jumps into an oddly placed acoustic medley of what the plain clothes prophet is singing. It turns out to be a Bob Dylan song that, sadly, sounds more like Say Anything than Dylan. The two minute acoustic number jumps out and seems out of place amidst the chaotic nature of the album but it helps cement Defeater's investment in the story line; and offers the sole deviation from the hardcore nature of the songs.

Travels is not the easiest listen and not one I'll listen to constantly because it's not exactly up my alley. However, there's something in the unremitting attack by Defeater that has made me play it numerous times over the past few days. Maybe its the emotional screams teetering at the edge of destruction, maybe its the powerful drumming or pure intensity - maybe its just the story line. Whatever it is, Travels has made an album that stands out in the crowd and that's saying something.