Review: Defeated Sanity – Chronicles of Lunacy
Defeated Sanity‘s newest record is a genre-defining masterwork. By massive death metal nerds, for massive death metal nerds.
German brutal/technical death metal act Defeated Sanity is, at this point, a celebrated institution of modern extreme metal, much like the various legendary bands that influenced their sound (Cryptopsy, Suffocation, Deeds of Flesh, early Gorguts, etc.). Spearheaded by founder and drummer Lille Gruber, the moniker has cemented its place in the genre canon with landmark releases like Psalms of the Moribund, Passages Into Deformity, and Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata. Gruber’s father, jazz and krautrock musician Wolfgang Teske (Aera, Grotesk) brought a distinct sense of inventive complexity that never left the group, even after his departure in 2008. This, along with a clear love of the classics and the technical/compositional skills to back up their ambitions, has allowed Defeated Sanity to stand head-and-shoulders above the bulk of their contemporaries. Around 31 years into the band’s run, it’s hard to say that Gruber and company have anything left to prove.
That said, 2020’s The Sanguinary Impetus sought to marry the progressive song compositions and influences of Dharmata with their intense approach. Beyond an admittedly muddied production job, Impetus found the middle ground of these releases in a dense, chaotic experience that resembles few other records. This album marked a definitive change for the group; clearly Defeated Sanity wanted to take the eccentricities of their slammingly brutal sound further in the direction of death metal’s more ambitious bands. The writing style of the band at this point and onward became a lot closer to the likes of Afterbirth and Logistic Slaughter, brutal death metal’s answer to innovative metal arrangements.
Now, 4 whole years later, Defeated Sanity have gone further with their experimentation—returning with what might be their strongest effort to date.
Chronicles of Lunacy sees Gruber joined again by bassist Jacob Schmidt and vocalist Josh Welshman, who were on Impetus. Vaughn Stoffey is a newcomer for this record, previously of Reviled (TX) and Pyrexia‘s live band. Stoffey also served as a live guitarist for Defeated Sanity before being a part of the recording lineup, establishing a grouping with clear chemistry. This set of metalheads make apparent their appreciation for the type of music they create, as Chronicles is a record that could only have been made by people with a deep understanding of death metal lineage (AKA the same kind of dork as you and me). The base structure of the group has always lain within that late ’90s BDM sound of bands mentioned previously, as well as that style’s regular crossover with technical death metal (think the legions of fast, blistering copycats who were forever touched by Effigy of the Forgotten and Pierced from Within). Even still, the sound of Chronicles is equally indebted to the flashier side of tech-death like Necrophagist and the jazzier metal flavorings of Cynic and Atheist.
While the former might be a bit more obvious, exploring the latter sub-sect is hardly new for Defeated Sanity; the previously mentioned half-record Dharmata, specifically, was extremely informed by Cynic’s Focus, as well as other progressive-leaning extreme acts such as later-era Death and Disharmonic Orchestra. On this newest full length, the (unquestionable) presence of Atheist is felt any time a speeding segment is appended by a short, jazzy break (see the opener, “Amputationsdrang,” and “Temporal Disintegration”). Similarly, the band integrates the dizzying, shifting song structures and transitions made iconic by Timeghoul and Gorguts in a manner that feels distinctly natural.
A cornerstone of this new release, Schmidt’s basslines are reminiscent of Steve Tucker’s work in Morbid Angel on Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, straddling the line between avant-garde grooves and deranged low-end flurries. Stoffey’s guitar work throughout this record maintains the fundamentals of his BDM past, writing the slam-adjacent, idiosyncratic riffs that lay at the heart of these compositions. Welshman’s vocals, as well, are unequivocally rooted in BDM past, emulating the gurgling maws of vocalists like Wayne Knupp of Devourment and Lord Worm of Cryptopsy. Lille’s percussive style is also that of an educated listener, blending his familial history of jazz and prog-rock with the most oppressive of complex death metal percussionists. Guiding the rest of the band’s flow, Gruber maintains a tight sense of rhythm, allowing for a sense of structure to ring clear through layers of chaotic mayhem.
This is all to say, Chronicles of Lunacy is, itself, a loving chronicle of the lunacy of death metal’s more left-hand history. These pieces of their background come together to form 33 minutes of exceptionally tight musicianship and remarkably heady songwriting. Cuts like “Accelerating the Rot” and “Condemned to Vascular Famine” depict an ingenuous approach to structure and progression, constantly shifting in tempo, timing, and energy to keep a constant sense of engagement in the listener. Every moment is filled to the brim with thoughtful details, resulting in an unbelievable level of intricacy. With such a tight tracklist and brisk pace, Chronicles is endlessly re-playable, containing something new to find in each listen. Furthering this staying power is the thoughtful, purposeful use of riffs and motifs, keeping the break-neck speed and elaborate pacing of this record from growing fatiguing at any point.
Produced/engineered/mastered by death metal wizard Colin Marston (member of Gorguts, Encenathrakh, Behold… The Arctopus, Krallice, and also produced Impetus), Chronicles maintains the beefy sound profile of Impetus while maintaining a higher level of clarity. The band’s thoughtfully deranged compositions can be enjoyed on a much deeper level with this album thanks to this. This is incredibly fortunate, as the writing, structure, and creativity of these songs are on an entirely new level for Gruber and company (keep in mind, these guys were already fucking amazing). Not a single second of runtime is wasted and not a single note falls out of line with the thematic tension of the record. It’s about as close to death metal perfection as a band can get.
As stated previously, Defeated Sanity, starting originally as a means for a boy and his father to make music together, turns 31 this year. A metal group this late into their career is rarely able to capture the magic of their glory years, let alone distill their influences and legacy into a near-perfect work of majestic brutality. Chronicles of Lunacy isn’t just an amazing death metal album, it is a near-scientific celebration of death metal’s long and lurid history from the only kind of people who could achieve such a thing—lifelong death metal nerds, which is something I say with the utmost respect. In a sense, this is an album made for the kind of people who get too excited when they hear a riff that reminds them of Atheist or Demilich.
In an interview with Antichrist Magazine, Gruber stated: “…we don’t even wanna think about writing for a year or 2!”
Rest well, Defeated Sanity, as you’ve outdone yourselves and more.
5/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell
Chronicles of Lunacy is out now!
