Lambgoat Review - http://lambgoat.com/albums/view.aspx?id=2737

At first glance, Defeater appears to have materialized out of thin air.
Travels is an easy choice for a spot in the upper echelon of modern
hardcore releases, and it's even more impressive when considering its
status as a debut release. But dig a little deeper and you'll find that
the band's success isn't entirely unexpected; Defeater is the result of
the reorganization and reinvention of Massachusetts' Sluts, a group
which displayed some pretty promising songwriting ideas on their
self-titled release a couple years back. Now add in a stronger vocalist
in newcomer Derek Archambault and some further fine-tuning of primary
songwriter Jay Maas' musical goals, and Defeater truly becomes a band
with no visible weak link. Anyone into modern, intelligent hardcore
will love this.

It's pretty clear that Defeater shares many
traits with hardcore standouts Verse and Modern Life Is War. Sharp,
engaging vocal lines, creative song structures, and an unmistakable
talent for manufacturing emotional, epic tracks are all integral
ingredients of Defeater's musical foundation. But it's a consistent
string of little songwriting tricks that stamp Travels with its own
standout label, such as when the intense intro of "The City by Dawn"
drops out to a brief, rumbling bass line and poignant screams before
re-injecting drums and melodic guitar lines. Or when the band uses
memorable repetition of lyrics like "She gets a stiff hand from the old
man like the bourbon he's been drinking / black out," in "Nameless
Streets." Or when they unleash the instrumentally-focused, dynamic
swells (reminiscent of the exceptional Sluts track, "Inside Jokes and
Party Favors") in the album's closer, "Cowardice." With the exception
of the competent, but entirely out of place acoustic number in the
latter half of "Prophet in Plain Clothes" -- "What is this, Conor
Oberst?" quizzed my girlfriend at first contact -- Travels is a
consistently exceptional display of noteworthy songwriting with
passionate delivery that deserves a hell of a lot of praise.

With
both Verse and Modern Life Is War having left us in the hardcore world,
Defeater is the first band to step up and legitimately fill part of
that void. Taking Travels as a definite indicator of their
capabilities, I'm expecting very big things from these guys from here
on out. This is top notch stuff from any and every angle.

Bottom Line:
Defeater is the perfect definition of modern hardcore. The band's older
work under the Sluts moniker was enjoyable, but Travels has upped the
ante on all fronts. This is essential listening material for fans of
Modern Life Is War, Verse, and Bridge Nine's current catalog.

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Die Shell Suit - http://www.dieshellsuit.co.uk/default.asp

Score - 9 / 10

Sometimes you know when a hardcore record is going to be a bit special
before you even put it in the player. This is one of those times. There
are no clichéd mosh photos here, nor are there any moody band poses or
clichéd Photoshop compositions. The grainy black and white portraits
that make up the (recycled!) packaging are more reminiscent of Johnny Cash’s
American series of recordings than a typical hardcore band. Press play
and (although the Cash comparisons mostly melt away) the good
impressions remain.

If you took a list of hardcore bands that
break the mould in one way or another you’d probably have a pretty good
list of comparisons and influences for Defeater. Think a mix of the
best parts of Shai Hulud, Boy Sets Fire,
Give up the Ghost and Botch and you won’t be far wrong. Right away you
know this is powerful stuff, the production lets the intricacies of the
guitar work shine
through without losing any of the power or depth, and the main vocals
whilst mostly screamed are rarely distorted and as such are more or
less decipherable - or at least bear some resemblance to the lyrics
printed in the inlay. The lyrics are another standout, with some
definite Give up the Ghost similarities, rising head and shoulders above most hardcore cliché nonsense.

This
is the first hardcore album in quite a while I’ve really liked, and as
such I can highly recommend it. Here’s hoping they tour soon…

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Scene Point Blank -  http://www.scenepointblank.com/reviews/2243

Travels tells the story of a fictional man from birth to death and every heart broken life shattering event in between. So yes, this is a concept album and saying that it's a bit ambitious is a bit of a understatement when it comes to a hardcore band nevertheless them tackling a concept album with their first full-length. Yet here I am listening to a concept album by a hardcore band. Wonders never cease.

