UMUR "Chronicles of Lunacy" is the seventh full-length studio album by German death metal act Defeated Sanity. The album was released through Season of Mist in November 2024. It´s the successor to "The Sanguinary Impetus" from 2020. Both "Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata" (2016) and "The Sanguinary Impetus" saw Defeated Sanity toying with a more technical and at times even progressive death metal sound, but "Chronicles of Lunacy" is a slightly more back to the roots brutal death metal release...

...which of course isn´t completely true. Defeated Sanity have learned a few tricks from creating the last couple of albums, and "Chronicles of Lunacy" is still a highly technical death metal release. The technical playing is on this release just an element of the band´s brutal death metal sound, instead of being one of the pillars of said sound, which was the case on the last couple of releases. Defeated Sanity are an incredibly well playing unit and especially band founder and drummer Lille Gruber plays some otherwordly fast-paced and difficult drum patterns. It´s hard not to drop the jaw while listening to his playing. The vocals are unintellible and quite one-dimensional growling. They are as on most Defeated Sanity releases the weak link of the music.

The raw, brutal, and massive sound production suits the music well, and upon conclusion "Chronicles of Lunacy" is another strong statement from Defeated Sanity. It´s nice to hear them returning a bit to the more brutal sound of their past while still holding on to the more mature and intriguing songwriting approach of the last couple of releases. I think they´ve found a good balance on this album. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "The Sanguinary Impetus" is the sixth full-length studio album by German death metal act Defeated Sanity. The album was released through Willowtip Records in July 2020. It´s the successor to "Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata" from 2016. "Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata" was an experimental release for Defeated Sanity showing two sides of the band. Half the album featured Defeated Sanity´s usual brutal and technically well played death metal style, while the other half featured material composed and performed in an early- to mid-90s influenced technical death metal style (complete with guest vocals by the Death to All- and Cynic related Max Phelps).

On "The Sanguinary Impetus" Defeated Sanity have paired the two styles, so the listener is both treated to some crushingly brutal death metal but also a lot of technical playing and even progressive songwriting. This is an insanely technical release, constantly shifting gears, tempos, and riff styles. The vocals are the least interesting feature on the album, as they are one-dimensional and unintelligible growling, which doesn´t add much to the album. They are there and they get the job done, but nothing more and nothing less.

"The Sanguinary Impetus" features a brutal, meaty, and detailed sound production, which suits the massive heaviness of the music well. It´s an interesting brutal death metal release, because although the brutality factor is very high throughout, it´s not an uncompromisingly brutal and extreme release. The technical playing and the focus on compositional details make "The Sanguinary Impetus" a standout release in the genre. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Passages into Deformity" is the fourth full-length studio album by German death metal act Defeated Sanity. The album was released through Willowtip Records in February 2013. It´s the successor to "Chapters Of Repugnance" from 2010. The four-piece lineup who recorded the predecessor is intact on "Passages into Deformity".

Stylistically the material is brutal and technically well played death metal. The vocals are gutteral and completely unintelligible growling. It´s ultra brutal, meaty, and pummeling death metal, but there´s actually a bit more variation than what may initially appear when listening to the album. Defeated Sanity skillfully change pace multible times during each track, and they also make sure to incorporate little songwriting details (as an example check out the bass lines and breaks on "The Purging"), and intros and outros to tracks, to ensure that the listeners attention isn´t completely lost in the relentlessly brutal and busy soundscape.

"Passages into Deformity" features a meaty, brutal, and well sounding production job, and upon conclusion it´s a high quality brutal death metal release by Defeated Sanity, perfectly pairing brutality, technical playing, and powerful and effective songwriting (which for the genre is quite varied). Had the vocals been a bit more varied and not just a one-dimensional growling drone, "Passages into Deformity" could have deserved an even higher rating, but as it is the vocals get the job done and nothing more, and in my book a little more is needed to hit the really high marks. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata" is the 5th full-length studio album by German death metal act Defeated Sanity. The album was released through Willowtip Records in July 2016. While it is considered a full-length studio album, "Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata" is actually more like two EP releases compiled into one full-length album release. The first part of the album (track 1 - 6), which is titled "Disposal of the Dead", features Konstantin Lühring on vocals (who also sang on the band´s 4th full-length studio album "Passages into Deformity (2013)", but who left Defeated Sanity after recording his parts for this project), while the second part of the album (track 7 - 11), which is titled "Dharmata", features Max Phelps (Cynic, Death DTA, Exist) on vocals. The two parts of the album were recorded at two seperate sessions.

