Break through the shell of Defect Designer.
After their last EP released in 2022 on Transcending Obscurity Records, the band composed of Dmitry Sukhinin (guitar/vocals, Diskord, Coldflesh) and Martin Storm-Olsen (vocals/bass, ex-Coldflesh, ex-Trollfest) called on Eugene Ryabchenko (drums, Banisher, Fleshgod Apocalypse, live for Belphegor, Vital Remains, Decapitated…) for the release of Chitin, their third album.
I had discovered Defect Designer with their previous EP, where the jerky riffs hit us for a mere twenty minutes over an ultra-saccadic rhythm, testifying to both nameless chaos and formidable mastery. With Chitin, the band continue to explore Death Metal with their chaotic complexity, creating a veritable compendium of raw sonorities, screaming guitars, savage vocal parts and dissonant riffs. Everything in their tracks is at the service of their explosive, unpredictable patterns, sometimes letting the tempo slow down considerably to choke us without setting aside their impenetrable technique, drawing on Old School roots and dashes of the unexpected. One of the most representative examples of this album is To Ziggurat, which contains all the elements mentioned and aligns them in a more or less orderly fashion (for those discovering it, at least) but creating a result that is as surprising as coherent, and which proves that there is genuine research beneath the tangled heap that the musicians spread in our ears. Also of note is the clear voice of Björn « Speed » Strid (Soilwork, Act of Denial, The Night Flight Orchestra) on Shine Shine, a strangely calm and melodious composition where keyboards add a soothing heady touch, as well as the infectious joie de vivre of the very short Nu, Pogodi! the penultimate album composition, where the musicians will surprise us once again.
As you listen to Chitin, take a moment to take a look at its cover, but don’t try to understand its chaos: only the members of Defect Designer are capable of understanding its mysteries. Just enjoy the Death Metal imbroglio.
75/100
