British metallers THE DEFILED recently signed a worldwide deal with Nuclear Blast Entertainment, who will release their second album, Daggers, on August 2nd. The artwork was designed and executed by Scott Chalmers, the band's long time photographer.

Keyboardist The AvD explains the concept: “Daggers were made for only one thing - killing or betraying your fellow man. And one stab is almost always never enough… The flowers symbolize goodwill with the prospect of a co-operative future. The dagger behind the back symbolizes the ulterior motives, the insincerity and the impending disappointment that surrounds us all. This theme runs through all the tracks on the album. The concept was born out of a scene we wanted in our new video for 'Unspoken'. We wanted the two main characters shaking hands with daggers behind their backs. We were originally going to call the track 'Daggers' but then opted to go for 'Unspoken'. The song is about the politics of life and it seemed more fitting. We also didn't want to limit the word "Daggers" to only one song on the album, as it is the overall feeling we wanted for the full project.”

Recorded in Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida with acclaimed sonic guru Jason Suecof, Daggers sees the band at the top of their game, with their most powerful and infectious songs so far. The tracklistings of the three different formats are as follows:

Limited Edition Digipak CD:

'Sleeper'

'Unspoken'

'Saints And Sinners'

'As I Drown'

'Porcelain'

'New Approach'

'Fragments Of Hope'

'The Infected'

'The Mourning After'

'Five Minutes'

'No Place Like Home'

Bonus Tracks:

'I Destroy What Destroys Me'

'Self Under Siege'

Digital Album:

'Sleeper'

'Unspoken'

'Saints And Sinners'

'As I Drown'

'Porcelain'

'New Approach'

'Fragments Of Hope'

'The Infected'

'The Mourning After'

'Five Minutes'

'No Place Like Home'

Digital Deluxe Version (iTunes exclusive):

'Sleeper'

'Unspoken'

'Saints And Sinners'

'As I Drown'

'Porcelain'

'New Approach'

'Fragments Of Hope'

'The Infected'

'The Mourning After'

'Five Minutes'

'No Place Like Home'

Bonus Tracks:

'I Destroy What Destroys Me'

'Self Under Siege'

The band has released their 'Unspoken' video, directed by Robin Fuller (FEED THE RHINO, HAWK EYES, DAATH) and produced by award winning producer Craig Tuohy. Craig’s own production company, Ascension Productions, won a golden trailer award for the work on The Kings Speech and has also worked with the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme.

“Making our first official video for Daggers was the most fun we have had filming. Stitch and I tried our hand at acting and as we decided on the day, we nailed it! Not really, we are terrible actors…”, jokes The AvD.

He continues: “We also got to work with our old pal Robin Fuller who was actually the very man that directed our first ever video ‘The Resurrectionists’. I think this video sums up what ‘Unspoken’ is all about. We wanted a very specific scene in there where the two protagonists (The AvD and Stitch D) are smiling at each other and shaking hands with knives behind their backs. This very scene was the inspiration for the actual cover of Daggers as this theme runs throughout the whole album.”

To whet the appetites of fans, the first song from the album, 'Sleeper', was released via iTunes on March 17th. A lyric video for the track can be seen below:

More on The Defiled at this location.