#defeated sanity

[formulas-fatal-to-your-mom]

[ha-bakbuk]

[denver-heavy-metal-society]

Defeated Sanity live in Denver, Colorado. Video courtesy of merdwerkz.

[thisworldisablackhole]

Listening Log, November 2024

November is always kind of like the last month of the year in terms of big exciting new releases. There should still be a few sleeper releases in December, but I'll mostly be spending December catching up on older stuff and putting together my year end list. Anyway, lots of good stuff to get through.

FFO: HARDCORE AND CRUST INFLUENCED DEATH METAL Hardcore death crusters Mammoth Grinder have made an absolutely glorious comeback after a six year hiatus with their heaviest and most atmospherically dialed in release yet. These songs are just so crushing, definitely some of their most crust influenced songs too (especially "Decrease The Peace"), but the production on this thing harkens back to 2013's Underworlds; just the perfect amount of reverb to beef up the cosmic dread of each riff and guttural bellow. A beautiful return to form that fans of modern bands like Gatecreeper and Ripped to Shreds should love. Read the full review here.

FFO: EMOVIOLENCE

drive your plow over the bones of the dead might have a really long, attention grabbing name, but their riffs and songwriting chops completely speak for themselves. This band is insanely talented, no doubt. drive your plow effortlessly balance chaos and melody into a maelstrom of octave chords and fretboard mashing, but each song still retains unique properties that really reward attention and repeated listens. I highly suggest keeping the tracklist open for this one, because the songs fly by so fast and are connected by strings of feedback in a way that makes each song flow into the next like you're really watching a live performance. Not only is this one of the best screamo records of the year, it stands up against the classics that defined the genre. Read the full review here.

FFO: METALCORE

Counterparts dropped a surprise EP early November that sent vibrations throughout the heavy music community. Counterparts have been one of the most beloved and consistent bands in metalcore for years now, but I always felt like they were consistent to a fault—always good, but stagnant, never really pushing the envelope or expanding upon their established formula. Well, this EP changes that. Heaven Let Them Die seemingly takes influence from Brendan Murphy's other band END and ends up being the heaviest damn thing the band has ever done. The melodic leads have been pared back significantly, but these songs are still punctuated by swellings of grief and unrestrained rage that makes this just as memorable as anything else in their catalog. If this marks a new direction for the band, well, it's about time they switched things up.

FFO: ACOUSTIC FOLK

Haley Heynderickx's long awaited follow up to 2018's I Need to Start a Garden has arrived, and it's beautiful. To be honest, I never got into her last record, despite the obvious fanfare, but when this one dropped I jumped at the opportunity to get acquainted. Seed of a Seed just feels like an instantly classic folk album. Timeless, subdued—an expression of quietness that hides a rich world of emotion to uncover. The music really matches the album cover too, it just has a really earthy, grounded tone to it, like I can smell the soil clinging to the roots of every guitar strum and drawl of the strings.

FFO: MELODIC ANARCHO-PUNK

Without an ounce of hyperbole, Straw Man Army are simply one of those once-in-a-generation punk bands that are truly pushing the envelope of what punk can be. Not by reinventing the wheel, but by casting aside the self-perpetuating constraints the genre imposes upon itself, and grasping for influences that fall outside the fault line. At the end of the day, Straw Man Army are just doing what everyone else does: combining different aspects of the wheel into something that hopefully displays a shred of novelty, but it's the way that they do so while still remaining arguably more punk than any other band in the scene that is so damn impressive. Earthworks is one of the most original and thought provoking punk albums ever made, and will probably remain so for quite some time. Read the full review here.

FFO: METALCORE, BREAKCORE, FROMJOY, STATIC DRESS

Combining metalcore with dance music is not a new idea, bands have been doing it since the early 2000s, but there's been a few bands popping up lately that are doing this in increasingly tasteful and unique ways. No more ham-fisted trancecore please, we want breakcore, vaporwave and glitchy IDM. fallingwithscissors display a lot of cool ideas on this EP, but also a ton of potential that the band has not quite tapped into yet. This is as enjoyable as it is clunky. They are clearly just throwing things against the wall right now to see what sticks, so it's hard to fault them for what feels like a necessary step in their evolution. I'm very excited to see if they succeed to tighten up the concept for their next release.

FFO: POST-HARDCORE, EMO, POP PUNK

Interpersonal came out of nowhere and blew me away. This little-known band from Missouri deserves to be huge, and I think they will be one day if they maintain this quality of production and songwriting. This is their debut full-length, but it feels like it was made by music scene veterans. The Long Bright Dark morphs in a few different directions during it's run-time, but all of its ideas are executed to perfection, and they maintain a surprising sense of cohesion considering the diverse range of genre aptitudes that are covered here. It all adds up to a package that is slick, memorable, and endlessly replayable. One of the best post-hardcore albums of the year, hands down. Interpersonal has a Long Bright future ahead of them. Read the full review here.

