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DEFEATED SANITY – “Chronicles of Lunacy”
DEFEATED SANITY – “Chronicles of Lunacy”
by Thor
Germany’s prolific purveyors of brutal tech-death return with an eight-song slab of guttural goodness.
DEFEATED SANITY has been around for over 30 years now, which is both crazy and impressive. This latest offering, “Chronicles of Lunacy” is exemplary of what the band does best: American-style brutality with a tech twist, a la bands like MALIGNANCY, DEVOURMENT, and DISGORGE. This album would have fit right in with Unique Leader’s output of the early aughts.
Song concepts run the death metal gamut here. “Odor” literally describes the reek of religious fanaticism, “A Patriarchy Perverse” is a stroll through the mind of serial killer Ed Kemper—a favorite inspiration of death metal bands this year—and “Extrinsically Enraged” is just about contracting rabies. So, grab a guitar and gather ‘round the campfire, kids!
Musically, this album features a relatively back-to-basics approach from the band. And that’s a welcome change as the last couple DEFEATED SANITY albums, while good, lacked visceral oomph. “Chronicles of Lunacy” on the other hand is all heavy, all the time.
The foundation is comprised of lone-original member, song writer, and drummer Lile Gruber’s ridiculously tasty tech drumming that vacillates between blinding blast beats and monster grooves. That much is to be expected. However, Vaughn Stoffey’s guitars and Jacob Schmidt’s bass combine to form an impenetrable wall of pinch-harmonic infused chunkiness that keeps these songs relentlessly brutal. And it’s all tied together by the concrete-grinding gutturals of vocalist Josh Welshman.
The album’s production also brings things back to basics with an organic vibe that sounds human in origin, another welcome trend in extreme metal this year after a couple decades of cold, digital perfection across the genres.
DEFEATED SANITY’s “Chronicles of Lunacy” is sure to please fans of no-frills brutal death metal and tech-nerds alike. Go grab it!
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