DEFEATED SANITY – Chronicles of Lunacy

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7.0

• Bands:
  DEFEATED SANITY
• Duration: 00:33:22
• Available from: 11/22/2024
• Label:

• Season Of Mist

Streaming not yet available

An overview of your career goals. We could thus define “Chronicles of Lunacy”, the long-awaited return of Defeated Sanity. Produced by guru Colin Marston with a deliberately 'live' approach, the album presents itself almost as a journey through the various stylistic phases that the group has explored during its now long journey. From the first songs on the tracklist, such as the explosive “Accelerating the Rot”, it is clear that the band – which now permanently counts on the contributions of singer Josh Welshman and guitarist Vaughn Stoffey, both Americans – wanted to dust off, at least at times, the ferocity and immediacy of his beginnings. It almost seems like we are in the presence of a tribute to their origins, in which the quartet digs into their past to dust off a more tarry and ruthless sound, letting all the impetuosity of an old-fashioned 'brutal' death metal explode.
However, the work is not limited to episodes of pure sonic violence: in several songs the technicalities that have distinguished the band of German origins resurface for years, leaving room for complex musical structures, enriched by daring tempo changes and intricate passages. Here the most refined and imaginative soul of Defeated Sanity emerges, which does not hesitate to mix the most intense death metal with jazz suggestions and surprising rhythmic variations. The rhythm section composed of leader Lille Gruber (drums) and Jacob Schmidt (bass) shines as always in these braver compositions, acting as the protagonist and giving a curious slanted movement to songs like “Temporal Disintegration”. The piece, pervaded by a gloomy and claustrophobic mood, demonstrates how the influence of certain techno-death metal, from Atheist to Gorguts, continues to exert a powerful fascination on ours, integrating with an obviously darker and more massive sound.
In essence, “Chronicles of Lunacy” appears as a conscious work, in which Defeated Sanity choose to take a step to the side, rather than forward or backward. The tracklist is solid, but perhaps not as surprising as some of their more innovative work; nevertheless, it manages to maintain high attention thanks to at least a couple of particularly evocative episodes and a production that enhances the performance of the songs, designed to work best in a live setting. According to the band themselves, in fact, the album was conceived with the intention of resonating explosively live, a choice that emerges strongly from the raw and visceral impact of the sound.
For those who have always followed Defeated Sanity, “Chronicles of Lunacy” offers familiar and sometimes captivating ideas: very heavy and deliberately ignorant riffs alternating with more risky tempo changes, together with the usual technical skill that has made the band a pillar in death metal contemporary. Even without reinventing themselves, the group manages to consolidate their style, giving an album which, in its rude 'immediacy' (obligatory quotation marks in this case), celebrates the roots and identity of the band, offering a new soundtrack for those who love the most technical and oppressive death metal.