The artist of the week: Defiant (Croatia)
Hold my beer while I’ll tell you a story. Back in 2005, in the dark corners of the Croatian metal underground, a band named Defiant was born. They kicked things off with melodic death metal, the kind that leans into the Scandinavian riff tradition but still sounds raw and alive. Fast forward twenty years, several line-up changes, near-death experiences as a band, and a hell of a lot of touring, and here we are. 2025. The beast is not only alive, it's evolved. And it’s fuming.
“Mammon Mantra”, released through a joint effort by Satanath Records and InsArt Records, is their fifth full-length album, and by far, their darkest, most progressive and thematically ambitious work to date. It's not just an album. It's a goddamn ritual.
But before we go further into this sonic abyss, let’s talk history. Because Defiant’s past matters. They dropped their debut The End of Beginning in 2006. DIY to the bone. Between 2006 and 2008, they toured Europe hard, about 100 shows, three full Euro tours, and a promo EP in 2008 that was meant to lead into a record called Without Religion There Is No Fear. That album never came. The band split due to internal problems. Everything went cold.
But Defiant didn’t die. Kris, the band’s founder and guitarist, kept working behind the scenes. He crafted heavier, more brutal material, and in 2011, a new era was born. The result: Era of Substitution, a more extreme vision of Defiant. Then came Morbid Spiritual Illness in 2015, a record that fully reshaped their sound into the blackened death metal form we know now. A turning point. More evil, more dense, more real.
That evolution deepened on Insurrection Icon (2017), the first album featuring vocalist Tomislav Kuternik, whose venomous performance brought a new dimension to their sound. With that lineup, they toured Eastern Europe, played festivals, and kept their status as one of the most active metal bands in the Balkans. They didn’t just survive, they became unstoppable.
Then came Covid, and instead of freezing, they wrote. In 2022, they dropped Vanguards of Misrule, an EP dedicated to the late LG Petrov (Entombed), proving they were still pushing forward creatively even while the world was on hold.
2023 brought more lineup shifts. Producer and longtime friend Eldar Ibrahimović joined briefly on drums. Ivan Osrečak came in on bass. But the final blow was struck in 2024 when Dominik Blagec (Nether) and Julijana (Nigmar) locked into place. That’s the lineup you hear now on Mammon Mantra. And they’re tight. They’re dangerous.
So… what does this new album sound like? Imagine the weight of Vader, the madness of Belphegor, the theatrical darkness of Akercocke, and the fire of early Behemoth , but with Defiant’s own cursed fingerprints all over it.
The opening track "Ipse Venit" sets the mood with cinematic dread. From there, it's straight into "Dajjal Zyklon", a relentless assault that’s part sermon, part annihilation. But it’s the title track "Mammon Mantra" where the record’s conceptual core emerges. This isn’t just fast for the sake of speed, the riffs are sharp, the drums apocalyptic, and lyrically, it’s a condemnation of humanity’s obsession with greed, faith, and false idols. It's no coincidence that this album is dropping in an era where those themes feel horrifyingly relevant.
And then comes a first for Defiant, female vocals, courtesy of Maksymina “Max” Kuzianik on "Ostara’s Eve". This track is a haunting highlight. Her performance adds this ethereal, pagan texture to the brutality. It’s not beauty vs. the beast. It’s two monsters singing in harmony.
But the biggest guest feature? None other than Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan of Venom Inc. and Atomkraft. His voice tears through "Lord Of The Opening", and hearing his snarling delivery backed by Defiant’s blackened violence is nothing short of metal alchemy. It's a legendary moment that never overshadows the band, it amplifies them.
The rest of the album doesn’t let up: “Malice Striker” and “Night and Fog” dig deep into historical horror and myth. “Caesars Messiah” throws sharp hooks amidst a barrage of anti-authoritarian rage. And “Finis Omnium Ignorantiam” closes the record with the weight of a thousand burning crosses, slow, massive, and utterly doomed.
Lyrically, Mammon Mantra is the closest Defiant has come to a concept album. It tracks the darkest desires of mankind, from ancient rituals to modern propaganda, from religious corruption to societal collapse. It’s not fantasy. It’s a mirror. One we may not want to look into, but desperately need to. I’ve gone through their discography like a possessed and I’m here to walk you through the evolution. Not with charts or graphs, but as if we were sharing beers, blasting these records, and yelling over the double kicks.
