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This originally came out in 2019, but it's getting some rereleases this year, including this one from Dying Victims Productions, which is why I have it right now. Critical Defiance have such a prototypical Thrash name I am shocked no one has used it before, as it sounds straight out of the '80s, and that's not an accident, as this whole album sounds like it's from the '80s too.

I'm not saying that as any kind of cut either, as that is what this band was obviously going for and what they hit dead on. Despite being a Chilean band, this sounds very much like the kind of Thrash we got in the late '80s coming from the USA—the second-generation Thrash bands like Defiance, Devastation, or Atrophy, though this also has come DNA from Kreator, mostly in the vocal department. This is bristling with headbanging riffs that should be pure joy for Thrash fans, even if I do think the guitar sound is a little thin and would have sounded better if it were beefed up. The songwriting may not be aces here, but the band has an incredible amount of energy, and they just stay cranked and rip through this motherfucker. I ding a lot of modern Thrash for being too slow, but this one is full throttle all the way. For high-octane retro Thrash, this is the stuff.

Additional Information

- 2023 reissue on Dying Victims Productions reviewed.