Although theywere born out of the hardcore scene, for the past five years Boston,Massachusetts' Defeater have challenged the conventions of the genre by crafting music that takes an old-schoolformula and pushes it in new and ambitious directions without sacrificing anounce of aggression. Case in point is the band's third full-length Letters Home, the culmination of theseefforts and sonic evidence of a band who are at their musical and creativepeak.

For Letters Home, Defeater enlisted drummerJoe Longobardi, who proved integral in the writing and execution of the albumand also injected the band with palpable energy. "This is definitely themost comfortable I've felt as far as writing music together and a lot of thathas to do with Joe," says guitarist Jay Maas—who along with vocalist DerekArchambault, guitarist Jake Woodruff and bassist Mike Poulin—make up Defeater."Joe is a songwriter straight-up so he understands kick drum should beexactly where it has to be; he's super talented but he's not self-indulgent andhe's always evaluating what serves the music overall instead of what's justflashy," he continues.

Thewriting for Letters Home began whenthe band returned from Australia last year and Maas—who is a successfulrecording engineer in his own right that's produced every Defeateralbum—started compiling dozens of hours of drum tracks which would eventuallyserve as the foundation for the disc. "I feel like we're all gettingbetter as songwriters and we operate independently as one organism now, so wehad a really cohesive understanding of what we wanted to accomplish with thisrecord," explains Maas. "We asked ourselves what we loved about ourfirst couple of records and realized they were a little bit simpler, so we keptthat in mind when putting together these songs."

From thedriving, melodic opener "Bastards" to the relentless attack of"Blood In My Veins" and the carefully controlled chaos of"Rabbit Foot," Letters Home isan album that will inevitably help the band—who will be embarking on the VansWarped Tour this summer—expanding their fanbase without pandering to theiraudience. "We've been writing songs for almost two decades and we like alot of pop-oriented music so I think as a band Defeater is getting to a pointwhere we can write a record that embodies that while maintaining the honestythat's inherent in the music," Maas explains. "We're still beingourselves, we're just being the best songwriters we can."

Lyrically Letters Home sees the band continuing anongoing narrative about a working-class family living in post World Wold IIAmerica, although the story revolves around the patriarch of the family thistime around. "I'm not influenced by bands who have done 'concept' albumsas much as I'm inspired in a literary sense by writers like J.D. Salinger andCormac McCarthy," Archambault explains when asked how this concept came together."I love American Gothic Fiction and I tried to capture the descriptivenature of Salinger in the way that he can make the most boring ten minutes inan apartment the premise for an amazing story because of the way itdevelops."

Becausethe album is about a character with a backstory that involves war anddestruction, the band knew going into it that Letters Home had to beheavy—and although it has it's unexpected moments of calm before the storm suchas the shimmering guitar intro to "No Saviour," for the most part thealbum is an exercise in catharsis that's mirrored in Maas' production. "Ibuilt a new studio that's professionally designed and acoustically treated, sowe didn't have to fight any sonic limitations," he explains. "Itreally made sense to make this a heavier record and by working with Defeaterand producing other bands, I was able to take everything I've learned and applyit here in a way that made sense."

AdmittedlyLetters Home has its share of darkmoments (try not getting goosebumpswhen Archambault sings, "I gave away my faith when I gave my brother acoffin,") but despite the bleak lyrical content there's an overarchingtheme of hopefulness that permeates the album as well as the band's currentoutlook as well. "I would say unanimously we're more proud of this albumthan anything we've ever done so I feel like regardless of how it's received,we feel like 'mission accomplished.'" Maas adds, "At the end of theday it's the five of us playing music together and that's why we got intohardcore in the first place, becausethere are no rules."

Letters Home is much more than a hardcorerecord, it's a concept album that explores the concepts of loss, family andlove in a way that transcends genres and the chances that Defeater take on thealbum both musically and lyrically will undoubtedly inspire bands who playvarious styles of music on a visceral and artistic level. But enough talk, Letters Home, was meant to be listenedto, so cue up "Bastards" and let the Defeater take you somewhere newyet familiar, where the only limitation is their collective imagination.