Defeater just happens to be the type of band that does a concept album for their debut LP. I wasn't really familiar with this Boston five-piece besides they travel around in a vegetable oil powered van and once went under the moniker of Sluts. Thankfully, Defeater dropped the somewhat offensive goofy name got a bit more serious, starting touring their collective asses off in the Wesson-mobile and got picked up by Bridge Nine Records recently.

Bridge Nine is the hardcore label now that Revelation Records was towards the end of the 80's. Revelation might not have had every great band of the time period but they set the precedent of what bands sounded like for that era. Bridge Nine is the same way on a much more global and even genre defining way. And with Travels I see Defeater not only fitting in with their contemporaries like Have Heart and Verse, I also see them as a band that other bands with try to emulate in the next few years.

Not only does Defeater swing a mean bat with the big dogs at Bridge Nine they also have gathered enough Modern Life is War comparisons to warrant me not wanting to even listen to them. The thing is, for the most part Modern Life is War was very monotonous with bursts of hardcore energy trickled through songs about small towns and dead Ramones. Defeater on the other hand, bypass the Modern Life is War comparison by being an energetic mammoth powerhouse that you can feel that the band just puts everything they have into every lyric, every riff, every snare hit... Yeah, it gets you right "there."

I have a feeling that Defeater may be the band that everyone talks about in 2009. They have a formula of emotive hard hitting hardcore that crashes you like waves during a typhoon. If Defeater would have left off "Carrying Weight", Travels may have been a contender for album of the year. "Carrying Weight" is a folksy acoustic number that sticks out like a sore thumb at a hammer convention. That little misstep cost Defeater a few major points but it doesn't cause them to go head over tail down the mountain either. It's weird, I usually don't care for this over-dramatic somewhat artsy hardcore, however, Defeater tell a compelling story that wraps up the listener into a collision of sounds, hard hitting rhythms, and stabs at chaos. Travels is an interesting journey and one that will be talked about for years to come.

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Way Too Loud - http://www.waytooloud.com/2008/09/17/defeater-travels/

It's amazing how many musical genes are related. I'm listening to "Travels" thinking it sounds like a mix between melodic hardcore, a bit of skate punk, old school punk rock, and even a bit of post-hardcore, and it's all instrument bashing, scream-as-hard-as-you-can fun. Cathartic releases do tend to be enjoyable, especially when you can feel that a band is doing it for themselves without thinking about anyone else in the room. The motion pours off just as raw as it's played, as the guitars seem to be beaten to the point where they're nearly out of tune, and in all the commotion, it sounds like some extra strings are hit in the attack.

Some highlights within the quick instrument destroying include "Prophet in Plain Clothes" with it's acoustic and clean-sung ending, exactly the song that would fit being played on the corner to earn money. There's the skate-punk chords running into noisy, jangly pot-hardcore in "Carring Weight". There's also the powerful slow jam of "Cowardice" at the end, where the band continue to pummel themselves at a slower rate than usual, taking some lighter breaks in between.

This was one of those albums where I had no idea what I was about to hear until I threw it in my CD player. Right off the bat from the first note though, I could tell I was in for an emotional roller coaster. No introduction, just a cavalcade of insanity.

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AVERSIONLINE.COM - http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/

"Travels" is the debut full-length from Boston's Defeater, who I had never heard of before, released by a label I had also never heard of before, Topshelf Records. So, I didn't know what to expect from this one, but the six-panel digipack and eight-page booklet look absolutely awesome, packed with some fucking incredible photography, so I was certainly hoping for/expecting something fairly strong. The result is 11 tracks of that style of contemporary hardcore that's both metallic and extremely melodic, having been compared to bands like Modern Life is War, Comeback Kid, and Verse, which does make some sense. It's an extremely diverse (though cohesive) blend of influences, from its more aggressive and discordant textures and almost straightforward hardcore power chords to its ringing post-hardcore dissonance and energetic bursts of those subtly technical little arpeggiated riffs. Hell, there's even a "folky" acoustic break at the end of "Prophet in Plain Clothes" that seems a little out of place at first, but fits into the narrative of the lyrics and actually settles in pretty well in the context of the whole. It's an impressive debut that sort of takes this lofty, artistic style of hardcore a little farther than most, which is quite promising.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Punk News - http://www.punknews.org/review/7664

