Review Summary: This is what our parents think death metal sounds like.
The second release by Defeated Sanity, Psalms of the Moribund is your archetypal brutal death metal album, dripping with well, brutality. For fans of the genre, this album will be sure to satisfy, as it mixes in competent technical aspects to the brutality. And for more casual listeners, it will be like pulling teeth to sit and listen without hitting the 'next song' button.
As the rating exemplifies, this album is just decent, and really nothing to behold. The only thing that makes this LP memorable is that you probably needed a hand full of Ritalin caplets just to be able to pay attention to it for the whole half hour run time.
The chief reason behind this lies in the vocals which are simply and 'g'utterly BORING after about two minutes . Jens Staschel (arguably their worst vocalist to date) rarely changed pitch or style on this album, and the only thing to be heard coming from him are incomprehensible gutturals, burps and squeals that even a professor of linguistics would likely be unable to decipher.
If you can tolerate the vocals, than you'll be pleased to hear the musicianship is actually stellar and technically competent, full of tempo changes and catchy riffs. The bass is clearly audible and probably the strongest part of the ensemble as it pulls out bass fills that sound like they're straight from an Atheist album. This LP blurs the line between technical and brutal death metal as one moment it's chugging and grinding and another it's throwing down technical and complex riffs reminiscent of the early death metal scene gods Death.
As good and the instrumentation is however, it does become stale and breakdown heavy after an extended listen. Although many bands use breakdowns as a staple to their sound, the great bands are able to use them consistently without them becoming less interesting than paint drying; something Defeated Sanity are unable to do in this album.
Defeated Sanity's second effort, Psalms of the Moribund pulls off some things well, however there is nothing here you haven't heard before (and done better). It's probably not worth your interest unless you're a brutal death metal music hoarder.
Pros:
Stellar mix of brutal death metal sound layered with technical instrumentation
Great (and audible bass) shines on this album
Cons:
Vocals are painfully one dimensional, not to mention incomprehensible
Very repetitive
Despite the technicality, it gets stale very quickly
