Defeated Sanity - Chronicles of Lunacy (2024)^{Release ID: 56344}

The brutal tech death subgenre is an interesting case to observe really because there doesn't seem to be any necessity to create something original in the modern-day market. The appeal comes more from just how pummeling & complex the compositional work is & that's rarely so apparent as it is with highly regarded German four-piece Defeated Sanity who have been a mainstay of the scene for a good couple of decades now. I've always enjoyed these guys since first discovering them through their excellent 2007 sophomore album "Psalms of the Moribund" upon my return to metal in 2009. Since then, Defeated Sanity have been extremely consistent in their ability to dazzle death metal aficionados with incredibly brutal yet wildly technical arrangements that push the limits of song structure to breaking point. At times you can even see these Germans jumping straight over that threshold & looking back at you with maniacal smiles on their faces while giving your expectations an emphatic middle finger. They certainly did that with their last record "The Sanguinary Impetus" which I really enjoyed & they do similar things with their brand-new seventh full-length "Chronicles of Lunacy", so much so that I think I could probably cut & paste my review of the former given that my feelings are almost identical.

"Chronicles of Lunacy" marks Defeated Sanity's first release with French metal label Season of Mist & was recorded at The Thousand Caves, Queens in New York City in January last year. The band's lineup has changed slightly following the acquisition of American guitarist Vaughn Stoffey who joins band leader & drummer Lille Gruber (Ingurgitating Oblivion/Cenotaph/Sinners Bleed), bassist Jacob Schmidt (Metharoma) & vocalist Josh Welshman to create a new four-way attack that's a better fit for live performance with Gruber handing over the guitar duties he largely handled himself on Defeated Sanity's previous album. You wouldn't know it from results as things come together in a very similar fashion to the way they did five years ago with the Germans producing another record that lean hard on the boundaries of the genre from a purely technical point of view while never being tempted to vary from the description on the box. You see, Defeated Sanity simply do what they do & if you don't like it then you can politely fuck off. They create incredibly brutal music which is covered in light-speed gravity blasts, classy bass licks & unapologetically complex rhythmic arrangements that are clearly designed to make the listener stand up & take notice. As usual, there are times when the band goes too far with their commitment to unusual time signatures for their own good & there are a good few riffs on offer that simply don't make sense but you can accept that from Defeated Sanity as it's somewhat of a trade-off for the relentless & violent assault that brutal death metal fans will no doubt be frothing over. Producer Colin Marston (Gorguts/Krallice/Dysrhythmia/Encenathrakh) does a great job at ensuring that the arrangements stay together all things considered.

"Chronicles of Lunacy" doesn't offer anything you haven't heard before from Defeated Sanity but it does do it all with efficiency & consistency which makes it an invariably entertaining listen that I rate very similarly to the band's last album. If pushed I'd probably take "The Sanguinary Impetus" over it just slightly but I can't see too many brutal/technical death metal fans not enjoying this record, perhaps only those that struggle with the continuously changing, ADD-fueled arrangements. The genre's calling cards are all there though with the brutal vocals being a clear highlight. Brutal death metal fans are generally starved of significant releases that the rest of the world pay much attention to but it's nice to have a band that inevitably have the underground scene talking & can be relied upon to deliver a high-quality product every few years, isn't it?

For fans of Wormed, Deeds of Flesh & Disentomb.