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DEFENDER
Dying To Live

Metalapolis (2025)
Rating: 6/10

For fans of this German act this debut full-length outing has been a long time coming. Defender formed in 2016 and an EP, Rising High, emerged two years later, but when a compilation was issued in 2020 I assumed that was it for the Balingen-based band. Fast forward four years and two singles emerged followed by another brace this year and now, finally, an album, Dying To Live.

Recorded, mixed and mastered at Empire Studios by Rolf Munkes, this platter is a straight up nifty heavy metal album delivered in the vein of classic Helloween. There’s not much going on here outside of the Teutonic framework whereby speeding rhythms combines with thunderous gallops and borderline speed metal circa Accept and Running Wild. However, it’s deliciously melodic at times, just as it is exuberant as gang chants entwine with anthemic nuances to create an all round good egg of a traditional heavy metal outing.

The title song pretty much epitomizes the Defender sound, galloping hastily on a bedrock of steel and bolstered further by the mid-range vocalisations of guitarist Dennis Bauer. You can randomly pluck any track of the ten on offer and you’ll find yourself tapping along, whether it’s the busy ‘Living Runaway’, the even busier ‘Survivor’ or the glinting steel of ‘Granite Heart’. There’s an abundance of tidy yet often understated leads and hooks, numerous tumbles of drums and smatterings of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal concrete.

Elsewhere, the likes of ‘Carry The World’ and ‘Running Out Of Bad Times’ bring that rather samey yet energetic zip. The only real break in the endless canter comes via plodding ballad ‘Neverland’ which is subtle and soulful yet basic in design, but it does shift towards the majestic.

Unfortunately, Dying To Live is rather formulaic and predictable in its format, trundling with little bite. But for the fans of Teutonic metal it might give you what you need, albeit briefly.

Neil Arnold

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