Damn, how have I been able to miss DEFECTO all these years. This Progressive Metal band from Copenhagen, Denmark has just blown me sideways with their new album "Echoes Of Isolation". As this one is released by Frontiers Music Srl, I was expecting a lot more sedated music and sound, but DEFECTO has just thrown that assumption out of the water in the most positive way. As for their musical genre, I mentioned the Progressive Metal part, which takes up 70%, but you will also get 15% Melodic Metal and 15% of something that borders on or applies as Metalcore. So, if you, like me, were thinking of sitting back and letting this flow by in a relaxed atmosphere, think again.

This is Metal from head to toe, and bloody impressive if you ask me. You will have to be able to endure rather fast rhythms, intricate drumming, expressive bass play and almost masturbatory tone ladder ascending and descending from the guitars. But what I find most impressive is that it never gets out of whack, the band never lets it go too far. And yes, I do feel that the music that DEFECTO plays on "Echoes Of Isolation" has all the hallmarks of a band that is letting loose, giving it their all. I therefore have to admit that for the first time in 2026, I am smitten. What a brilliant treat this is.

On top of all of the instrumentalists doing their thing you have the vocals by Nicklas Sonne. It doesn't matter whether he sings clean or with a bit of a gravelly voice, or even when he grunts/growls, he sounds amazing. It makes the whole "Echoes Of Isolation" album shine just that little bit more. But even if he is good, he isn't the most impressive voice of DEFECTO this time. That honour goes to the Danish actor and singer Stig Rossen. The way that man sounds in the duet on "Heart On Fire" is almost godlike.

Well, if you haven't figured it out, so far for 2026 this is easily my choice for the best album I have heard so far. Not only has DEFECTO opened my eyes to a band I never knew beforehand, with "Echoes Of Isolation" they have produced an album that will be very regularly doing its round on my laptop as well as my phone and headphones. This is brilliant Progressive Metal, and yes, as far as I'm concerned that is due to the addition of a bit of Melodic Metal and Metalcore into the mix. Therefore my first maximum score of 2026.