German death metal quartet Defeated Sanity have not strayed from their formula on their fourth album, Passages Into Deformity. They're still a hybrid of early Cryptopsy's blinding technicality and Suffocation's NYHC-esque breakdowns-- "slam parts," to those in the know. There are plenty of bands that attempt this fusion, but few do it with such care and precision. Defeated Sanity have always been stronger than their "brutal death metal" peers in part because they do not use either of those elements as a crutch: too much technicality can only hide a lack of songwriting and ideas for so long; slams serve as fun reprieves, but should never be the center of one's sound. Defeated Sanity strike a balance between both, making their product more potent.
On Deformity, they use a much crisper production than on their last album, 2010's Chapters of Repugnance, taking out some of the low end and cleaning up the guitar sound. For their tech side, this is a boon. Christian Kühn's guitar work gets to shine as a result. The slams do suffer a little from the greater absence of bass, but they still pack plenty of heft. Deformity features the same lineup as Repugnance, save for new vocalist Konstantin Lühring, who replaces A.J. Magana. He doesn't sound that much different from his predecessor, just a tinge lower. Band members as interchangable parts has plagued metal for some time, but think of the upside to Lühring's seamless transition. Cryptopsy's biggest strength was their distintive vocalist Lord Worm, and since his two departures from the band, they've never regained their footing. Defeated Sanity don't have to worry about that.
Throughout the record, there are interludes that, while fitting with the macabre feel of the music, are not the sounds you'd normally find on a death metal record. The oddest of them is on "Verblendung", capping off with a layer static burying a drum pattern somewhere between Converge at their most experimental and IDM. "Lusting for Transcendence" ends with a guitar drone over the sound of someone eating flesh, which is fairly death metal in and of itself. It's also be interesting to see if the piano that caps "Verses Of Deformity" could be woven more tightly with the music. The interludes signal a desire, perhaps on the band's part, to want to bring new elements and directions to their sound. One instance of a desire to musically expand does not come from an interlude, in fact, it doesn't come until the album's almost over. The end of "Martyrium" (where Magana makes a guest vocal appearance) has drummer Lille Gruber cutting loose and going off on a bit of a freeform jam. For most of the album, he's connected with the guitar, but in this instance, he's on his own tangent, not caring what Kühn does. A whole album of that would be a disaster, but that taste at the end serves as a fitting closer.
Deformity sees the Defeated Sanity at an interesting point in their career. While sticking to their sound, they've making moves that indicate they're ready for bigger things. In some ways, the stage is set: in all of the mainstream music press' more recent fascination with extreme metal, Wormed-- a Spanish band who are Defeated Sanity's few worthy contemporaries-- being featured on NPR may be the strangest. Perhaps the public is ready for this sort of stuff.
