Defeated Sanity - Passages Into Deformity

Defeated Sanity have alway's been a crushing brutal death metal act driven by technical instrumentation and a groove that makes their music damn catchy. Both Chapters Of Repugnance and Psalms Of The Moribund are exceptional releases and should be at least checked out for anyone into brutal or technical death metal. They throw in the occasional slam but don't go too far with the style, so don't get your basketball jersey in a twist if you were expecting as much.

Sticking to the theme of using the plural form of a noun to begin the title of their albums, Defeated Sanity released Passages Into Deformity. The band themselves stated that it has a bit more of an old school feel to it, and I do agree even if it is only a slight one. The chunky guitar tone and lighter vocals all hark back to those old days in essence, but feel distinctly modern. The result is something that I find tough to enjoy in its entirety.

Don't get me wrong, there are many great moments on Passages Into Deformity. It's just not what I was expecting. I have to get this off my chest first though: "Initiation" isn't just a worthless ambient or sample intro track! This is such a rarity that I have to give the album points just for including actual music in the poorly titled opener. "Initiation" gives way to "Naraka," which is a solid bass heavy track that lays down solid grooves to remind you what Defeated Sanity is all about before bludgeoning you with its conclusion.

Passages Into Deformity follows the conventions we all know and love Defeated Sanity for. Unlike previous releases though, I find myself zoning out during particular tracks. I don't know if its the oddly organic guitar tone (one I'm admittedly not used to hearing coming from this band), or just that the off-time rhythms haven't stuck with me this time around. "Verblendung," "Lusting For Transcendence." and the hammerblasts of the semi-title track "Verses Of Deformity" blow right by without leaving even the slightest scratch upon my memory.

There's still a bit of memorable fun to be had with Passages. "The Purging" is a highlight with tons of blasting grooves and catchy vocal rhythms. There's even a few pit riffs and d-beats thrown in as well as some interesting phaseshifter effects. "Perspectives" could probably have been shortened as it's quite long for a Defeated Sanity track, and the length aside, the track is still a standout for them. There are a few slower moments and a bunch of frenzied polyrhythms that make it interesting throughout. "Frenzy" (hindsight pun) is a blastfest that leads to another drum showcase and solo in "Martyrium." All of them are tracks that I feel will grow on me with time, but even on first impression they're pretty damn good.

The staunch focus on rhythm is one of the reasons I've always loved listening to Defeated Sanity. The problem with this release in comparison to their previous ones is that it occasionally gets bogged down by that focus, and is less memorable because of it. Since this is the main issue I have with Passages Into Deformity, I think a few more listens might make it the grower I wasn't expecting from Defeated sanity.

7.25 out of 10

Tracklisting:
1. Initiation
2. Naraka
3. Verblendung
4. Lusting For Transcendence
5. The Purging
6. Verses Of Deformity
7. Perspectives
8. Frenzy
9. Martyrium

Bandcamp

Chordotomy - The Precious Ideal

Hello everyone. You should be used to my sporadic checking-ins of The Disgust by this point. I'm really busy as of late and all you extreme music fans may have heard, the great JGD at The Living Doorway is taking a break from posting for awhile. His hiatus inspired me to come back from my own hiatus, but chances are it'll inspire me to take another in a few days considering I left for the same reasons he did.

Anyway since I haven't been posting or checking my email too regularly, I've decided to dedicate a majority of October 7th and 8th to writing reviews on albums I've been listening to or have listened to in the last few weeks. There's a lot of shit to cover, and our first album of the day is Chordotomy's The Precious Ideal.

Chordotomy is a brutal slamming death metal band from Deutschland that lacks any semblance of originality. Cheesy samples and monotonous vocalwork plague The Precious Ideal from beginning to end. But nobody gives a fuck about that: these slams are diabolically catchy and make up for all the genre-pandering bullshit that tends to pervade this sort of music.

