Defeated Sanity have broken the minds of metalheads for 30 odd years. While their lineup has undergone relentless mutation, the band keep finding dizzying ways to slam old-school death metal on its deformed skull. Their jazz-infused chaos even broke them onto the Billboard charts. But on their upcoming seventh album, Chronicles of Lunacy, these technical maniacs wanted to work out the more depraved part of their brain.
“The last few DS albums leaned heavily on the proggier side of our sound”, says the band’s drummer and founding member Lille Gruber. “We still like to experiment, but on our new album, we wanted to get back to the brutal slamming that our fans love about Psalms of the Moribund or Chapters of Repugnance”.
Watch the foul video for lead single “The Odour of Sanctity”
Chronicles of Lunacy comes out November 22 on Season of Mist.
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Just like the rivers of hell, “The Odour of Sanctity” comes pouring out the speakers in a never-ending stream of filth. Guttural vocals spew through a churning mix of chunky riffs, hiccuping drum fills and a cavernous low-end. “We wanted to keep some of the fidelity that’s associated with modern death metal”, the band says, “but Chronicles has more of the raw production style that stood out on Psalms and Chapters“.
To dig back into the brutal mindset that long-time fans have come to crave, in January 2024, Defeated Sanity returned to Thousand Cave Studios. The underground New York City hotspot was also the excavation site for The Sanguinary Impetus, which dumped a fresh layer of dirt on the more “polished” production of Passages Into Deformity. Except this time around, the band encouraged producer Colin Marston to really get his hands dirty.
“The Odour of Sanctity” stinks to high heaven. New guitarist Vaughn Stoffey shreds with such gross speed that even the old school heads will be spinning around like The Exorcist. Of course, the ungodly pace is still set by the whip of Lille Gruber. He opens the song as if puncturing a wound, hammering out blast beats that are as merciless as the nails of the cross.
“Lille’s drumming is just ridiculous”, says Jacob Schmidt, whose belching bass runs give “Odour” a oddball bounce. “He’s the face of the DS franchise. Even though Chronicles is more slamming and straightforward, the weird, hyper-technical experiments still found a way into the mix”.
Plenty of knuckle-dragging awaits within its stomach-turning twists, but Chronicles of Lunacy isn’t Defeated Sanity for dummies. Heck, the album’s concept is wrapped up in the many malicious ways that delusional thinking can rot the human psyche. “Each song deals with a different strain of mental corruption”, says Josh Welshman. “Odour” stinks of religious fanaticism. After a brutal showing on Sanguinary, Welshman returns with a vengeance. “A miracle defiled / Fraudulently wrought“, he summons with a demonic growl as the band open up the pit with a brutal breakdown.
“In true DS fashion, ‘Odour’ showcases the full range of our sound”, the band says. “It’s freaky but also unrelentingly brutal, which represents the crossroad that we ended up at on Chronicles of Lunacy. Even though the album can get pretty fucking weird, there’s still a emphasis on straight-up slamming”.
The video for “The Odour of Sanctity” was created by Obscenery Films.
More praise for Defeated Sanity
“Defeated Sanity have captured the throne of brutal death metal…” – Angry Metal Guy
“A jazz ensemble hiding in plain sight as a brutal tech-death band” – No Clean Singing
“While the rest of us smooth-brained mortals are content with playing checkers or Connect Four, these guys are playing six simultaneous games of 3D chess with their swollen, pulsating minds” – Metal Sucks
“Should be up for some sort of award for being one of this offshoot’s most steadily morphing bands” – Last Rites
“Defeated Sanity’s brutality comes almost entirely from their demandingly intricate songwriting” – Toilet Over Hell
“Defeated Sanity has crafted a sound that is wholly their own” – Heaviest of Art
