Defy by Of Mice & Men

Defy, the fifth studio album from Of Mice & Men, arrived on Rise Records on January 19, 2018, and it's the first chapter of a new story. Austin Carlile, the singer who co-founded the Costa Mesa band, had left in late 2016 because of a long-term health condition, so bassist Aaron Pauley stepped up as sole lead vocalist, with Phil Manansala and Alan Ashby on guitars and Valentino Arteaga on drums.

Howard Benson produced the follow-up to Cold World, and the band sound determined to prove the point the title makes. The metalcore crunch is still there, but the hooks are cleaner and bigger, built around Pauley's soaring voice, and the title track lands like a statement of intent. First-week sales in America came to 9,400 copies.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.