ABOUT: DEFECTS
Defects’ 2024 debut album Modern Error was a lifetime of trauma encapsulated in 50 minutes. It highlights the anguish singer Tony Maue felt at being taken into care at a young age. Its heavyweight material connected with metal fans across the globe.
Pandora’s Box has been opened. The follow-up, Artificial Icons—produced by Jim Pinder (Sleep Token, Bring Me the Horizon) and featuring Matt Heafy —fizzes with anger, loss, frustration, and the balance of survival. This is the evolution of Modern Error: darker, sharper, and more honest than ever.
They deliver a volatile mix: crushing riffs, thunderous breakdowns, and soaring choruses. They surge between savage screams and anthemic vocals, pushing and pulling between chaos and clarity. Beneath the heaviness lies a raw core—music tackling trauma and inner conflict, lingering long after it fades.
On Artificial Icons, Maue goes deeper than before. They tackle war (‘Signs’ ft. Matt Heafy) and a world of control and lies (‘Artificial Icons’), but the album’s core remains his searing emotional minefields, as he navigates through helplessness (‘Where Did I Go Wrong’), loss (‘The Other Side’), manipulation (‘State of Mind’), frustration and emptiness (‘All For Nothing’), and acknowledging flaws in yourself (‘Afterglow’).
The band have swept across Europe with Trivium, Northlane, Of Mice and Men, Orbit Culture, Funeral for a Friend, Bullet for My Valentine and In Flames. Their festival checklist has been a monster exercise: Download (UK), Slam Dunk (UK), Mystic Festival (Poland), Rock Im Park/Rock Am Ring (Germany), Impericon Festival (Germany), Rockharz (Germany), Summer Breeze Open Air (Germany), Rock for the People (Czech Republic), Jera On Air (The Netherlands), Graspop (Belgium), and Parkpop (Belgium).
2026 Defects offers a renewed line up of Tony Maue (vocals) and guitarist James Threadwell alongside new members Rowan Jack (drums) and Orlando Morris-Winmill (guitar.)
Grief and trauma don't vanish overnight; they twist and evolve, indifferent to who you are or what you face. Still, you push forward—because there's no other choice.
Artificial Icons continues to chronicle that journey and light the path and they go forward.