Defeated Sanity - Chapters Of Repugnance
Willowtip
Brutal Death Metal
9 songs (31:55)
Release year: 2010
Defeated Sanity, Willowtip
Reviewed by Goat

Following up the already impressive Jazz-imbued darkness of 2007’s Psalms Of The Moribund, Defeated Sanity here have done themselves one better, better production, better songs, even better drums. In terms of sound, Chapters Of Repugnance has that Suffocation-on-crack intensity and bile, first track Introitus fading in like the bleary memories of a drunken night out the next morning, before that powerful migraine really takes hold of your head and forces it into a shuddering torrent of pain. There’s a notably pit-friendly vibe to the riffage, but Defeated Sanity are far from Deathcore, as the ensuing carnage of Consumed By Repugnance proves, chaotic dissonance turning to ricocheting riffing and nicely organic drums, a seemingly random structure arising from the chaos before collapsing back in on itself like Cryptopsy having a heart attack in slow-motion. The Jazzy drum-led break-down towards the end is magnificently odd, and serves as the real break between tracks, Carnal Deliverance following without time for silence or remorse.

Truth be told, there’s not a great deal that can be written about Brutal Death, especially not when this is your second review of the same band. Much like fans of Dragonforce, Brutal Death Metalheads have found their favourite sound, and don’t mind it being repeated ad infinitum with any actual musical progression being absent in the eyes and ears of casual onlookers and -listeners. Yet Defeated Sanity have managed to create something genuinely interesting here, a kind of ambience that settles in when you’ve heard a couple of songs and makes the music form a wall of aural meat, gradually building up before toppling over and burying you. It’s not purely a fetid, foul, disgusting experience, either, surprisingly, but one with a strangely esoteric and otherworldly feel to it, probably due to the Jazz elements. The Bosch-styled artwork by Hoshihiro Egawa fits well, the hellish landscape not so disturbing as you’d think, almost as if viewed through a druggy haze. Sure, physical moments like the spinecrunching breakdown in Engulfed In Excruciation startle you back into the real world, but before you know it things are flying in all directions as the band go all Cryptopsy again on your ass and Coerced Into Idolatry is taking the music back towards hammering your brain. There’s a wonderful bit towards the middle of that track where the (already loud) bass comes out into the foreground and the other instruments fly away psychedelically – as brutal as this album undoubtedly is, it’s moments like this that that have me expecting something even better come Defeated Sanity’s next album.

True, that’s rather optimistic of me; if you actually compare this and Psalms Of The Moribund, the differences are barely to be seen. To be honest, I rather think the band are too caught up in the brutality of the music they make to notice just how incredible it could be were steps taken away from the now stereotypical Suffocation style and towards making that uncanny ambience the point of the music rather than a side-effect. Little hints of genius are constant, the genuinely disturbing sample in Blissfully Exsanguinated helping the track to be one of the heaviest and nastiest on the album. No, readers, this won’t replace whatsoever obscure Melodeath band is currently popular as the proggiest and most headbangable Death Metal out there – it’s far too murky and gnarly to have wide appeal. But if, like me, you’ve been listening to as little Brutal Death as possible to ensure that the deepest and darkest works its full effect, then we can count ourselves as happy as the proverbial pig in shit with this. Defeated Sanity may not be as mind-bending and out-there as, say, Wormed, but until those Spanish freaks get a new album on the go, this is where it’s at for your Brutal Death fix.

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Album as a whole
Goat quoted 82 / 100
Other albums by Defeated Sanity that we have reviewed:
Defeated Sanity - The Sanguinary Impetus reviewed by Goat and quoted 90 / 100
Defeated Sanity - Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata reviewed by Goat and quoted no quote
Defeated Sanity - Passages Into Deformity reviewed by Goat and quoted 85 / 100
Defeated Sanity - Psalms Of The Moribund reviewed by Goat and quoted 80 / 100
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