Tracks like the "Structures Of Inexistence" and "Hostile Annihilation" are relentless, high-speed tracks that devolve into cavemen-beating-each-other brutality. The slams are mid to slow-paced and absolutely addicting in their simplicity. Others begin simple and gradually reach higher tempos like "Bludgeoned Into Demise" where the track culminates in a gravity blast about halfway through. Rhythmically speaking, The Precious Ideal serves as great entertainment. If you like hearing two guys give it their all by chugging away on palm-muted chords in arrangements that'll have you humming (headbanging) along, then this album is for you.

Despite playing to stereotypes there's a few standout moments. "Human Derangement" is oddly melodic and features some vocal pitch-changing, and the production being heavy in low-end makes the part after the melody feel earth-shakingly brutal. "Structures Of Inexistence" reminds me of "Lashed To The Slave Stick" by Nile, but it quickly gets stuck in a slam-rut that makes Nile look like flower-power hippies in comparison. A few of the later tracks are more forgettable bar the stupid samples (isn't it sad when the only memorable feature of a track is the sample?), like "Implements Of Natural Selection." The majority of the album is solid enough to make up for it and you can always pick and choose from your favorite slams.

The Precious Ideal is a great example of an album that doesn't have to do new things to be entertaining and although I'm sure I'll forget the album in a few months' time, I thoroughly enjoyed everything on here.

7.25 out of 10



Tracklisting:

1.	Einklang
2.	Philosophy of Suffering
3.	Structures of Inexistence
4.	Systematic Extermination
5.	Cassandra Effect
6.	Bludgeoned into Demise
7.	Human Derangement
8.	Hostile Annihilation
9.	Implements of Natural Selection
10.	A Mind in Ruins

Listen // Buy

Hour Of Penance - Sedition

Italy's Hour Of Penance is the unstoppable force in the death metal world. Despite some personal setbacks, they keep on churning out brutally technical death metal that puts most modern death metal stars like Behemoth and Nile to shame.

Sedition has all the trademarks and is in many ways the obvious sonic progression from Paradogma, which sported numerous exotic scales, ultra fast blasting, and the rhythmic vocal aggression Francesco Paoli is known for. After his falling out with the band, they hired frontman and guitarist Paolo Pieri to replace him - and to be quite honest he does a good job of aping Paoli's style, although he isn't quite as guttural. That's about the extent of the nuances you'll hear that set Sedition apart from its predecessor. Oh, and there's a bit more soloing too.

The frenetic yet brutal guitarwork these pasta-devouring monsters are known for comes back in a few memorable ways. The songwriting seem to coalesce around a main riff and lead that grows and evolves as the tracks progress, giving certain tracks a "grower" or build-up feel, like "Decimate The Ancestry Of The Only God" and "Sedition Through Scorn." Others feature more straightforward brutality like "Fall Of Servants" and the tremolo demonologies of "The Cannibal Gods." Both styles are welcome on here and give what would be a predictably stale brutal technical death metal album a bit of variety.

Hour Of Penance take it down a notch on the off occasion, switching from incessant and pummeling blasting to d-beats, often during solos. Perhaps one of the slower tracks on Sedition, "Ascension" is a pretty interesting track featuring potent triplets and a venomous lead spritzed with shouts during the refrain. The production featuring a competent low-end allows all tempos and solos to sound great.  My one complaint is that the bass guitar isn't as present in the mix as I would like it to be although it is audible and the frequencies are certainly present. Other than that this album is a colossal feat by Italy's premiere modern death metal band, propelling them past the heights that they soared to on Paradogma.

It's not as awesome or as absolutely balls-to-the-wall intense like The Vile Conception, but that's beside the point that this is a stellar fucking album.

8.25 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Transubstantiatio
2.	Enlightened Submission
3.	Decimate the Ancestry of the Only God
4.	Fall of the Servants
5.	Ascension
6.	The Cannibal Gods
7.	Sedition Through Scorn
8.	Deprave to Redeem
9.	Blind Obedience

Abominable Putridity - The Anomalies Of Artificial Origin

Yeah I know it's not Sunday anymore but I had half of this shit written on Sunday. Passed out before I finished it, so don't take the blockers off yet!

