Defeated Sanity – Chronicles of Lunacy Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

The scattering guitar stabbings and inertia-rupturing kick runs of Defeated Sanity’s earlier exhausting oeuvre fell blurry in early critical discussion.1 And while the brutal death loving scene at large may have found less issue with what Psalms of the Moribund up to Passages into Deformity offered in terms None So Vile-indebted,2 frenzied groove, 2016’s Disposal of the Dead // Dharmata cemented with a two-pronged approach Defeated Sanity’s tonal heaviness and technical prowess. From humble roots as a father-son project between kit commander Lille Gruber and now departed jazz journeyman Wolfgang Teske, these German slam summoners have grown alongside post-Suffocation flagbearers like the shred-snappy Dying Fetus and hammer-wielding Devourment in a manner far more rhythmically studied. Growth as a concept, though, in this genre which pursues with relentless, murderous intent the swinging arms and whipping necks of its consumers, can present in forms contradictory to its primal base of mouth-frothing riff drags.

Yet, the chase towards the limits of extremity has defined both the trajectory of brutal death metal and Defeated Sanity. In turn, 2020’s career high mark The Sanguinary Impetus expanded upon Defeated Sanity’s frenetic, gutter-tuned madness and jazzy, warm, nimble-footed stimulations through the engineering expertise of extreme metal’s greatest ally, Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts),3 allowing the impact of Defeated Sanity’s free brutality to land with frightening precision. Organic and cutting, Gruber’s kit—already a known highlight in the Defeated Sanity brand—finds dynamic tones that separate gravity-rated snare rolls from rimshot murder calls, push synth toms that evoke a Peart/Reinart bouncing homage (Rush, Cynic, respectively, particularly on the outro to “Temporal Disintegration”)4, and spread cymbal accents that kiss the edges of the soundscape to dissipate the madness. Marston’s fuller control over Chronicles manages chaos while still showcasing the depth of play that Defeated Sanity possesses.

In reaction to the preceding overdosed-on-Watchtower expedition, Chronicles stomps with its steel-toes caked in Suffocation-by-jazz-graduates fervor, serving stank, slam, and snare-drills in equal and obnoxious measure (“The Odour of Sanctity,” “Extrinsically Enraged”). None of what Chronicles has festered in the Defeated Sanity think tank plays worlds different than previous work, but its leanness and excess in detail forces repeated, engaging listens. For the unbaptized, speed-adorned, hammering snare runs break open the brutal death flood gates and reinvigorate its half-time crawls with little concern for whether the listener will be able to hang along for the breakneck ride (“Amputationsdrang,” “Accelerating the Rot,” “A Patriarchy Perverse”). Oh, and those crawls, engorged and dripping with a primal passion, land often with all the calamitous force that Defeated Sanity promises.

But for all the rage and ragged riffcraft that Defeated Sanity splays about the festering crooks and scabbed-over crannies of Chronicles, their undeniable attachment to groove as an anchor remains vital to success. The guitar work across any Defeated Sanity album comes second in technicality to Gruber and longtime bassist Jacob Schmidt. But its ability to punctuate rumbling, fret-clanging pulses with a percussive treble accent (“Temporal Disintegration,” “Extrinsically Enraged”), or dance about Gruber’s best Bobby Jarzombek (Spastic Ink, Fates Warning) impressions (“Condemned to Vascular Famine”) and hellish blasts (“Amputationsdrag,” “Accelerating…”), gives Chronicles an amplified weight that it needs. Defeated Sanity’s continued mission to layer rhythm upon rhythm upon rhythm—including vocalist Josh Welshman’s poetically metered, putrid, and unintelligible spews—finds an important tether in this thoughtful technicality.

