Jahat - Defecation Syncope

Releasedate: 20 september 2022

Jahat might be a relatively new band (well, they’ve been around for a while by now), however, its’ members have been in various other well-known bands. Their experience in music shows in the professional sound and well-structured songwriting. Their debut album Defecation Syncope got released in September last year, but since we didn’t get around to it then, we’ve reviewed it now. Let’s dive into the songs and see what we think!

About Jahat

Jahat’s debut album, Defecation Syncope, is a well-produced, well-executed album. Their mission with this band was to combine the various influences into a ruthless style of metal. They define their music as hardcore, but I have to say, it has some nu-metal vibes as well. Overall I think Jahat has mastered the 90’s sound, but elevated it to match the current scene. The main vocals are gritty (and combined with the guitar riffs remind me of Prong), the guitars are groovy, and the more melodic parts really remind me of Linkin Park (especially the vocal harmony parts). Jahat also uses a lot of electronic sounds in their music. This adds another interesting layer to their music.

Dive into the album

The Owl and the Nightingale is the opening track and starts off with a groovy guitar and bass line, quickly followed by the gritty vocals. It opens up into the harmonized chorus that will set the tone for the rest of the album. The riffs feel familiar, but unique enough to make them interesting. The breakdown halfway through the song comes at just the right time and is, as good songwriting dictates, followed by a guitar solo and a double-tempo chorus. It feels well though-out, but more importantly, really works well.

The second track Voices starts out with another groovy riff and a electronic synth line that reminds me of ghostbuster. The vocals of the verse remind me of Remove, Separate Self (by Prong) because it kinda has the same vibe. The track has important lyrics though, as it’s about mental illness. That’s another thing to note about Jahat: each track conveys a powerful message, without being too preachy about it.

In God We Trust is going to be a crowdpleaser when played live. It’s still kinda mid-tempo, with enough headbangable parts and enough space to scream along ‘In God we Trust’.

The Antenna Haven is one of the tracks thats more up-tempo. The synth lines add an eerie vibe to this track during the verse. This track ends with an electronic ending that leaves us in an anxious, dreamlike state. That’s quickly broken again when we dive into Four Walls. Because of the various layers in this tracks it quickly turns into a wall of sound that engulfs you. The chorus again is emotive and even though I can’t quiet make out the lyrics it shows the internal struggle that the band mentioned the song is about. The ending to this song is awesome with again multiple layers.

Surround by Vultures is probably my favorite track of this album, because it starts of high-tempo right away. It’s a moshpit song for sure! It’s heavy, fun, just a good time. Of course Jahat won’t deprive us of the vocal harmonies, and the chorus is again layered in multiple ways. We all want to survive is of course a statement we can all stand behind, but the meaning might be a little darker, since the song is about the music industry capitalizing on the artists. Since hearing this song for the first time it has been in my workout playlist and I have to say, doing benchpresses on this song works quiet well <3 (Never mind the weird looks you get when you are bobbing your head in between sets).

After the heaviness of Surround by Vultures, Emissary is a nice change of pace. There are again more of the synth lines, more on the lower end of the melodic spectrum, and more mid-tempo even though it’s grooving along nicely. Another solid track, with an almost classic chorus. The part after the first chorus with the synthlines and the almost rap-like vocals is my favorite part of this track.

A Night Deity is the track I least enjoyed. It feels like more of the same, without giving us something new. Not that I don’t like the track, there just are track I enjoyed better. The final track, Fermin Didot is arguably the weirdest track on the album, probably because of the different timing of this track. It’s the most heavy and dark track on the album, and the synths in the chorus have a horror movie vibe to it. With the lyrics talking about mind control through technology that’s right on point. They leave us with a single ‘don’t you ignore the facts’ … to think about when album ends.

Final thoughts

One point of criticism for Defecation Syncope would be that especially the gritty main vocals feel too edited in quite a few parts, which makes them feel thinner and in some parts more screechy (especially in the higher ranges) than I imagine them being live on stage.

Besides that one point of criticism, there is a lot to love about this album. I’ve already mentioned the songwriting. The tracks flow really well, even though most of them don’t follow the standard rock/metal script. However, the most impressive part about Jahat’s style is the heavy use of multiple vocal lines. All the choruses have at least double vocal lines, if not more. The variation of gritty, clean, and rap-like vocals is another thing that I really like about their music. Production wise everything is balanced really well, and the electronic influences are never overpowering the rest of the band.

I enjoyed and am still enjoying this album, as it’s very listenable. TRVE metalheads that only listen to black and death metal probably won’t enjoy it as much, but if you’re into hardcore, metalcore, nu-metal, or even heavy rock, you will probably enjoy this as well.