 

Now onto Abominable Putridity's 2012 release, The Anomalies Of Artificial Origin. In the past five (more like four) years Abominable Putridity went through a few lineup changes, had a flirtation with Big Chocolate, and decided to amp up the technicality, amounting in this new release being a little different than its oft-hated predecessor.

The technicality on The Anomalies is more in the vein of master noodlers Brain Drill and Necrophagist as opposed to the more atmospherically-oriented tech out there. It's fast, arpeggio-based, and very, very annoying. I can't seem to come to terms with it. Opener "A Burial For The Abandoned" is ruined by this senseless wankery. Luckily it's the most flamboyant and obvious of the new-style tracks on the entirety of The Anomalies. The slams were left intact and are as skull-bludgeoning as ever. "Lack Of Oxygen" quickly devolves into a brutal slam rut and "Wormhole Inversion" has one of the better rhythm-bending slams present on the album. "The Last Communion" features a pit-monster of a slam in the first minute which proceeds to give way to groovy technicality without the wank, making it my favorite track on The Anomalies. This track is how I wish the rest of the album was.

I guess one of the benefits of having improved instrumentally is that the riffing between slams has grown to be somewhat interesting as opposed to filler. However for the most part Abominable Putridity will ruin these sections with a seemingly random arpeggiation. The worst is on "Remnants Of The Tortured," which has a cool mosh riff that could be easily tweaked as it breaks into the main slam, but instead is littered with noodling.

The production is significantly cleaner and more mechanical sounding on The Anomalies Of Artificial Origin. It brings out the more precise instrumentation, but really drops the brutality of the slams by a notch. If the idea of semi-techwank slam death is appealing to you then you should take The Anomalies over In The End Of Human Existence, but I definitely wouldn't.

6.0 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Remnants of the Tortured
2.	A Massacre in the North
3.	Letting Them Fall...
4.	A Burial for the Abandoned
5.	Lack of Oxygen
6.	Wormhole Inversion
7.	The Anomalies of Artificial Origin
8.	The Last Communion

Natrium - Elegy For The Flesh

I was getting annoyed with scoring albums last night, and I was thinking of a solution to my recurring indecision. Thus I will be converting everything over to the 0.25 scale because it's significantly easier to dole out scores and there's enough variance for me to get my point across. Like anyone who spends time writing reviews, I would like the words to be the focal point of each post, but I know how many people just read the score and download, so I'm making the change on all the past reviews as well. The change will keep things more organized so it's probably for the better. I promise this will be the last change I make to the scoring system (yeah, right).

Italy's Natrium has apparently been around since the early 2000s. That comes as a big surprise to me considering they only have two full-lengths. Their first album The Day Of Pain has a hilariously inane and amateurish album cover, with it's Microsoft WordArt logo and shitty photoshop fire effects layered on top of some engraving. Their 2011 album Elegy For The Flesh has a much more professional if still computer-edited album cover done by the (in)famous Pär Olafsson. Recently he's garnered a lot of hate due to "a lack of variety" in his style. Whatever, I think it still looks cool and fits the mechanized, technical element of Natrium's brutal death metal.

If I had to describe Natrium in a few words, it would be Severed Savior in Italy. Elegy For The Flesh isn't your typical "no balls, all wank" brutal techdeath album either and on first listen I honestly felt like a good chunk of the songwriting borrowed from slam death. Every riff feels meaty and dense, and although the guitar tone has that sterile "dryness" to it, the songs still feel brutal, much in the same way songs like "Sphacelated Nerves" by Abominable Putridity manage to. I guess that wasn't the most apt comparison, but you get what I'm trying to say. The guitar tone sucks, but it doesn't detract from the brutality of the music. All of the songs on Elegy For The Flesh tend to play on the lower register anyway, and the majority of them top out at mid-pace. This makes the faster tracks like "Ravenous Theophagists" and my album favorite, "Allograft Harvesting," stand out that much more.

