(all photos by Fukcrec Hbk)
(On June 12th Season of Mist released a new album by the long-persevering Japanese death metal band Defiled, and in advance of that our Comrade Aleks conducted an exceptionally good interview with Defiled founder/guitarist Yusuke Sumita, which we at last present today.)
Having started out in 1992, Japanese tech-deathsters Defiled have changed their lineup, sound, and, to some extent, style several times over the years. The last decade of the band’s career has been marked by a fairly regular stream of new releases, and their ninth full-length, Altered State, arrived right on schedule.
Although guitarist Yusuke Sumita is the only founding member of Defiled still in the fold, his three bandmates are also seasoned veterans, having spent between seven and thirteen years in the band. But even yet another lineup change is unlikely to derail Yusuke’s locomotive, which he, with gritted jaw, drives at full speed, demolishing barriers with concentrated, intense, and thoroughly technical death metal.
It’s barely a surprise, but despite its reputation and ambiguous cover art, the core motifs of Altered State are Orwellian visions of a present/future, but in the form of an open-to-interpretation idea of the general psychological pressure and discomfort that society and the world inflict on us. At times this material sounds like an intense CrossFit workout, and while it’s sometimes hard to enjoy with such a tough workout, it’s achievable with the right amount of practice.
I’m glad that we had an opportunity to interview Yusuke, and I’d like to thank him once more for in-depth answers, which made this interview a pretty rewarding experience.
Hi Yusuke! How are you? How busy are you with the Altered State promotion right now?
Hi, I’m doing well, thanks. I’ve been pretty busy lately, but I’m honestly enjoying the whole promotion process. Season of Mist has been incredibly supportive, and that gives me a lot of hope.
Good to hear it! By the way, how would you describe your communications with the metal community? Do you have something in-between promo periods with interviews and gigs when you’re able to speak with the band’s fans directly?
I try to stay open and approachable with everyone. I get messages from fans on social media quite often, and I make a point to respond to all of them. I also go to local shows to see friends’ bands play, and fans often come up and talk to me there as well.
How many gigs are in your schedule for 2026? Do you have an opportunity to push Altered State forward with a tour?
We’ll start with a two-week tour here in Japan, our home country, and after that, we’d love to visit other countries if the opportunity comes up. We’ll also be supporting the Japan tours for Incantation in June and Brujeria in September, and I hope more people will get a chance to see us. As for touring overseas—especially in Europe and the U.S.—it really depends on financial and logistical factors. Of course, we’ll continue doing everything we can to make international tours and festival appearances happen. That said, live opportunities often involve factors beyond our control. On the other hand, songwriting and making albums are entirely up to us. That’s something we fully control. And to increase our chances of touring, I believe we have to keep writing strong music.
It’s been said that Altered State continues the work of The Highest Level and Horror Beyond Horror. Did you intend for these three albums to form a trilogy of some kind? Are they connected musically or lyrically?
It’s not just these last three albums—our records have always been connected, going way back. They link together like points forming a single line, both musically and lyrically.
At the same time, each album can highlight a different aspect of that larger flow. In that sense, Altered State might feel a bit like a deviation, but it’s still part of the same continuum. We value consistency, while also making sure each release has its own identity.
Okay, I see, can you sum up some general lyrics themes you raise in Defiled then? I saw the lyrics — it’s just to clarify the Metal-Archives sum-up which identifies your themes as “Vengeance, Wrath, Anger, Domination, Hatred” : D
Metal Archives contains a lot of outdated and sometimes unreliable information, so it shouldn’t be taken at face value. Terms like “Vengeance, Wrath, Anger, Domination and Hatred” were probably added by someone who interpreted the song titles and lyrics from our first album Erupted Wrath at a very surface level. It’s true that many of our lyrics are rooted in negative emotions, but in recent years, we’ve been expressing our thoughts about the world through metaphor. In a broad sense, those descriptions may not be entirely wrong, but I believe that over the past decade, our lyrics have developed much more depth and range.
Altered State is rooted in Orwell’s 1984—a book that resonates strongly in many parts of the world, from Western countries to Russia to China. Why did you see this novel as an important reference point for modern Japan specifically? How much of its themes do you recognise in your daily life?
I feel like the whole world, not just Japan, is becoming more Orwellian. This trend has definitely become more pronounced with tech advances. Personally, it’s a major concern of mine. But in Japan, if you talk too much about this stuff in everyday life, people might label you as paranoid or “off.”