Brutal death metal at its most basic level expresses the aggression of death metal through lenses of increasing absurdity and Defeated Sanity’s continued refinement of their devious dialogues tethers with ease the listener to their every wile. Whether brief like the grinding intro of “Amputationsdrang” or extended like the techy spasm of the penultimate “Condemned to Vascular Famine,” each run on Chronicles of Lunacy comes loaded with more impressive moments than any listener could hope to remember in entirety. But the beauty in the snarling and crushing atmosphere that Defeated Sanity creates exists in its ability to switch from knuckle-scraping slam to finger-testing climb as if all were one from the beginning. Chronicles of Lunacy, as a honed interpretation of Defeated Sanity already proven métier, finds an easy spot in the upper tier of their storied catalog—and it doubles as a killer neck exercise.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Season of Mist | Bandcamp
Websites: defeatedsanity.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/DefeatedSanity
Releases Worldwide: November 22nd, 2024

Maddog

Three decades in, Defeated Sanity remains just out of reach of convenient descriptors. They’re too proggy to be Cryptopsy, but far too brutal for Death; too slammy for Suffocation, but too riffy for Wormed; neither noodly enough for Origin nor grindy enough for Dying Fetus. A distinctive medley of familiar pieces, Defeated Sanity has always targeted maximum brutality, in both their caveman slam breaks and their superhuman technical flourishes. This has resulted in one of brutal death metal’s most unassailable discographies; even their most recent album The Sanguinary Impetus earned a 4.0 and a handful of list spots in 2020. Its follow-up Chronicles of Lunacy charts charted waters, but it’s a jolt of adrenaline nonetheless.

Defeated Sanity’s signatures swirl together on Chronicles of Lunacy. Despite picking up a new lead guitarist in Vaughn Stoffey (whose main cred appears to be an adjunct professorship in jazz guitar), the band’s guitarwork is as fearsome as ever. Chronicles’ most technical riffs maintain a strong sense of melody, even in their syncopated flailing. Brutal near-OSDM sections offer a respite, interspersed with bouts of slam. Defeated Sanity’s prog proclivities are tasteful but omnipresent, like the jazzy outro of “Temporal Distintegration” and the off-kilter rhythms of the opener “Amputationsdrang.” Indeed, while there are more differences than similarities, Defeated Sanity remains mandatory listening for fans of Human-era Death. Long-time bassist Jacob Schmidt holds it all together, with vivid bass lines that thump without farting.5 And as always, Lille Gruber’s drums marry the rhythmic prowess of Mike Smith (Suffocation) with the snare-heavy circus act of Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy). Every member of Defeated Sanity balances high-brow compositional wizardry with serf-friendly jams.

Even at its most unhinged, Chronicles of Lunacy is impossible to tune out. Defeated Sanity has cracked the code; the secret to musical success is to sound both interesting and thrilling. Parts of Chronicles lean one way or the other, like the mesmerizing drum patterns of “Condemned to Vascular Famine” and the shameless slam of “Accelerating the Rot.” But the album’s triumph is its ability to blur the line among its diverse strengths. Miraculously, one of its most memorable riffs is the opening of “Temporal Disintegration,” whose Wormed melody slays despite its indecipherable rhythm. Similarly, Defeated Sanity’s breakdowns use a strong sense of melody to escape slam’s typical idiocy (“Condemned to Vascular Famine”). A chunk of credit goes to Colin Marston’s production job. Marston’s talent is undisputed, but he outdoes himself with a lush guitar sound that honors both Defeated Sanity’s cutting riffs and their technical spectacles. Despite its twists and turns, Chronicles of Lunacy has lodged in my memory much more than I’d expected.

But if you blink, you might miss it. While Chronicles teeters on the edge of lunacy through much of its runtime, it sometimes steps over the edge. The album’s earlier cuts suffer the most, sometimes leaving me confused about how their chaotic pieces fit together (“The Odour of Sanctity”). More generally, when songs shapeshift so frequently, they can lose their sense of identity. For example, while “Extrinsically Enraged” blends Killing on Adrenaline and Pierced from Within riffs that each drag me in, its hectic mix of ideas makes the track less recognizable. Still, these are outliers in a record that otherwise showcases thoughtful writing. Gruber’s drum shenanigans superglue disparate sections together, as do the expertly executed fade-in melodies (“Condemned to Vascular Famine”). The closer “Heredity Violated” deserves special mention, with a climactic introduction, a skull-shattering main riff, and an ebb and flow that make it my favorite closer of 2024. Overall, Chronicles of Lunacy’s loose seams are just small holes in a tight-knit garment.

