Signed by Razor & Tie on the strength of a minor viral sensation cued by their first album's unintentionally comical "Cryomancer" video (boasting the evergreen Valentine's Day message "I wanna see you cry, BITCH!"), San Francisco's
Defiler begin their search for a follow-up meme with "Octobortion," from 2012's sophomore
Nematocera album (oddly named after a kind of mosquito). Don't hold your breath. Not even a celebrity (snort!) cameo from
Emmure's
Frankie Palmeri can give this otherwise forgettable song legs, never mind bolster
Defiler's entire nu-metal-meets-deathcore schtick -- a direction seemingly inspired, not by musical but commercial ambitions, one has to assume (i.e., everyone else is doin' it) based on forgettable offerings like "Lucky 38" and "The Subway." To be fair, the surprisingly melodic "Movin' on Up the Nation's Chain" and more thoughtfully restrained fare such as "The Regulators," "Walk in the Glow," and "Nuclear Anomaly" show a little effort to broaden beyond the band's unimaginative foundations, but showing "effort" and attaining "results" are two very different things. So, as it stands, the best that
Defiler can hope for out of
Nematocera's meager accomplishments and that unexpected viral micro-celebrity is to be regarded as the
Ugly Kid Joe of their generation...and even that would be a stretch. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia