Right from the start in 1999 THE DEFACED have made an impact on the scene with their very clean brand of Thrash Metal. From day one you knew who they were, which was enhanced with the release of their three albums during that time. The big difference between bands like DARKANE, CONSTRUCDEAD and such was that where they tended to go for the throat in aggression by adding Death Metal into the mix, THE DEFACED took the more sophisticated route, by adding grooves instead of throwing knives.  On the three albums they did until 2008 they showed the world that you could play thrash without having to throw yourself around.

In 2008 they decided to split, which was mainly due to the many line-up changes that were occurring in the Swedish Thrash Metal scene. But, as the years progressed, original members Klas Ideberg and Mattias Svensson decided that the burial of THE DEFACED had been premature, so they resurrected the band in 2019, adding former live drummer Bob Ruben and renowned vocalist Jens Broman (ex-CONSTRUCDEAD, ex-DARKANE, ex-HATELIGHT) to complete the current names of employment. They have taken almost three years to come up with their first tangible musical endeavour, which is called "Charlatans".

The question is if they are "Charlatans"? Well, no, they are not. The album starts off like we're used to from THE DEFACED, with good sounding Thrash Metal with a groovy touch. Of the ten songs on the 43 minutes lasting album there are six that can be counted into that area, and they make a goods statement for the new start of the band. They do become "Charlatans" on the other four songs, as that is where the groove is key. Those are the songs that let the album down. The only exception in this part is "Son Of The Sun", which mixes the best of both worlds in a way that is mesmerising and enticing.

All together I can only conclude that although THE DEFACED have released a nice album with "Charlatans", it doesn't have the qualities to make it stand out in the massive amount of new music being thrown at us left, right, and centre. And that's a pity, because the band does have the ability to write good songs. For the future, please be so kind to eliminate the tunes that are sub-par, as it takes away much of the splendour of the good ones.