Let’s start with their debut, The End of Beginning from 2006. You can tell they were cutting their teeth, still tethered to melodic death metal roots, which isn't a bad thing, it’s just very “first album.” You get flashes of who they’d become but everything still feels a bit polished, a bit safe. The riffs are solid, there’s technical skill for sure, but it’s like watching a young wolf pacing behind the fence. You know the bite is coming, just not yet.
Then comes Era of Substitution in 2012, and this is where things get interesting. There’s this sense that they’re getting restless with the melodic constraints and itching to go darker. The production is chunkier, the riffs heavier, and the overall vibe more unhinged. It’s like they’re standing at the edge of a cliff, half in death metal’s structure and half in chaos. Tracks like “Gates of Lunacy” really show that shift. You start to hear the blackened elements creep in, and it’s beautiful in the most violent way.
By 2015, Morbid Spiritual Illness hits and any remaining melodic subtlety gets burned to ash. This album doesn’t care about your feelings. The riffs are more dissonant, the vocals more guttural, and the entire record sounds like it’s dragging you down through some cursed ritual. There’s no middle ground here, it’s all in. You either buckle in or get swallowed. To me, this was the moment Defiant became Defiant. They’re not flirting with blackened death metal anymore, they are fully married to it, rings forged in fire.
Then we get Insurrection Icon in 2017, which might be their most focused record at this point. It’s the first one with Tomislav Kuternik on vocals, and damn, the guy brings some serious hellfire. You can feel the band tighten up around him, like everyone got sharper and meaner to match his energy. It’s not just heavier, it’s smarter. The songwriting is more surgical, the themes more developed. And even though it’s brutal, there’s a groove beneath the chaos that makes you nod like you’ve just been possessed by something ancient and furious. Also, I may or may not have scared my neighbors blasting this one on a Monday morning.
Next up is the EP Vanguards of Misrule from 2022. Short, nasty, no time to breathe. It’s basically a war cry packed into a few vicious minutes. This was written during the pandemic and dedicated to LG Petrov from Entombed, and it wears that grief and rage on its sleeve. It’s not about technicality here, it’s about emotion, raw and direct. You can feel the cabin fever, the fury at the world, the tribute to a fallen legend. I love when a band can compress that much spirit into such a small package.
And finally, we arrive at Mammon Mantra, 2025’s apocalyptic offering. Now this one is special. Not just because it marks 20 years of the band’s existence, but because it’s their most cohesive and ambitious record to date. It actually feels like a concept album without being pretentious. They dig into the dark underbelly of humanity, from ancient times to the grotesque present, with a sound that’s part ritual, part assault.
The production is top-notch, everything sounds like it’s been sharpened on obsidian. You’ve got mid-tempo grooves grinding against blast beats, haunting melodies sneaking in just long enough to unsettle you. And the guests? Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan from Venom Inc. shows up like a warlock to wreck track seven, and Max Kuzianik adds a rare layer of female vocals that pierce through the abyss like a banshee on “Ostara’s Eve.” It’s the first time the band uses female vocals and they nailed it.
Songs like “Dajjal Zyklon” are manic in the best way, riff-heavy with tremolos spiraling into madness. “Damnatio Memoare” drags you through sludge and sorrow. And “Caesars Messiah” feels like a soundtrack to some dystopian uprising. This album isn’t just good, it’s a statement. It says, “We’ve been here, we’ve suffered, and now we’re louder and darker than ever.”
So yeah, listening to Defiant is like watching a werewolf become a lich king. They’ve evolved with every release, more aggressive, more focused, more terrifying. They’ve gone from melodic death hopefuls to full-blown black/death conjurers, summoning sonic filth with purpose.
If I had to pick a favorite? Era of Substitution has a special place in my blackened heart because it’s where you see the monster being born. But Mammon Mantra? That’s the beast fully grown and absolutely unchained.
Defiant’s Mammon Mantra isn’t just their best record, it’s their definitive record. It's a 20-year legacy turned into a weapon. It has all the rage, darkness, and integrity that we demand from underground metal, but with the maturity of a band that’s bled for their craft. The songs are brutal. The execution is tight. The message is clear. In a world oversaturated with surface-level metal, Defiant has delivered something real. Something earned.
