Album Review: Defeated Sanity - Chronicles of Lunacy
Reviewed by Daniel Phipps
I make statements like this lightly but let's start off by saying the kings have returned. The world is sixty five million years old and I have the joy of being around at the time of the German/US brutal death metal machine going by the name of Defeated Sanity, who have been arguably the the most in demand act within the style since the release of their sophomore album Psalms of the Moribund in 2007. Personally if you were to ask me there is no band within the death metal genre who has as a consistent back catalogue of releases, they have continued to push the envelope of their writing and creativity throughout the history of the bands releases.
Chronicles of Lunacy will be the bands seventh full length record and as any long time fan will tell you each record has seen the band really push in different directions with the focus of each release. What's very apparent with Chronicles of Lunacy is the band's desire to go back to the more primitive sound of Defeated Sanity, where they put the more experimental side of themselves to one side, and decided to go full throttle with neck snapping barbaric ruthlessness.
Now the band looking to be more primitive is not a new venture for Defeated Sanity as the first half of their Disposal of the Dead // Dharmata record was in this vein, however I feel at this point this new collection of tracks works far better and achieves what they have done in a far superior way to Disposal of the Dead. Maybe it's because the band had really pushed the progressive brutal side of themselves so much on the last full length that this feels like a more refreshing display of that more brutal Defeated Sanity sound. It's savage and executed with pinpoint accuracy and on top of it all has a fantastic production which gives your audio senses time to hear and absorb everything that the band throw at you, which is alot.
Defeated Sanity yet again release an exceptional piece of music. From its opening track right through to it's conclusion they greet you with a selection of ferocious riffs, insane drumming, punchy bass lines and filthy vocals. We continue to see a band who will not get lumped into a box and release the same album again, and even when they look to take a lead from the earlier stages in their career we are given a fresh and exciting take on that musical path and that is what legends are made of.
