I may need cash out my metal cred in saying this, but… I’ve always had a bit of a tenuous relationship with brutal death metal. It’s an extremely fun genre for a quick fix, and sometimes you just want a good bludgeoning. But sweep or slam riffs and gurgling can only entertain me for so long before it gets a bit too samey. If it’s all brutal, where are the dynamics to highlight just how brutal it is? Fortunately, there are a few bands in the genre that take an extra step and add in a little bit of spice to really stand out from the pack. Germany’s Defeated Sanity is one of those bands, and with their new album Chronicles of Lunacy, I’m reminded once again that, sometimes, brutal death metal can be really damned cool.
Now, Defeated Sanity has been around a little while, and it’s for good reason that the band is considered one of brutal death’s finest. Their sound isn’t necessarily dissimilar from many of their genre mates, trading in technical riffs fueled by blast beats, mixed with crushing slam riffs guaranteed to cause stiff necks for most listeners. But where the band has always stood apart is the latent jazzy, proggy approach they’ve snuck into style, which comes out in subtly melodic riffs redolent of Human-era Death, their tricky rhythmic complexity, and the always wild drums of central member Lille Gruber. Through these elements, Defeated Sanity manages to play both sides by delivering the goods for anyone seeking sheer brute force, while also giving listeners a lot of complexity to chew on. You could almost call them ‘thinking man’s brutal death metal’. And with their new album, they stake that claim once again.
From go, Chronicles of Lunacy delivers on all fronts. Kicking off with the punchy “Amputationsdrang”, the album is pummeling from the first moment while also quickly reintroducing the band’s staggering, jagged approach to rhythm. The riffs turn over on themselves in trick stop-start patterns, guided by Gruber’s deft drumming, while the guitars and bass churn with a dense, dirty but clear tone. Lead-off single “The Odour of Sanctity” ups the sheer brutal factor, and I’ll admit it had me thinking they were simplifying their sound a little at first listen. Defeated Sanity, expectedly, proved me totally wrong by the time “Temporal Disintegration” lurched forth with its brain-frying intro and winding complexity, eventually closing out in a rhythm section jam that is just an absolute delight, and all told I’d probably be tempted to call that track my own pick of the litter.
The back half of the album, of course, is just as outstanding as the first. “A Patriarchy Perverse” is a delight with some riffs making that callback to Death‘s Human as well as well as the band’s own experimentations on the Dharmata half of their 2016 split with themselves (if you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s an absolute blast). The closing tracks “Condemned to Vascular Famine” and “Heredity Violated”, connected by a brief clean jazz guitar section, wrap up the album on yet another high note, and weighing in at a lean 33 minutes, Chronicles of Lunacy is exactly as long as it needs to be for Defeated Sanity to reassert their technical brutal death dominance while leaving the listener wanting more. Which is an absolute treat in a genre that can prove exhausting pretty quickly.
The musicianship, of course, is perfect throughout, helmed by Gruber’s drumming. The man is an absolute legend, and between Chronicles of Lunacy and Ingurgitating Oblivion‘s latest monolith, he’s put on a legendary performance this year. Longtime member Jacob Schmidt’s bass is likewise phenomenal and mercifully given a lot of presence in the mix, while Vaughn Stoffey’s guitars are pristine across any riff, technical or otherwise. Josh Welshman’s vocals aren’t exactly unique for the genre, but he gives a stellar performance throughout. The mix is gritty but not messy, giving all instruments ample weight while not turning the whole sound into mush, and you do have to love a band that refuses to sterilize their sound in pursuit of sheer technicality. I mean, how perfect is that snare sound for brutal death metal?
It would almost be fair to say Defeated Sanity could safely be called brutal death metal’s own Meshuggah. Not so much because of any blatant sonic similarity, but more so due to how natural they sound in their own complexity. Chronicles of Lunacy features so many moments that feel like the band should fall apart, but they’re so locked in with each other that it always works, whether they’re on a simple slam riff or playing sections that sound like they were sightreading their sheet music through a kaleidoscope. The effect borders on psychedelic just in how tricky some parts can be to follow, even in complete absence of any trickery that a band may use to seems psychedelic. But at the end of the day, Chronicles of Lunacy just feels like an excellent brutal death metal album, and not some sort of experimental brutal jazz fusion record. It’s plain impressive.
Am I surprised at how much I ended up loving Chronicles of Lunacy? Not really, no. The band is legendary in their genre for a reason, and the complexity of their sound appeals to my inner prog kid just as much as it does my metalhead self. The band’s take on brutal death metal is still refreshing this far into their career, and with bands like them out there, I’ll never write off the genre even if it doesn’t always do it for me. Defeated Sanity has always deserved their reputation as one of brutal death metal’s absolute best, and Chronicles of Lunacy is easily my favorite album the subgenre has delivered since Afterbirth‘s last. It’s an odd feeling, banging your head while your brain is melting, but I strongly recommend giving it a whirl!
