Interview with Defeated Sanity

Hi there! Lille, you’ve been driving Defeated Sanity since the very beginning. How has your approach to songwriting and composition evolved since the band’s early days?
When Wolf and I started we played each other’s songs, since both of us were very creative ppl and songwriting came natural to us. My output got more and more crazy and also wrote more so eventually I became the Main Songwriter. My dream was always to write with a full Band in a room – but Evolution formed a different reality. I just know too surely what I want. In the end I work with my riffs and ideas and those from others and weave them into My composition.

Given the deep connection to your father, Wolfgang Teske, and his influence on the band, how do you feel his presence continues to shape your creative output?
It literally feels like we’re the same person and I know every decision I make would be supported by him cus I know what he likes and I like the same stuff.

From the early demos to now, how have the challenges and rewards of leading a band like Defeated Sanity shifted over the years?
It’s way more rewarding now, cus we actually made a Name for ourselves to present what we write opposed to back then when we were not able to play good shows and ppl had no interest in us. The demo times we weren’t on top of our Performance yet, copied others and tried to Establish a style. Now we created our own and ppl all over the World wanna see us play!

On Chronicles of Lunacy, there’s a noticeable return to a more raw, aggressive sound compared to your previous albums. What sparked the desire to focus more on brutality this time around, and how did that shift impact your songwriting?
I like how u observed this very accurately. Well the reasons are based on our will to never copy an album that was before especially the respective on that’s right before. TSI Was super experimental and brainy. We felt we wanted to write a bit more primitive and organic with the new one. And it’s exactly what happened.

The thematic core of the album explores different forms of mental decay and violence. How do you, as a band, translate these often complex and disturbing themes into a cohesive musical experience?
Music is the beginning really. After the instruments are finished we think about what the song could deal with lyrically. At that point we try to make the lyrics ark around the music and make them hit along with the music, creating climaxes and catchy parts. Dealing with some of these subjects is a very cool intellectual workout for Josh and I who collaborate 50/50 on the lyrics.

Jon Zig’s artwork for the album is a work of visual madness. What was the collaboration process like with him, and how did his vision align with the chaotic nature of the music?
He’s our favorite! I simply gave him all the lyrical themes off the album and made him compile it into a collage – very similar to what he did on Disposal of the Dead.

“Condemned to Vascular Famine” stands out with its nightmarish intensity. Can you walk us through the writing and recording of this track – what were the moments that defined its evolution?
It was the last track we completed for this album. I originally wanted to make this track an all slow/mid tempo track working with rhythmical oddities and mixing it with sludgy and slammy stuff. The first main theme is actually a riff written by Josh Welshman when he still had his project Autonomy. I took that riff (the beginning riff when the guitar first comes in) and layered it with some crazy groove ideas I had and it fit like a glove. Jacob and I came up with some cool bass lines on that intro as well then. Very complex beginning. But I also had lots of fast riffage that I still wanted on the album, so we did connect them to build a more varied song after all – maybe the most varied off the album. Vaughn also came up with some arrangements and licks on this one. I like that we had an assortment of mid/slow parts that represent DS really well. Old school Death slow riffs, Hardcore groove, Slam and even some of the Jazz fusion based stuff. Definitely one of my faves.

In terms of production, Chronicles of Lunacy leans into a heavier low-end than previous albums. How did the collaboration with Colin Marston shape the final sonic result, and were there any challenges in achieving this specific sound?
Colin is both a master of his craft and a huge fan/expert of DS. Perfect choice! The bass tone off the new album is without the best Jacob ever sounded. Colin mostly works as a bassist I would say, so maybe that explains why the low end is pummeling so nicely on this one! The challenges are kinda back in the day….Colin knows very well how to achieve a balanced mix with this extreme sound!

Some fans may find your recent albums more complex than earlier works. Was there any conscious decision to find a balance between complexity and aggression on Chronicles of Lunacy, or did it come naturally through the writing process?
As said before – a very natural process. But my first impulse and musical craving was “write groovy and primitive stuff”. I was being very inconsequent with that though lol and super weird sections like explained above started creeping in!.

Defeated Sanity is a band that has always embraced experimentation. When you try new things musically, what are the key elements that must remain intact to keep it feeling like a Defeated Sanity song?
I’m very compulsive about the intervals and harmonies I like. Same goes for rhythm. So those dogmas are always baked into the style. Even when Jacob or Vaughn or Wolf or Chris delivered riffs I often shaped them up to form them to what I perceive as perfection. DHARMATA was a good example where we imitated a style that we love but usually don’t play. It still sounds different cus of my dogmatic view of things. Same would go if we were to record a doom album!

Given the sheer complexity of your material, is there a track on Chronicles of Lunacy that required a particularly challenging process to get right, whether in writing, recording, or arrangement?
I mean, each song is a process and a challenge honestly. It takes months and years to truly finalize a song. There’s flow for a little bit – then u get stuck. It’s nor.al. ideas then have to lay around and ripen in a way. Sometimes I try to doctor them maniacally, sometimes I look at it very chill. That’s arrangement and composition. When it comes to recording everything is already arranged and rehearsed well.

Looking at the trajectory of your career, was there a particular moment or album that you feel really crystallized your unique place within the death metal scene?
Psalms of the moribund is where I was proud that we were using 12 tone rows everywhere and our style was almost like atonal brutal death whereas rhythmically it was just more odd time based and “jazzy” other bands. I feel where Nile used the Egyptian thing we had the German tradition of Schönberg and put it in more Popular music. Catchy 21st century music if u will…..
Before Psalms our influences were very clear still and we didn’t have those innovations intact as much. Psalms I feel was truly original.

With Chronicles of Lunacy, how do you see it evolving within your discography? Are there elements in the album that you’ll be expanding upon in future material?
I always say this: I don’t know if I even can write another Brutal Death Metal album. Next on the list is a continuation of the Dharmata style in a full album format. We’ll see what happens after that lol but that sounds like planning the next 6 years!!!

What’s next for Defeated Sanity? Thank you for your time!
Next is touring our asses off with this COL material!!! And we don’t even wanna think about writing for a year or 2! Instead we wanna explore and present out back catalogue as well in coming tours, when COL cycle fades a bit.

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