Defeated Sanity: Passages Into Deformity (2013)

Technical Slamming Insanity

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

This year is shaping up to be a decent one for brutal death/slam death metal. Devourment and Katalepsy both have new albums this year, but there are two that I am looking forward to above all others. Defeated Sanity and Wormed.

Defeated Sanity's last album was an incredibly interesting take on slam death metal by incorporating a lot of technical and progressive death metal elements. It ranks as one of my favorite slam death metal albums of all time. That has typically been the case with Defeated Sanity. They are difficult to pigeonhole into one genre because they frequently mix things up a little bit in their compositions. That all continues on this release. Defeated Sanity has once again proven that they are one of the better bands going in the vast brutal death metal genre.


This album marks the debut for new vocalist Konstantin Luhring. His vocals are fairly typical for the style, very deep and guttural, with the occasional gurgling roar and higher-pitched shriek. As is typical for Defeated Sanity, one of the most interesting members to listen to is bassist Jacob Schmidt, who brings a technical mastery to the instrument that is exceedingly rare in brutal death metal. The band acknowledges this by having the bass high in the mix and giving him occasional moments to shine through. The drumming is another often-overlooked instrument for which Defeated Sanity seems to be blessed with an incredibly talented musician.

Defeated Sanity bring an impressive amount of musicianship to a genre that is often bereft of this level of talent. And that is coming from someone who generally enjoys slam death metal and brutal death metal. There is just something about what Defeated Sanity brings to the table that is sadly lacking from a lot of other bands in the genre. There is technicality there, but the band uses that technicality to accentuate their brutality, rather than as a means to garner attention. There is brutality, but the band does not try to out-pummel other brutal death and slam death metal bands. They do not try to show off, they just come out and play. That is what makes Defeated Sanity unique. That is what makes Defeated Sanity so damn good.

THE VERDICT
I give this album 4.5 out of 5 stars.