With bands like Wormed, Noxis, and Nile churning out stellar releases in 2024, brutal death metal has already given us more than we deserve. Defeated Sanity’s latest is just the cherry on top. Sanity’s Lunacy rewards patience, and its frenzied darting between technicality and brutality is a head-scratcher even after weeks of attention. But I’ll be damned if it isn’t one of 2024’s most endearing death metal releases.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

#2024 #40 #BrutalDeathMetal #ChroniclesOfLunacy #Cryptopsy #Death #DeathMetal #DefeatedSanity #Devourment #DyingFetus #GermanMetal #Nov24 #Origin #ProgressiveDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMist #SpasticInk #Suffocation #TechnicalBrutalDeathMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #Watchtower #Wormed

Stuck in the Filter: July 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

After the tight lineup we cobbled together for June, July provided a similarly lean yield for our team to offer the masses. It appears that my minions responsible for scraping the channels clean have become far too efficient! That said, what we did find might be our most valuable haul yet this year.

And so, we persist. Always dedicated to bringing you the not-quite-best-but-also-still-good two months ago or so had to offer, we scour for little nuggets worth inspecting. What more could an Angry Metal Fan ask for?

Kenstrosity’s Cataclysmic Critters

A Wake in Providence // I Write to You, My Darling Decay [July 26th, 2024 – Unique Leader Records]

Staten Island symphonic deathcore collective A Wake in Providence dropped a considerable payload back in 2022 entitled Eternity. Opulent and catastrophically heavy, Eternity bathed me in rich orchestration and legitimate riffs instead of stereotypical breakdowns and unending single-chord chugfests. Needless to say, I was enamored. Follow-up I Write to You, Darling Decay represents a deathcore equivalent to Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Opera, focusing more on lyrical storytelling and implementing vocal diversification as a vehicle for character development. Perhaps not quite as sophisticated— since those meatheaded, muscular chugs of the deathcore world still crop up here and there—I Write to You still offers major hooks and delectable detailing to keep my interest piqued through a full hour of new material (“Mournful Benediction,” “Agonofinis,” title track, “The Unbound,” and “Pareidolia”). Aside from those superficial qualities, I Write to You’s real selling point is album cohesion and overall fit and finish. Like a babbling brook across the smoothest bed of sand and soil, this record flows with a fluidity rarified in the genre (check out the awesome three-song transition between “Agonofris” and “In Whispers”). Combine that with a textured and multifaceted musical progression through a grief-stricken storyline, and you have a winning formula for an engaging record that earns its epic sound.

Cell // Shattering the Rapture of the Primordial Abyss [July 12th, 2024 – Self Release]

I first encountered Canadian black metallers Cell on a little Bandcamp stroll years ago, followed shortly by a breezy and brutal beach set just before 2020’s 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise. Nobody I knew had heard of them then, but I knew they had chops. With third album Shattering the Rapture of the Primordial Abyss, they’ve proven me right and then some. Combining icy Immortalisms with the chunky buzz of old school death, major bangers “Waking of the Blazing Night,” “The Plight of Council Skaljdrum,” “Drink the Sun,” “Unification of the Last Alliance,” and “Return of Tranquility through the Desolation of Truth” represent the sharpest, hookiest, and heaviest material Cell’s put down to date. Fury and fire characterize every riff, lead, and blast on Shattering the Rapture, but it’s the uncanny sense of groove that suddenly springs from Cell’s cells that takes this record within a stone’s throw of greatness. Tightening up the overlong fragments that bloat otherwise solid tracks like “Serenity in Darkness… Evermore” and closer “Carnage from the Sky” would go along way to throwing that stone past that threshold. Until then, rest assured that Rapture of the Primordial Abyss is a ripper, worthy of your time and your spine.