FFO: BRUTAL, TECHNICAL DEATH METAL

Defeated Sanity are one of the most celebrated brutal death metal bands alive, and it's easy to see why. They utilize the same addictingly grotesque production techniques as some of the most vile slam bands, but when it comes to pure musical proficiency, these guys are leagues ahead of almost everyone else. Just look at the second half of 2016's Disposal Of The Dead // Dharmata, that shit is basically just free-jazz played by metal musicians. These guys could easily be a world class band if they toned down the abrasiveness, but Deafeated Sanity's refusal to dumb down or reject brutal aesthetics to make their music more accessible makes them one of the greatest underground acts of all time. Endless respect. Chronicles of Lunacy is easily one of the best death metal albums of the year.

FFO: METALCORE, POP

I talked about Poppy's new album in my last roundup, but now that it's out in the world, I'm putting it in here again, because this album ended up being way more diverse than I could have ever expected. While I enjoyed the first few singles for this album, I was a little worried that FIFTEEN tracks of metalcore Poppy would get stale super fast. Thankfully, Negative Spaces retains a significant amount of Poppy's signature synth-pop weirdness, and ends up sounding more like a proper follow-up to 2020's I Disagree. The difference is that this time around, Poppy's metal influence is given ample room to blossom into fully formed ideas instead of being restrained to a collection of rock opera mashups. The track list ebbs and flows between moments of blistering aggression and dancefloor bangers that coalesce into a theme park ride that never gets boring, despite it's moments of derivative indulgence. If you look closely, it's pretty easy to see which tracks are just imitations other bands (BMTH, Knocked Loose, Loathe, Evanescence), but Poppy brings everything together with her individual charm into a package that is just so much god damn fun, and that's all that matters.

[cherrwysx-music]

♫ Defeated Sanity - Chronicles Of Lunacy ♫

[asphyxiating-endless-darkness]

Razor sharp teeth are piercing my scrotum

Tearing at it til the nuts come outside

[fuckyeahextrememetal]

"The Odour of Sanctity" Defeated Sanity

New Defeated Sanity from their upcoming album 'Chronicles of Lunacy' out November 22 on Season of Mist.

[crownhate]

Defeated Sanity - Consuming Grief

I've been getting more into brutal, slammy death metal lately. I can’t even describe why I like this stuff, the extremity and grotesqueness of it just satisfies an itch in my brain. It's like the most vile form of ASMR available. One of the things I love the most about this album (and that Brutalism album I posted a bit ago) is the production. The guitars, bass and low, guttural vocals meld together into a near indistinguishable sludge (not in a bad way) but the drums are so snappy and crisp and they cut right through the filth like direct shots to your ear drums. It's beautiful. This album is also split into two parts, with the first side being just relentless brutal DM and the second side venturing into some head tilting progressive DM. Both sides compliment each other so well and make for a super memorable listening experience.

[room-temperature-meatbag]

The new Ingurgitating Oblivion album is the wildest thing I've heard on a long while. Lille Gruber is without a doubt one of the best drummers around, and really elevates the material. After hearing this, it makes sense that the new Defeated Sanity is gonna be a bit less technical and strange, I bet that man needs a breather lol

[blastbeatdbeat]

Defeated Sanity - Psalms of the Moribund

[r4mmst3in]

ɪᴛꜱ ꜱᴏ ʜᴀʀᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴋ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴋɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜʀꜱᴇʟꜰ.

ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇʏᴏɴᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇʟꜱᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴀɪɴᴛ-ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴀ ᴘʜʏꜱɪᴄᴀʟ ᴛʜɪɴɢ, ʟɪᴋᴇ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴘʜʏꜱɪᴄᴀʟʟʏ ʜᴀʀᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴏᴘᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴍᴏᴜᴛʜ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ. ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ꜱᴍᴏᴏᴛʜ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴ ᴄᴏɴᴊᴜɴᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙʀᴀɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ɴᴏʀᴍᴀʟ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ'ꜱ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ᴅᴏ; ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ɪɴ ᴄʜᴜɴᴋꜱ ᴀꜱ ɪꜰ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ᴄʀᴜꜱʜᴇᴅ-ɪᴄᴇ ᴅɪꜱᴘᴇɴꜱᴇʀ; ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴛᴜᴍʙʟᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴀꜱ ᴛʜᴇʏ ɢᴀᴛʜᴇʀ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʟᴏᴡᴇʀ ʟɪᴘ. ꜱᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴋᴇᴇᴘ Qᴜɪᴇᴛ.

[formulas-fatal-to-your-mom]

[choptopmoseley]

[metalshockfinland]

DEFEATED SANITY Release Raging Double Guitar Playthrough for 'Extrinsically Enraged'

Photo by Paul McGuire Around this time last year, before the underground legends descended one last time into Menegroth, The Thousand Caves, Defeated Sanity felt like they were in need of an adjustment. Over the past 30 years, no other band has hit on more ways to spin death metal on its deformed head. But instead of concocting another heady bludgeoning of jazz-infused chaos, they wanted to…

[thethcministry]