FMA Reviews: Defeated Sanity: Passages Into Deformity

Originally reviewed here.

This year is shaping up to be a decent one for brutal death/slam death metal. Devourment and Katalepsy both have new albums this year, but there are two that I am looking forward to above all others. Defeated Sanity and Wormed.

Defeated Sanity's last album was an incredibly interesting take on slam death metal by incorporating a lot of technical and progressive death metal elements. It ranks as one of my favorite slam death metal albums of all time. That has typically been the case with Defeated Sanity. They are difficult to pigeonhole into one genre because they frequently mix things up a little bit in their compositions. That all continues on this release. Defeated Sanity has once again proven that they are one of the better bands going in the vast brutal death metal genre.

This album marks the debut for new vocalist Konstantin Luhring. His vocals are fairly typical for the style, very deep and guttural, with the occasional gurgling roar and higher-pitched shriek. As is typical for Defeated Sanity, one of the most interesting members to listen to is bassist Jacob Schmidt, who brings a technical mastery to the instrument that is exceedingly rare in brutal death metal. The band acknowledges this by having the bass high in the mix and giving him occasional moments to shine through. The drumming is another often-overlooked instrument for which Defeated Sanity seems to be blessed with an incredibly talented musician.

Defeated Sanity bring an impressive amount of musicianship to a genre that is often bereft of this level of talent. And that is coming from someone who generally enjoys slam death metal and brutal death metal. There is just something about what Defeated Sanity brings to the table that is sadly lacking from a lot of other bands in the genre. There is technicality there, but the band uses that technicality to accentuate their brutality, rather than as a means to garner attention. There is brutality, but the band does not try to out-pummel other brutal death and slam death metal bands. They do not try to show off, they just come out and play. That is what makes Defeated Sanity unique. That is what makes Defeated Sanity so damn good.

My Top 5 Slam Albums

These are my favorite slam albums of the moment. Some of these could easily change at a moment's notice:

WORMED: PLANISPHAERIUM
I have alluded to it before, this is an utterly unique album by an utterly unique band. Wormed does not sound like any other band. They do science fiction-based slam death metal with an unusual almost dissonant atmosphere to their riffs. As I mentioned on the Initial Impressions post of last year's teaser, the band sounds like Demilich's singer fronting a combination of Devourment and Voivod. It is a truly unique sound. Wormed is one of a kind.

DEFEATED SANITY: CHAPTERS OF REPUGNANCE
German slam/brutal death metal band Defeated Sanity is also highly unusual. The band uses a variety of influences worked into their brutal style of metal, including some almost jazz-like experimentation and sections at times. The vocals are extremely deep and guttural and the riffs fly by at lightning-quick speeds. Defeated Sanity is another example of a highly unusual slam band.

SARCOLYTIC: THEE ARCANE PROGENY
Sarcolytic is one of a number of great bands from the Texas Death Metal scene. Most bands from the scene exist on the border between slam and brutal death and Sarcolytic is no exception. While this album, their first full-length, has lightened the slam influences from the earlier material, they are still definitely present and absolutely crushing when they are there. The almost Lovecraftian sound of the band makes this an album to check out.

DEVOURMENT: 1.3.8
Now we get to a more typical slam album. Technically this is a compilation album including the band's fantastic Molesting the Decapitated debut and some demos and of course the infamous "Babykiller" track which is the band's most well-known song. This is exactly what slam should be: short and brutally intense with extremely heavy breakdowns, which are of course the slams. The vocals of Wayne Knupp were also extremely influential on the genre.

DYING FETUS: KILLING ON ADRENALINE
Dying Fetus was one of the first bands that got me into slam and of course the band was hugely influential on the formation of the subgenre as well. This is, in my opinion, their finest album. It was not the first album I checked out by the band, but it is the one that convinced me of their influence. The band has been softening their sound somewhat lately, but this is brutal as it got for them. Just an incredible, furious album.

Initial Impressions: Defeated Sanity: Chapters of Repugnance

A few weeks ago, I did a post on Pathology's new album and stated that it was an album that would be able introduce fans to slam death metal due to its relative accessibility. Following in the same vein, Defeated Sanity released their new album. It's definitely got slam parts, and it's definitely brutal, but it is still reasonably listenable for those people out there who have not gotten into Cephalotripsy and Vulvectomy.

The music is a mix of slam, technical brutal death, and even some more jazzy interludes. That's not to say there's jazz music here, but the band does use a lot of experimentation. The vocals are delivered in typical brutal death metal style. Very guttural and extreme. The music reminds me of a slam death version of Cephalic Carnage without a lot of the drugged-out weirdness that band is known for.

I enjoy this album quite a bit. It's a bit less accessible than Pathology, mostly due to its weirder experimentation, but it's a refreshing take on slam, a genre that is hardly known for being innovative.