review: Defeated Sanity

Defeated Sanity

The Sanguinary Impetus

Willowtip Records

24 July 2020

Defeated Sanity makes aural contortions that sound abominable to human ears. There is no way on Earth in this lifetime or any other lifetime that this cacophony will ever be acceptable to the metal masses, including the death metal masses themselves. Defeated Sanity makes the icons of classic death metal—Death, Bolt Thrower, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, etc.—seem “musical” in comparison. Listen to Death’s Symbolic album, and then listen to this. Oy vey! This is the sound of hordes of wild boars partying in a pool of swamp mud. What a miracle that governments around the world have not unleashed their secret police swat teams to hunt down these musicians like animals, imprison them, and eventually execute them in front of the townsfolk, pitchforks and torches in hand, for making such an appalling hullabaloo that offends all sensibilities and good taste in art. In a different epoch, these heretics might have been burned at the stake for such detestable pandemonium. Almost nobody in the world will ever enjoy this music.

Hi, there. Look at you! You are still reading. Since you are still here hanging around and Defeated Sanity is back with a new album since 2016, let the games begin! First of all, to give your attention to the new work is to enter a scenario in which you are witness to a clinic on extreme metal brutality. Low, guttural glorious monotony (like an angry bear or rabid dog grumbling unintelligibly) accompanying a frenetic rhythm section. The guitars are low chugging, buzzing, crunching aligned to the overall percussive feel. The album is one big celebration of percussive extremity, with all resources aimed at creating a disturbing mass, like the fun of watching monster trucks ram into each other repeatedly in an orchestral arrangement of gasoline, dirt, and burning tires in a grotesque display of violent entertainment. And entertaining this certainly is.

It is with good reason that the name Defeated Sanity has a positive reputation in the field of technical extreme metal. The new work will only add to that good reputation for making violent jazz from hell. That’s not a comedic exaggeration. Somewhere in there, somehow, in this ear-damaging malformation, there is a little bit (or a lot!) of John Coltrane or any of the giants of free jazz. There is jazz in here, crazy, frenzied jazz played with obnoxiously loud instruments and animalistic vocals.

The Sanguinary Impetus by Defeated Sanity