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 double-down on the neck-snapping brutality that fans love about their earliest classics.
Judging by the reaction to Chronicles of Lunacy, it's safe to say that Defeated Sanity delivered in skull-crushing spades. The band's new album cracked Billboard's Rock, Hard Music and Independent charts.
"There's something to love in everything Defeated Sanity has done, but I do think they may have veered a little too far on The Sanguinary Impetus for most listeners", Metal Injection wrote in their 9/10 review. "This is not a knock on Defeated Sanity but I think a recentering was definitely in order. And that's exactly what they accomplish on Chronicles of Lunacy".
"Instead of doubling down on immense, yet spectacular, complexity...they go for the jugular", wrote PopMatters, who voted Chronicles of Lunacy one of the best metal albums of the year.
As they gear up for their first headlining tour of Europe since 2018, today, Defeated Sanity are flexing their rabid technical chops with a double guitar playthrough of the album's most infectious deep cuts.
Watch guitarist Vaughn Stoffey and bassist Jacob Schmidt tear through "Extrinsically Enraged".
https://youtu.be/ajW7PrLKmnc
Their new album speaks to one's inner caveman, but Chronicles of Lunacy isn't Defeated Sanity for dummies. Each song chews over the kind of individual thought patterns that can rot the human psyche, though "Extrinsically Enraged" wastes no time in hammering its point. "It's about contracting rabies", vocalist Josh Welshman says with a hearty laugh. Stoffey and Schmidt gnaw at their fretboards as if their mouths are foaming. Their squealing riffs and scurrying grooves will chew a hole through the toughest metalheads.
The third pressing of Chronicles of Lunacy is now available on Season of Mist.
Order the limited-edition colored vinyl.