THE DROP
British alt-metal band Defences have dropped "More Of Us (Than There Are Of Them)" with Skindred's Benji Webbe guesting *†. It's an outright protest track — vocalist Cherry Duesbury says the first wave of ICE abductions in the US was one of the tipping points that pushed her to write it *†.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Defences are roughly a decade in with two EPs and three albums, plus Download, Takedown, Turbulence and Burn It Down on the festival résumé *.
- Benji Webbe of Skindred is the guest vocalist *†.
- Rock Sound calls it chaotic modern metalcore that swings between beauty and brutality †.
- Duesbury's immediate family lives in a majority-Republican US state, which she says made the news hit harder than previous stories *†.
- Lineup: Duesbury (vocals), William Young (keys/vocals), Calum Wilmot (guitar), Kyle Parke (drums) *.
- UK dates in November supporting Future Palace, with Autumn also on the bill: London The Garage (4th), Manchester Academy 3 (5th), Glasgow Slay (6th), Leeds Key Club (7th) †.
THE TAKE
Putting Webbe on a protest song is the smartest move Defences could have made — he's spent a career making political ragga-metal sound like a party you can't ignore, and this band clearly wants screams, not whispers *. Duesbury frames it as a point of no return: "these whispered questions talk of upheaval and, ultimately, rebellion" *. Worth noting neither source ties this to an album, so right now it's a standalone statement rather than a campaign opener †.