Natrium explores a wide range of time signatures and interesting rhythms on the album, often using triplets to their advantage. There are a few solos as well, which usually don't reach flamboyancy and often are a backdrop to the drums and bass. This is totally fine by me, because we all know how fucking annoying Necrophagist is. That doesn't mean the solos aren't technical either. "Breastfed With Mendacity" basically ends on a riff explored during the solo, which is an interesting touch. I applaud Natrium's attempt at being original in a genre plagued with copycats, and there are some interesting ideas behind forging a rhythmically-driven technical brutal death metal band, but they could definitely polish up the songwriting a bit and fix that disgusting guitar tone. Otherwise a solid release.

7.0 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Elegy for the Flesh
2.	Memetic Infection
3.	Breastfed with Mendacity
4.	Sarin Benison
5.	Ravenous Theophaghists
6.	Allograft Harvesting
7.	Clinical Savagery
8.	Plastinated Birth

Fleshless - Slaves Of The God Machine

I know I know, I'm behind. Don't worry though. I plan on adding three reviews tonight to make up for the last three days. Here's Monday's.

Fleshless is notorious for having silly album covers. Disproportionate people doing odd things ranging from implementing bizarre torture methods to wheelbarrowing corpses, each cover features their own demented Eddy-esque mascot. Having picked up Slaves Of The God Machine hoping for some brutal death metal (or maybe even grindcore) fun, I was quite surprised when melodious hooks and even an "emotional" synth blared out of my speakers.

The surprise wasn't too long lived as I began to digest the tracks. Each had its share of predictable, forgettable chug-along riffs. In fact Slaves Of The God Machine is pretty much littered with them, the occasional hook or lead bursting through the mire of mediocrity to send you into a headbanging frenzy for 10-15 seconds before you're forced to endure another minute of insipidity. There's a few solid highlights like "False Ascension," the mosh-friendly "Truth In Flesh," and the brutal death metal tinged "Mechanic Pregnancy." The rest of the album has a few decent mid-paced thrash-along riffs (like on "Sins Reversed"), but it's nothing I haven't heard a hundred times before.

Vocally speaking, there's still a hint of brutal death metal in the music. Vladimir Prokos' vocals drop to the occasional abyssal gurgle, which is a bit odd considering the melodic leads usually playing at the same time. The musicianship on Slaves Of The God Machine is entirely competent, and the production suits this kind of music well. Sadly the songwriting itself isn't nearly as interesting, and you'll find yourself saying "I've heard this before" several times throughout the album.

Oh and did I mention they totally have songs called "Intro" and "Outro" on here? I fucking hate that.

5.25 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Intro
2.	Fixed
3.	Truth in Flesh
4.	To Dethrone God
5.	False Ascension
6.	Sins Reversed
7.	Industrial Abuse
8.	Mechanic Pregnancy
9.	Their Sanguinary Doctrines
10.	Promised Salvation
11.	Mindseething
12.	Outro

Insain - Spiritual Rebirth

Derivative logo fonts aside, France's Insain plays some mean, compressed, and altogether predictable death metal. However even though it covers similar territory, that doesn't keep it from being a fun, brutal romp. As a sucker for brutal death metal - all kinds from slam to technical - I was addicted to this for a few days, often getting some of better pit riffs stuck in my head.

Insain's debut Spiritual Rebirth is an exercise in modern death metal brutality. You've got your Suffocation-inspired riffing with a few sparks of Origin's instrument finesse. As I mentioned before, this album is heavy on typical brutal death metal pit riffing. There's plenty of hammerblasts, D-beats, and surprisingly melodic leads which will have you wanting to start a pit right there. Throw in some breakdowns (brutal death breakdowns. Get your mind out of the gutter) and you have yourself a winner. There's also quite a few instances where the vocalist will spew out line after line of gut-disemboweling rhetoric in a speedy fashion similar to Francesco Paoli from Hour Of Penance or Julien Truchan of fellow French band Benighted. The title track is a prime example of this. There's a few gurgling and squealing bits which should appease fans of brutal death(core), slam, and grind as well.

