Jun 222020
 

 

(We present Vonlughlio’s review of the new sixth album by German stalwarts Defeated Sanity, which is set for release by Willowtip Records on July 24th and features cover art by Jon Zig.)

Today’s review concerns a band who have been dear to me as a fan for more than 10 years.  Their music has given me great joy, through good and bad times.  They are one of the best Brutal Death Metal acts out there, with classic releases that will be forever remembered.

I am talking about Germany’s Defeated Sanity, originally formed by Lille Gruber (drums) and his late father Wolfgang Teske (R.I.P.).  After their inception, the project released a series of demos and splits from 1996 through 2003, and their debut album Prelude to the Tragedy (2004) became one of my favorite debuts ever by any band in the genre. Continue reading »

May 072020
 

 

I know I’m damned lucky to still have a job when so many people have been thrown out of work, but the job has been annoyingly intrusive lately. And by “intrusive”, I mean that it unexpectedly interferes with my grand ideas for NCS posts. This post, for example, is grand and gargantuan, but the job that pays me has delayed its appearance and constricted my time to the point that I’ve had to strip away most of the writing I had in mind. I’m cognizant of the likelihood that depriving you of my complete thoughts will cause widespread weeping.

As the title signifies, I decided to make this round-up death-centric — but there are lots of flavors of death metal represented here and different directions being pursued. I might have figured out a good way to order the flow, but didn’t have time to think about that either. So, just be prepared to bounce around.

I THE INTRUDER (Tunisia)

“Check this steamroller. Nasum-like grind with choppy tech riffs to break things up. Complete barbarian war vocals. From Tunisia. What the hell, Omination, Ayyur, and now this….” Continue reading »

Jun 152018
 

 

Once again, my plan for this week-long series has failed. Rather than catching up on new music from the last two weeks, I’ve instead been diverted by late-breaking releases. Moreover, rather than two new songs by only two bands, this collection includes music from three groups, beginning with a complete EP.

PALE

I discovered this EP yesterday thanks to a recommendation from occasional NCS contributor Conchobar, about a half hour before seeing a Bandcamp alert for the EP from Pest Productions in our e-mail. Conchobar characterized it as “very ‘post-black’ but in a very non-cliched way”. Continue reading »

Jul 122016
 

Defeated Sanity-Disposal of the Dead

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song from the new two-part album by Germany’s Defeated Sanity.)

Legendary German brutal/technical death metal unit Defeated Sanity need no lengthy introduction at this point; the band have long since proven their craft over a span of many years, over time growing more sophisticated and refined with each release. Their career so far has culminated in their upcoming release, Disposal Of The Dead // Dharmata, which the band have dubbed a “split with themselves”– an assertion that rings true, if you give me a moment to explain.

The first half of the album is a tried-and-true slab of crushing Defeated Sanity tunes as they normally sound, albeit a bit more stripped-down at some points — but I dig it. Then, the second half is the band experimenting with tracks that are inspired by, and pay homage to, old-school progressive death metal sounds of old, such as Cynic, Death, and Atheist. For these tracks, the band recruited Max Phelps (vocalist/guitarist for Exist, and a live performer with both Cynic and Death To All) to perform his similar-to-Chuck-Schuldiner screams over-top these songs. Continue reading »

Feb 032016
 

Defeated Sanity tour

 

(Austin Weber provides this review of performances by Defeated Sanity, Iniquitous Savagery, and Iniquitous Deeds in Louisville, Kentucky, on February 1.)

Seeing as this was the first metal show I was able to attend in 2016, I figured I should cover it. While I didn’t have my usual NCS photographer pal Nik Vechery with me, or a borrowed camera as I’ve used before, the photos my friend and I got of a few bands at least gives you something to look at. I mainly just wanted to discuss my impressions and thoughts about my two favorite bands of the night.

I had to pick up a friend on the way, so we ended up missing Abominant and most of Cryptic Hymn. I know NCS contributor Grant Skelton is really into Cryptic Hymn, and I thought they sounded pretty good live! But I didn’t get a picture of them either. So the review will sort of start with the third band to go on, Iniquitous Deeds. Continue reading »