Dark and dreary, Defiling the Decayed ticks all the standard death metal boxes, while avoiding the pitfalls of being trite or a caricature. This is achieved through confident pacing and beefy riffs that bring the material forth with strength. Keeping up with the percussion, this mid-paced macabre missive allows more time to be spent digesting the material at hand instead of falling victim to an overdone onslaught of speed or lo-fi grime. The nine tracks on display speak to death, reanimation, and other grave related terrors as one would expect from a band named Mausoleum. In addition to these titles and lyrics, the zombie cover art is fantastic and another wonderful piece in Rick Zesati's CV.

 

With Defiling the Decayed, Mausoleum continue to grow their death riddled discography. While their full lengths are few and far between, one can at least be happy with their overall quality. There is a comfort to a tried and true sound, especially when associated with tight visuals and a well respected record label. Not everything has to be new and different, sometimes just a different look can be enough, much like a dripping, rotting face of a loved one coming to have you for dinner. In a world that is constantly changing, it's nice to have something that you can still set your watch to, and Defiling the Decayed is an album that can help you keep the time and happiness when everything else seems to be going haywire.