Defect Designer – Depressants
Release Date: 15th May 2026
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
FFO: Diskord, Februus, Demilich, Contrastic, Swelling Repulsion, Disharmonic Orchestra, Frank Zappa, Zakula, Tzeavot, Ethmebb, Primus, Suicidal Tendencies, Beaten to Death, Mutoid Man, Uncultivates, Electric Mayhem, Voivod, Violent Femmes, Jack White, Captain Beefheart, early Swans, Mr Bungle, Melted Bodies.
Review By: Malte Brigge
Defect Designer defies the definitions of every word in that genre tag above: they are progressive in that each album progresses into weirder territories. Their connection to “death metal” has evolved into a suggestion, a glancing blow, a mere flesh wound. Their first album, 2009’s Wax, was clearly death metal with some progressive leanings (think Haxprocess or Adon), but their third album, 2024’s Chitin (hot on the heels of 2015’s forgettable Ageing Accelerator) was nearly unrecognizable by comparison, abandoning observable structures and known sonic pallets for wild flings with unpredictability. Only two years later, they’re back with Depressants, and, oh boy, you’re gonna wanna buckle up.
If there’s anything “progressive” in what Defect Designer does, it’s in their creativity with riffs and unusual employment of scales. Their ADHD-inspired avant-lunacy rarely sticks with one idea for long, often more découpé than thematically driven. Most songs are a fractured mosaic of grind-length ideas stitched into cubist structures. Gargantuan eardrum-blasting bass beats stomp with authority, surrounded by hurtling guitars and mathy, maniacal drums. Think Mutoid Man meets Captain Beefheart meets Primus meets early Swans meets Demilich meets the Trashmen. Or imagine Suicidal Tendencies playing a version of the Beach Boys fronted by Bill Steer. It’s whack-a-mole, Calvinball music. There’s a bold commitment to hyperactivity that works the way the unstructured play of a child works: there’s a starting point, there’s where they are now, and in between lies a path only they could follow and nobody else could coherently explain. Sometimes the four- or five-minute lengths work, like on Repeated Aversive Stimuli Inducer, but sometimes it’s as egregious as it is exhaustive.
Dmitry Sukhinin and Martin Storm-Olsen’s guitars largely flow in brighter tones, but thick, brothy rhythms occasionally create swirling gravity wells. Twisting, churning, and occasionally killer riffs chase each other’s tails ridden by solos ranging from “Maggotbrain” beautiful (Beautiful Juice Straws, I Heard Robespierre Screamed Like a Bitch) to Neil Young frenetic (As the Terracotta Dust Settles, Repeated Aversive Stimuli Inducer), often captivating and always entertaining. Bowel-loosening bass funks things up like a jaunty demolition crew. Eugene Ryabchenko’s (Fleshgod Apocalypse) percussion is more in line with free jazz drummers driving the possibility of the song rather than establishing beats or grooves. Blast beats, fills, miles of ride taps, and a frenzy that could be inspired by Electric Mayhem’s Animal makes neither apology nor excuse for what happens here. Bouts of insanity and explosions of lunacy are occasionally broken up by discordant minstrelling or space-gazing unravelings and, as you would expect, there’s a 007 jam.
It’s in their vocal development where Defect Designer have finally found what they’re looking for. Past albums suffered from a lack of range or, at times, competence. Depressants is a glut of vocal styles as Sukhinin and Storm-Olsen trade duties, from almost sweet cleans (Beautiful Juice Straws) reminiscent of 70s psychedelic jam bands (Expiration Deferral Request Denied) to brutal growls that become red shrieks (Peons Before My Drabbing Wing) and hardcore-esque shouting (Scorching the Rival Pogomyrmex Burrows). The shifting, multifarious vox suits the knuckleball unpredictability and spikes listening endorphins. They go in a completely new direction by employing an unidentified lady singer on Body Count of My Cow Tail, a murderous rockabilly surf-jazz number with bossanova groove that stands completely apart on the album and, like so much else, I don’t really know how to describe it with clarity. We’re dancing about architecture here; it’s a giraffe filled with whipped cream.
Defect Designer has always been weird, but now they have the zoomies. Songs are desperate, frantic, strung out and far, far from their meds. I really like Depressants, but I like it best in halves. It’s a good time that’s about ten or fifteen minutes too long. There’s either one great album in here backed by an EP, or the genesis of two great albums spaced apart, but every Defect Designer release has a tone all its own, and these songs adhere to the style that is recognizably Depressants. There’s no song I don’t like, but it’s difficult to give all fifty-six minutes your full attention. The sheer range is nuts yet it gels together. It’s hard to imagine the album being anything other than it is. It isn’t crazy for crazy’s sake, but neither does it take itself seriously. The surprises never end, it’s filled with delight and it’s utterly exhausting. This album will shake you out of any malaise, unhinge the strongest doors and reshape your definitions of sanity.
(3.5 / 5)