And let me establish right away, that it´s not only the two vocalists who sound vastly different (Konstantin Lühring deliveres unintelligible brutal growling, while Max Phelps has a more snarling aggressive delivery, not far removed from Chuck Schuldiner´s (Death, Control Denied) vocal style), it´s certainly also in the instrumental department, that the music on the two parts of the album is very different sounding.

The first part of the album features the band´s "regular" brutal and technically well played death metal style. It´s downtuned, dark, and very brutal. The sound production is quite original with a distinct sounding guitar tone, and a relatively odd drum sound. Especially the latter is to my ears a bit of an issue. The snare drum features quite an annoying sound, which makes it almost impossible not to focus on it, and I´m having a hard time getting a complete listening experince, when the snare drum sounds so detached from the rest of the instruments. The growling vocals aren´t that interesting either. Very deep, low in the mix, and completely unintelligible. Add to that material that aren´t particularly original sounding, and the "Disposal of the Dead" part of the album comes off as decent but relatively standard brutal technnical death metal. The only track on that part of the album which stands out a bit is the heavy "The Bell".

The second part of the album as mentioned features a completely different sound. It sees Defeated Sanity playing an early- to mid 90s influenced technical/progressive death metal style. Artists like Death, Atheist, Cynic, and Sadist come to mind at various points during the "Dharmata" part of the album. Atmospheric jazzy parts, razor sharp technical death/thrash riffs, advanced guitar solos, fusion influenced rhythms, and an aggressive snarling vocalist in front. The material is adventurous, intriguing, and powerful. Defeated Sanity definitely proves to be more than capable of playing this style of music, and while I´m trying to avoid sounding too disrespectful, I can´t help wonder why they spend their time playing what they do on the "Disposal of the Dead" part of the album, when they can deliver what they do on the "Dharmata" part of the album in such a convincing manner. This is high quality technical/progressive death metal and it´s definitely recommended to fans of the above mentioned references. The sound production is very different sounding from the "Disposal of the Dead" part of the album, and suits the technical/progressive material perfectly.

Upon conclusion "Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata" is quite an interesting release by Defeated Sanity, especially when taking into consideration that both parts of the album were recorded by the same lineup (except on the lead vocalist spot), although it feels more like a split release, featuring two completely different artists. That´s quite the achievement in my book and proves beyond any doubt the high level compositional skill of the band. On the other hand it doesn´t tell us much about who they are as an artist or where they are heading in the future. As an album "Disposal of the Dead / Dharmata" is obviously also stylistic inconsistent and therefore has a very different flow than most full-length releases. It´s up for discussion if that´s a good or a bad thing. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Prelude to the Tragedy" is the debut full-length studio album by German death metal act Defeated Sanity. The album was released in November 2004 by Grindethic Records.

The music on the album is brutal and technically well played death metal and a nod towards Suffocation isn´t all wrong. The brutal growling vocals are more or less indecipherable ( not as ridicously so as on the two next albums though). The lyrics are the rather typical gore themed lyrics that most brutal death metal acts seem to favour. So all in all there are not much on this album that sets itself apart from the thousands of other brutal death metal releases out there.

The playing is tight and convincing, the production is powerful ( albeit pretty standard for the genre), but even though the 8 track album is only 31:35 minutes long it doesn´t take more than a couple of tracks before my attention wanders. The songs simply sound too much the same.

When that is said I still prefer this debut over the next two albums by the band and on occassion when I want to listen to a really brutal death metal release the album comes on. It´s seldom it stays on for the duration of the album though. For that it´s too one-dimensional. A 3 star rating is warranted.