Dehumanaut // Of Nightmares and Vice [July 17th, 2024 – Self Release]

Just like Cell, Dehumanaut entered my rotation thanks to a serendipitous stroll through the Bandcamp ticker. Boasting a unique blend of death metal, thrash, and bluesy bar-crawl hard rock, these Brits offer something novel to the extreme metal catalog. With sophomore effort, Of Nightmares and Vice, Dehumanaut double down on the death and blues, evoking Entombed‘s Wolverine Blues in spirit as much as in execution. With swinging tracks like “Shred this Reality,” “A Perilous Path,” “Battle Weary,” “Epiphanies,” and “Black City” deftly stepping between deathly riffs and danceable grooves, thrashier cuts such as “Reject the Knife,” “Nexus of Decline” and “A Truth Most Foul,” and “It Has a Name” feel even speedier and more rabid than usual. Aside from affording Of Nightmares and Vice oodles of dynamics in songwriting, this multifaceted and structured approach to genre-bending showcases Dehumanaut’s versatility as musicians. Everything they attempt here feels effortless and reflexive, making every transition between measure and phrase not just purposeful but also buttery-smooth (“Battle Weary”). If it weren’t for a bit of bloat across the board, oddly muffled mixing, and somewhat flat death metal growls, Of Nightmares and Vice would be in play among my top records of July. Even still, it comes close!

Saunders’ Salacious Slams

Cephalotripsy // Epigenetic Neurogenesis [July 13th, 2024 – Self-Release ]

Looking for something so stupidly heavy and obnoxiously brutal that listening could kill brain cells and incite a rampage? California’s underground warriors Cephalotripsy have you covered on long-awaited sophomore album, and follow-up to 2007’s cult and apparently well received debut, Uterovaginal Insertion of Extirpated Anomalies. Unfamiliar with their previous output, I stumbled across this latest endeavor through a trusted recommendation, fulfilling my fix for devastatingly brutal slam death. Epigenetic Neurogenesis takes no prisoners and delivers blow after blow of steamrolling, pugnacious brutal death. Brimming with inhuman, sewer dwelling vocal eruptions of Angel Ochoa (Abominable Putridity), hammering percussion, and an onslaught of ridiculously thick, heavy riffs, exhibiting the sharp, technical skills of veteran brutal death axe wielder and long-term member Andrés Guzman. The newer members form a pummeling rhythm section driving the guttural swarm. Weighing in at a tight and efficient 32 minutes, the beatdown is relentless, though concise enough to avoid an early burn out. The songwriting doesn’t reinvent the brutal slam death wheel. However, the tight execution, dynamic tempo shifts, and memorable riffcraft elevates the material. Viscous, cranium crushing riffs and utterly devastating slams frequently deployed adds further grunt, immense weight and memorability on a set of killer tunes, including extra chunky gems “Alpha Terrestrial Polymorph,” ” Lo Tech Non Entity,” and “Excision of Self.” Nasty, crushing stuff.

Dear Hollow’s Disturbing Dump

Silvaplana // Sils Maria | Limbs of Dionysus [July 17th, 2024 – Self-Release]

Although shrouded in mystery, Silvaplana is a solo project of Alex DeMaria of Yellow Eyes and Anicon. Blackened punishment paired with atmosphere have long been the aim, but Silvaplana’s duel release finds duality: both take influence from parent releases separately. Sils Maria takes on a hyper-atmospheric, classically influenced, and dark ambient approach across six tracks and forty-one minutes, blackened blastbeats and distant shrieks hidden behind thick swaths of ambiance, organ, and piano, a relatively gentle affair that recalls the wild yet placid sounds of Yellow Eyes’ latest. Meanwhile, the two-track and also forty-one minutes of Limbs of Dionysus feeds a ritualistic fire with a scathingly raw black attack, reverb-laden growls, moans, and shrieks colliding with relentless tremolo that continuously scale minor and diminished frostbitten mountaintops with reckless abandon. Both seem entirely disparate in context to one another, but smartly they are held together by the thin thread of melodic motifs. The organ that populates Sils Maria’s tracks “II,” “IV” and “VI” are recalled in the closing remarks of “I” in Limbs of Dionysus; the ominous organ trills of the former’s “III” are warped into a blackened beast in the latter’s “II.” As Limbs of Dionysus concludes, the feedback-laden plucking feeds right into the morphing plucking populating the beginning of Sils Maria – an ouroboros of the blackened arts. Silvaplana exists on both self-indulgent and decadent ends of the blackened spectrum with Sils Maria and Limbs of Dionysus, both baffling and tantalizing in their rawness and ambiance, and otherworldly in their collaboration.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Inconspicuous Import

