Album Review: Defect Designer - Chitin
Reviewed by Sam Jones
One of my favourite things to do is discover bands entirely new to me, especially when they have a new record on the horizon. Case in point is Defect Designer and their upcoming album, Chitin, penned for a March 15th release date via Transcending Obscurity Records. Formed in 2005 originally out of Novosibirsk, Russia, the band have since relocated to Oslo, Norway. Their first record, Wax, released in 2009, though it wouldn’t be another six years before they released a follow-up, Ageing Accelerator, in 2015. Following that, the band went quiet and wouldn’t release new material until their 2022 EP, Neanderthal. Now, two years on, the band finally look poised to u leash their third full length work, Chitin. Longtime fans will no doubt be pleased to receive the band’s first album work in nearly a decade. I’d heard promising things regarding this record throughout various social media’s, and so I decided it was worth checking Defect Designer out.
Defect Designer may play death metal in its purest form but we must confuse them for another run-of-the-mill act, because their songwriting consists of warped, mind bending riff segments that will continuously subvert where you think they’ll be taking you. There are very instances of conventional riff sequences to be found manifest or hiding within Chitin; the bulk of their playing is formed of these left-field segments whereby their guitar work feels like it was set to play in Italics as opposed to Bold. It’s this sideways playing that really brings out a particular Voivod-esque influence as we recognise what they’re playing, and the structure that’s clearly being put into their performance so we can easily follow along, but Defect Designer do away completely with typical expectations. The band effectively play with a progressively-inspired approach without the songwriting delving too deeply into progressive death metal. It’s really peculiar, though it’s within their abstract nature that you wish to keep listening just to see where it goes.
Interestingly, the vocals are the only thing on record that don’t try and do anything too experimental. I suppose it’s advantageous to the band since they understand the audience will be processing a great deal of unusual, warped songwriting from start to finish, and the last thing they’ll want is a vocal extremity thrown on top they now have to also contend with. Moreover, it’s the one thing herein that audience can rely on to not shake the rug out from under them; usually this is reserved for an instrumental element, but since Chitin is so all over the place it’s in the vocals the band have to place their roots down to keep the album from flying off. Yet there are instances where the vocals morph into a delivery where control is lessened and you hear a slobbering performance as the gruff and baritone performance drops away. There’s even an inclusion of clean vocals which is unexpected, but because it’s got some strength behind it I think people will really get behind them.
Contrary to many death metal bands I’ve heard lately, Defect Designer opt to write tracks that are much shorter than what you’d usually find on an extreme metal record, though they’re not so brief as Grindcore would write. In many ways, keeping their track length around a healthy three or four minutes works out for their songwriting since things are so keen to change and evoke at every minute. By keeping their music brief, they ensure their ever-shifting songwriting doesn’t start to wane on their audience before the next track comes in, thereby alleviating us with an organic break before we decide to start the next piece. In addition, maintaining a structured, blocked album of specifically-long tracks guarantees we’ll not only return time and again but we can process the mania that Defect Designer are clearly adept at writing and recording. Had they played tracks twice as long, the impact their songwriting could possess would have been deeply diminished since audiences would be expected to pay exquisite attention much longer to even more chaos.
Defect Designer do something I haven’t encountered in extreme metal for some time; they’re fully prepared to make their audience uncomfortable. This isn’t the kind of album you’d put on to feel at home, it’s a record you play to be taken fully out of your current surroundings and into something bizarre and unfeeling. There are moments where you’ll be paying attention, you think you have the riff sequence down but then it just stops, or it’ll stutter before carrying on again. It just feels wrong like a note feels deliberately out of place and yet that’s the planned direction the band take sometimes. It’s curious how Defect Designer play with your expectations on near-neurological level because once they throw you off initially, you’ll always be waiting for that next trip-up. It’s written to be purposely uneven, the way you know a path has been paved to walk forwards upon yet the slating is smashed and cracked in mosaic fashion, only to fit perfectly together all the same.
In conclusion, Chitin is a weird record yet one that never tries to be so strange that audiences won’t be able to comprehend it. Whatever warped influence went into producing Chitin, it was just enough to warrant Defect Designer their own identity without feeling like they’ve had to slam it repeatedly into our faces to get the idea across. The band implement this particularly peculiar songwriting from the first track to the last, but at no point, likely due to the short track spans, did it come off as overtly vain or self-indulgent. The band showcase their style with ease and finesse but by keeping things short and multitudinous, they guarantee we can experience the full record without feeling the need to potentially stop halfway through to get our bearings. I’m just glad this album exists; there aren’t many bands who have the balls to attempt such a record yet Defect Designer have done just that. What a fascinating listen.