That said, everyone thinks differently, and I don’t want to force a specific interpretation on anyone. Depending on how you look at it, the album can be taken as a serious social or political warning, or just a piece of dark, sci-fi fantasy. It’s up to the listener. At the same time, as an artist, I express myself freely. I try to present what I care about through metaphors without being too overbearing.
Honestly, I even didn’t think about the main issue of 1984 from a technological angle, although the problem of total control is already here. I meant issues like “doublethink”, artificial cherish of the constant Threat to rule nations, and shaping human minds with propaganda. Do you see such phenomena as a problem in your country?
Yes, those kinds of things do exist in my country, Japan, as well. But they’re often carried out quietly, in subtle and almost invisible ways, under the guise of legitimacy. Because of that, many people who are simply focused on their daily lives don’t notice them. You have to step back and look at the bigger picture to really see it. The question is whether you recognize that media can function as a tool of control. Many people dismiss that idea as a conspiracy theory and laugh it off. In many cases, speaking out about it directly just leads to being labeled as mentally unstable, losing friends, and creating unnecessary conflict. Personally, I don’t want to spend my energy on that kind of friction.
But what about death metal lyrics? The genre is full of fictional themes. Bands write about things like cannibalism without actually doing them. So even if I write lyrics about topics that might make people see me as a conspiracy theorist or mentally unstable, no one really minds. Some people might feel something from it, and others might feel nothing at all. Both are equally welcome.
The press materials mention psychic discomfort as one of the album’s central themes. Is music a way for you to process or escape that feeling, or is it purely a conceptual element of the record?
It’s not just us—a lot of metal is about turning negative energy into something positive, creating a sense of cathartic release. Our music definitely has that side to it. No matter how you package it, it’s still angry music driven by distorted guitar sounds.
However, writing songs also requires a certain level of detachment and a clear head, so it’s not quite accurate to say it’s just “a way to escape the feeling.” Everything we do is carefully constructed. The adrenaline you get from heavy, fast music is important to us, and I hope listeners feel that too.
Honestly, I appreciate a progressive approach in metal, I appreciate it, but subjectively it’s not the same as a straightforward flow of charged, angry metal stuff a lot of us are used to. Do you perceive these two directions differently? For me, prog-edged music demands some intellectual effort to digest it, you know.
Is that so? I’m not sure if “progressive” is the right word, but take Metallica’s Master of Puppets—it’s full of anger, yet the song structures are surprisingly complex and unconventional. Still, not many people would call that album “progressive”. This might sound like hindsight, but bands like Deathrow, Coroner, Watchtower, Voivod, and Nasty Savage all combine intensity with complexity. I think it’s fair to view Defiled in that context as well. Even in straightforward, aggressive metal, I believe there’s always an element of intellectual calculation in the songwriting.
On the production side, I read that you paid particular attention to the drum sound this time around, pushing it in a new direction. How involved were you in the production of Altered State overall, and what were you aiming for at this stage?
This is something we’ve focused on from the start: compared to a lot of bands, our drum mix is more “up front.” Many of our songs revolve around rhythmic shifts, so it’s crucial that you can clearly hear what’s happening with the drums.
With the last two albums, I saw reviews saying the drums and vocals were too loud and the guitars felt buried. Metal fans usually want loud guitars, which often leads to a trade-off with the drums. On this album, the drums are still prominent, but we found a balance where the guitars really cut through, too.
Yes, I’m deeply involved in production. It’s my band—I started it—so that’s only natural. One thing I’ve always insisted on is recording drums without a click track to capture a natural, organic feel. We’ve done that since day one. With a click, even a drummer with shaky timing can sound technical. I just love the vibe of a real human performance.
How much time did you spend in the studio this time? Did you have the luxury of working without strict time constraints?
The total recording time was probably on par with most bands. I don’t remember exactly how long we spent writing and rehearsing, but it took a while to get from the initial concept to the finished product.
It might look like we work fast since we release albums every two years or so, but we’ve actually been prepping for a long time. For example, even though this album dropped in 2026, we filmed the “Obsession” video back in 2024—you can see that in the credits. The songs go back even further. We didn’t set strict deadlines; we just kept at it until we were satisfied. Honestly, it’s a pretty luxurious way to work.
Altered State is your ninth album. Would you say this is where Defiled has reached its truest essence? Or is there another record in your catalogue that you feel is more balanced, or closer to your original vision of the band?