Quasidiploid // Deconstruction [July 1st, 2024 – Amputated Vein Records]

Do you see that cover art? Yes, it’s some sort of countess of the undead summoning the skull-kind with a horn. Would you believe then that one of the features throughout Deconstruction is its inclusion of a female trumpet player to break up the tension of a relentless, brutal technical death metal? Oh yeah, she’s also the vocalist and possesses a vicious guttural bark, shrill and penetrating squeals and hisses (the vocal intro on “Disasters and Infection Routes” is a straight Dir en grey moment), and a higher register manic collapse that features at key moments. That’s all to say that the cover lands a bit on the nose, but, in turn, the carnival crazed whiplash of Quasidiploid swings between brutal Cryptopsy riff smashing, Pat Martino jazz guitar pleasantries, Necrophagist sweep punishing, and Chuck Mangione brass crooning (“Overture”)—unhinged, unbothered, and anything but accessible. I would call it too unpolished, as Deconstruction strikes with a bit of a demo quality. But sometimes we have to ask ourselves whether what we hear is a questionably processed demo or an intentionally shredded Japanese master? In any case virtuosity reigns as provably human skin slammer Vomiken pushes a bass-loaded kick and a high-crunch kit to abusive and enthralling accelerations only to crash in on the spurt of a forlorn trumpet or flourish of a prancing guitar line (“Brutal Strafing,” “Massacre Fantasy”). Guitar lines weave about traditionally nimble sweeps to tricky meter riff crushes on a dime (“Melodies of Distorted Time and Space,” “Disasters…”). Tonal identities flip between Nile-istic, snaking melodies, flippant yet tasteful guitar heroics, and propulsive rhythm blasts whose only break is the close of a song. The definition of something olde, new, borrowed, and blue, Quasidiploid has come from far left field to provide a classics-inspired but funky fresh version of an extreme genre that thrives exactly on this kind of weird—a curiosity now, but with all the makings of something truly explosive to come.

Mark Z.’s Musings

200 Stab Wounds // Manual Manic Procedures [June 28th, 2024 – Metal Blade Records]

Following a rapid rise to fame during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio death metal troupe 200 Stab Wounds thrust their Slave to the Scalpel debut onto the masses in 2021. While I was about as mixed on that one as Felagund was, their second album Manual Manic Procedures has proven these wounds cut far deeper than originally thought. The massive beefy chugs that the band have become known for are still here in full force, but now they’re paired with sharper hooks and a heightened sense of maturity. On Procedures, you’ll hear acoustic plucking, immense Bolt Thower riffing, grooves that will blow your guts out, and even some melodic death metal influence—and that’s just on the first song. The band also know when to give you a breather, be it a well-placed atmospheric instrumental (“Led to the Chamber / Liquefied”) or an extended ride on a great groovy riff (“Defiled Gestation”). With a monstrous guitar tone, plenty of killer moments, and a track flow that’s smoother than liquefied human remains sliding off a kitchen counter, these Cleveland boys have given us a record that truly feels like modern death metal coming into its own.

#200StabWounds #2024 #AWakeInProvidence #AbominablePutridity #AmericanMetal #AmputatedVeinRecords #Anicon #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #BluesRock #BoltThrower #BrutalDeathMetal #CanadianMetal #Cell #Cephalotripsy #ChuckMangione #Cryptopsy #DeathMetal #Deathcore #Deconstruction #Dehumanaut #DirEnGrey #Entombed #EpigeneticNeurogenesis #FleshgodApocalypse #HardRock #IWriteToYouMyDarlingDecay #Immortal #JapaneseMetal #Jul24 #LimbsOfDionysus #ManualManicProcedures #MelodicDeathMetal #MetalBladeRecords #Necrophagist #Nile #OfNightmaresAndVice #PatMartino #Quasiploid #RawBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #SelfRelease #ShatteringTheRaptureOfThePrimordialAbyss #SilsMaria #Silvaplana #Slam #StuckInTheFilter #SymphonicDeathMetal #SymphonicDeathcore #SymphonicMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #ThrashMetal #UKMetal #UniqueLeaderRecords #YellowEyes