I have two big issues with the album though, and the first is the more obvious. "Well you basically just described the majority of brutal death metal." Spiritual Rebirth is pretty much an entirely derivative venture, yes, but it has a few redeeming qualities. First is that the songs are memorable, and second is that they combine many of the more interesting elements of other artists' music in a way that is relatively seamless. My second big gripe with Spiritual Rebirth is that although the songs are so instantly memorable, the album wears thin quickly. The compressed mid-range-heavy production just exacerbates the issue, and I had a similar issue with Origin's latest. However this is a debut album, and I understand it takes some time to develop a unique sound. Often enough new artists in metal only get signed because they sound like someone else.

If you understand these two big issues going into Insain's debut, you're in for a good time. The pit riffs on "Prophet" are monstrous and addictive, the vocals on the title track, "Inquisitor," and "Angel Of Pain" are frenzied aggression, and the bends on "Dying Mind" are fun. The latter half of the album is samey and definitely drags a bit at times, but that doesn't stop Insain's momentum which remains at breakneck speed throughout all of Spiritual Rebirth.

6.75 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Black as Your Light
2.	Me & I
3.	Inquisitor
4.	Spiritual Rebirth
5.	Corpse Before Death
6.	Prophet
7.	Dying Mind
8.	Worthless
9.	Angel of Pain
10.	Ethereal Enemy
11.	Back Into the Wild

Origin - Entity

Origin's new album came out quite awhile ago, and honestly I didn't enjoy it at first. The lame crystal clear production was to blame, but as time went on I noticed the ingenuity in some of the riffs. There was a creative spark on Entity that was missing from their previous records, but at the same time it was mired in that oh-so-shitty low end lacking production.

A few months later and I'm finally ready to tackle this album. As I mentioned, the first thing that any fan of Origin will notice is the stupidly clean production and the lack of any real heaviness. It should hit you like a wrecking ball to the face right after the opening of "Expulsion Of Fury." "That's fine, there's bound to be sweet riffs. This is Origin, after all!" Yeah, that's what I thought for quite some time too.

An apt comparison to Origin's riffs is the water weight a lot of steroid using athletes put on. They're superficial, bloated, and it's ever so common amongst the competition. There are some gems hidden amongst the coal though - "Saligia" is extremely catchy, "Swarm" ends on a headbanger, and "Committed" sounds like something Gigan would write. The closing riff at the end of "Evolution Of Extinction" is pretty badass as well. It's a shame that the rest isn't up to par since I really liked the album for a week or so, but after that I found myself zoning out everytime I gave it a spin.

The technicality on the album is on par with or greater than that of Origin's magnum opus Antithesis, and I feel like a lot of the songs sound like they'd fit more in with Echoes Of Decimation than their previous effort. "Consequence Of Solution" is one of those tracks. A few of the shorter, grindier songs are completely forgettable, like "Banishing Illusion" and "Fornever." The exceptions would be the relentless "Swarm" and the odd "Committed," with the rest falling somewhere in between.

It's a shame that Entity's potential was never realized and the production is so god-awful. If you're a fan of technical death or Origin you may find something worth listening to on here, and I can guarantee it'll hold your interest for a little at least. But don't spend any of your hard-earned cash on this when there's stuff like Archspire, Beyond Creation, and Gigan. Better yet go pick up Echoes Of Decimation or Antithesis.

6.5 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1.	Expulsion of Fury
2.	Purgatory
3.	Conceiving Death
4.	Swarm
5.	Saligia
6.	The Descent
7.	Fornever
8.	Committed
9.	Banishing Illusion
10.	Consequence of Solution
11.	Evolution of Extinction