I abhor the term "concept album." What had its birth in the overindulgence of ..70s arena rock has become the de facto term for what a band makes when they "mature." Sure, there are artists in the past few years that have actually made albums that tell a coherent story or stick closely to a theme, such as Cursive's excellent Happy Hollow, but for the most part bands misappropriate the term, like on Say Anything's In Defense of the Genre. I'm sorry, but if the concept is songs about your life, it's not really a concept album. Furthermore, if a band actually does succeed at sticking with an idea, it might miss the mark entirely. For an example of this, check out some of the wordy and awkward "only there to tell the story" lyrics and the overwhelming amount of musical filler on Boys Night Out's concept attempt, Trainwreck.

Upon initial inspection of Defeater's debut full-length, Travels, the band seems to avoid most of the trappings I've just laid out about the concept album. Through a nicely economical length of 11 songs in under 35 minutes, the band tells a chronological story set to a driving and desperate hardcore style, much in the vein of Modern Life Is War and Verse. While the MLIW comparison is obvious and will continue to be discussed by others, this feels more like the next step down the path that band began paving before their untimely demise than a straight rip. What set apart MLIW from its contemporaries was their narrative style and tension-building presence, and this is exactly the foundation that Defeater takes and runs with.

What will interest most people initially about this album is, of course, the story. Following a character from birth in 1945 until his death, the opening lyrics set the dark tone to follow: "Unwanted from his first breath, a mother's blessing born, a father's burden worn." From here the lyrics continue in a third-person narrative as we witness the child growing up in a string of unpleasant situations over the span of three songs. The fourth track, "Forgiver Forgetter" features the protagonist at 17 experiencing the turning point that shapes the rest of the story and sets him out on the album's namesake, Travels. Tracks 5-9 follow him through his road life before the album's finale takes him back home to confront what he left behind. Individually, the lyrics work and avoid storytelling cliché. Writing songs that coherently and chronologically tell a story cannot be an easy feat and when taken as a whole, the tale on Travels is raw and moving.

Within the narrative arch, the band sticks to their basic musical approach but takes a nice and wholly appreciated diversion in the middle of the record. During the track "Prophet in Plain Clothes," the lyrics find the protagonist walking through a town where he sees a vagrant playing a guitar and singing on a street corner. The song fades out with the lyrics "'Home is never home,' said the prophet in plain clothes as he strummed his guitar, and he screamed, and he sang…" before it fades into the actual song the bum is singing. It's a short acoustic folk song that reminds me of Bright Eyes, but serves as a good respite from an otherwise overpowering record.

Sonically, the band is muscular and unrelenting. While the recent trend for bands in this style has been to relax into a looser and more organic sound, Defeater takes the opposite approach and relies heavily on their technical musicianship and tight playing. However, even with everything exact at all times, it doesn't lose its emotional impact. Also worth noting is the drum performance by Andy Reitz. While sticking to the songs he still manages to add quite of bit of flash that should excite drum geeks everywhere.

Of course, with anything there are imperfections. Defeater's overall sound is often not easy to digest and requires patience and stamina on the part of the listener. There do exist a few hooks on this record but they are subtle and certainly don't expose themselves upon first listening. In addition, the album sounds like two long songs separated by the aforementioned acoustic interlude, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing since it is telling a story.

While I am usually not exited by the term "concept album" it is clear that Defeater succeeded with this one. It successfully leaves behind the clichés of heavy music and concept album overindulgence and in many ways hits a new artistic peak for hardcore.

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The Punk Site.Com - http://www.thepunksite.com/reviews.php?page=album/number_d/defeater_travels

I had not heard about about Defeater when I first saw them. The artwork, filled with grainy, black and white portraits of different people, grabbed my eye but the label kind of gave me some doubts. While Top Shelf Records was relatively new in the scene, the first two releases by them failed to strike my interest. A hybrid of The Used and Matchbook Romance, Across The Universe and Feels Like July were forgettable releases which in turn pushed Defeater lower in my review pile.