That’s a tough one. Every band says their latest album is their best—and if you’re giving it your all every time, that’s how it should be.
I don’t know if Altered State captures our “true essence,” but I do feel it stands out as something unconventional in our discography. It emphasizes a different side of what we’ve been building over time—so rather than the core itself, it’s like exploring one branch of a much larger structure.
How has your vision of Defiled evolved over the years? Which core elements of the band have remained untouched from the beginning?
It’s hard to objectively judge our own evolution. But since the early days, we’ve always aimed to follow our own path, and that mindset has only grown stronger.
Of course, we’re influenced by bands we love, but we try to minimize outside pressure and stick to our own guns. If I had to name a core element, it would be musical independence. We respect Western music, but we don’t want to be defined or shaped by it. Intentional imitation doesn’t produce anything meaningful.
Speaking about own path, didn’t you think to record an album with Japanese lyrics? Might it work as a better way to channel some specific ideas you have for Defiled? We know that heavy music in itself is an international genre, and English is its official language, but some extreme bands write texts in their mother tongue, and it makes no problem to spread their ideas abroad.
To be honest, I’ve never once considered singing in Japanese for my band. I’ve never thought about it that deeply, but it might be because almost all the bands I listened to in my youth sang in English. You seem to think that using a non-English language isn’t necessarily a barrier to reaching an international audience, but I see it differently. I believe it can be a significant handicap. That’s probably a big part of it as well. You might point to a few bands that have succeeded despite that, but those are rare exceptions—and we have no guarantee that we’d be one of them.
I get the impression you take pride in the album’s nonlinear structures and unconventional compositions. How long did it take to shape all of the tracks and arrive at the final forms you envisioned?
Thank you—you hit the nail on the head. My songwriting does deviate a bit from conventional structures in terms of how riffs and rhythms are arranged. But I want to be clear: to be eccentric isn’t the goal; it’s just a means to an end.
What matters is exploring creative possibilities outside of rigid structures. Even in a genre that people think is tapped out, I still feel there’s more to explore. My riffs are a bit unusual, and whether people “get” them or not doesn’t really matter—we just do what we want. As for the timeline, the songs finally reached the form I envisioned, but I don’t remember exactly how long that took. I started writing them quite a while ago.
I’ve interviewed relatively few Japanese metal bands—most of them come from the doom side of things: Anatomia, Church of Misery, Coffins, Eternal Elysium, Ningen-Isu. With that in mind, I have a broader question: how has interest in extreme metal shifted in Japan over the course of Defiled’s career?
Honestly, I’m not sure. There are tons of great bands in Japan, just like in the West, and I think that’s great. I’m proud to be part of that scene.
But I don’t have much to say beyond that. We just focus on what we need to do as Defiled. I don’t really keep tabs on what other bands are doing or how the scene is viewed from the outside. I do hope any changes are for the better, though.
And on the practical side—how has the situation with venues and record shops or distributors changed? Is it easy to find a place to put on a metal show these days?
No, it’s not easy—and the landscape changes every year. But that’s true for bands everywhere; it’s not unique to us.
Regardless of the challenges, all we can do is give it our best. We’re supported by our fans, and we keep doing what we do without ever forgetting how grateful we are to them.
How ambitious are your plans for the Altered State campaign in 2026?
I’m very optimistic. This album stays pretty far from traditional death metal—it’s twisted and unconventional—but I want as many people as possible to hear it.
Fortunately, Michael from Season of Mist made the bold call to release it, even though it’s a bit of an outlier. Their promo team is also incredibly dedicated, which is a huge boost for us.
Because of that, my motivation is through the roof. It’s not an album for everyone, but I believe that even ten years from now, people will still find value in it. Thanks so much for the great interview. I hope people check it out, and I truly appreciate everyone who took the time to read this.
Thank you for the interview Yusuke! I appreciate your honest approach and swift reply, and I hope our readers do as well. However, did we skip something important regarding the Altered State release?
Thank you very much for the great interview. I really appreciate the opportunity, and I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to read it. Altered State will be released on June 12 via Season of Mist, so I hope you’ll grab your copy. I encourage you to listen to Altered State with an open mind, without limiting it to death metal—you might discover something new.
https://orcd.co/defiledalteredstate
https://defiledjapan.bandcamp.com/album/altered-state
https://www.facebook.com/defiled/
https://defiledjapan.bandcamp.com/music