However, a four-star review praising the band from PunkNews forced me to pull the record out and give it an honest opportunity to wow me; and wow me it did.

This was not your run of the mill emo outing, far from it. Defeater was abrasive, abrupt, angry hardcore. It blasts out of the starting gates and never stops. It's an unrelenting attack of ferocious vocals alongside intricate and heavy guitars. It's technical while not following a certain trend of rampant breakdowns and chugging guitars. No, instead Defeater delivers a hardcore album akin to Modern Life is War that fits somewhere between the two dillingers - not as metallic as The Dillinger Escape Plan nor as punky as Dillinger Four. It falls somewhere in between the two acts, making it a delightful hardcore record. One that, while not the easiest to listen to, falls into place nicely and becomes a much needed reprieve from the current trend of making records so palpable. Instead, they take the hardcore sound and build on it with non-stop vigor and energy to create something that would make Bridge Nine proud (but its not as chaotic as Ceremony).

Despite that, the real appeal of the album comes from the lyrics; even though they are undecipherable most of the time. For you see, Defeater have made Travels into more than just a regular album - its a full fledged concept album. But unlike the current idea of concept albums, Travels actually follows the story perfectly. They tell the story of an unnamed man, from his birth in 1945 until his suicide. It tells the tragic tales of an unwanted son, a loving mother, a torturous brother and abusive father. Defeater follows the unnamed hero as he searches for an escape from his past, a new release and the final confrontation.

The most striking portion of the story always reveals around train tracks - both as a child and an adult; however the part that really sticks out comes on Prophet in Plain Clothes. Its halfway through the album, thus halfway through the life, and our faithful protagonist is homeless and wandering the streets. He sees a busker and the story goes "home is never home" said the prophet in plain clothes as he strummed his guitar and he screamed and he sang... it then breaks away from the hardcore outing and jumps into an oddly placed acoustic medley of what the plain clothes prophet is singing. It turns out to be a Bob Dylan song that, sadly, sounds more like Say Anything than Dylan. The two minute acoustic number jumps out and seems out of place amidst the chaotic nature of the album but it helps cement Defeater's investment in the story line; and offers the sole deviation from the hardcore nature of the songs.

Travels is not the easiest listen and not one I'll listen to constantly because it's not exactly up my alley. However, there's something in the unremitting attack by Defeater that has made me play it numerous times over the past few days. Maybe its the emotional screams teetering at the edge of destruction, maybe its the powerful drumming or pure intensity - maybe its just the story line. Whatever it is, Travels has made an album that stands out in the crowd and that's saying something.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paste Punk - http://pastepunk.com/reviews.php?v=2615

Boston's DEFEATER have several pretty cool things going for them: (1) the band includes Jay Maas, whose Getaway Recordings studio is a focal point for up-and-coming hardcore music; (2) they are buddies with bands like VERSE and HAVE HEART, and VERSE's Sean Murphy makes a guest appearance on Travels; and (3) the group was smart to change their name to the somewhat banal DEFEATER away from the somewhat repugnant SLUTS. Travels is the group's first full-length release and falls into the realm of ambitious, viciously swift hardcore that inescapably brings to mind GIVE UP THE GHOST and MODERN LIFE IS WAR (especially in the vocals), but manages to loosen the stranglehold of those connotations. What separates DEFEATER from the pack is the band's dual-guitar attack that grabs a hold of you from both sides and sublimely suggests that the musicianship is seasoned beyond the middle of the bell curve. "Blessed Burden" and "Everything Went Quiet," set the tone for Travels with breakneck tempos and compelling shifts in momentum, and chilled-down talking parts. "Nameless Streets," is peppered with tension and details the story of lives hardened by addiction, while "Forgiver Forgetter," is a percussive showing of jarring force, and "The City By Dawn, " is nothing short of epic. DEFEATER keep up the aggression from their as Travels rides into the sunset after a white-hot 32 minutes. These guys may be a product of contemporary musical tastes, but their awesome show of talent makes them a true diamond in the rough.