Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Critical Defiance - No Life Forms (2022)
Let’s be honest. Out of all the genres of metal, thrash metal is the one that sees little in the way of output that constitutes much excitement in the modern era. Nowadays even the progressive and or super technical offerings that stray over in to our beloved The Infinite clan here at The Metal Academy rarely raise enough furore to warrant a rating pretty much a review. As someone who spends a lot of time with The Pit clan when programming the playlists each month, it is easy to become embroiled in a battle with the algorithms of streaming services to find something that offers enough of a core representation of thrash or speed metal whilst adding something new and interesting to boot.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with a band doing an established and recognisable sound well and giving a true representation of the genre in the process. However, at the end of the day there is a lot of thrash metal out there and it is easy to overlook true exceptions to the rule in such a packed and well-established genre. Enter Critical Defiance, another jolt of energy into the thrash metal corpse from the seemingly endless stream of Chilean metal bands who are unafraid to wear their 80’s influences on their sleeves and revive the sounds of old.
Take a flick through any review on MA of any of these South American revivalist acts and you will soon find high praise aplenty. This praise is not unjustified either given that in Critical Defiance’s case at least, they give an energetic and memorable performance throughout No Life Forms. Clocking in at just under half an hour, their sophomore release both sounds and feels like a thrash metal record from the heydays of the genre. With two guitarists in the ranks (a change from the debut release as I understand it – see Sonny’s review) the band present a full and complete sound that crackles with fire and energy throughout. As soon as the opening track starts, we get sight of the superb lead work within mere seconds and as such No Life Forms sets it’s stall out early.
The album flicks between all out, maniacal riffing with frenetic tempos and frantic pace swarming all over the listener and straight up memorable riffing and classic thrashing chops. The infectious nature of CD’s passion for their music is obvious on all ten tracks on offer here and they deliver that passion with the album never managing to become a draining experience for the listener. When they tone things down for some chopping punishment on our ears of a more classic variety, they reference Kreator, Morbid Saint, Sodom, and Demolition Hammer in their playing style to show some grounding in the genre’s history.
As a unit you will struggle to find many bands tighter than CD. The drummer is an absolute machine, and the audible bass is a real powerhouse in driving the band forwards also. As already referenced, the guitar work is nothing short of exceptional here and the instrumental track, Elephant (one of two instrumentals) showcases this perfectly with its climbing melodies and charging riffage. Likewise, the vocal work of Felipe Alvarado is a perfect fit for the music. It reminds me of a more crossover style than the rest of the bands sound indicates as we are spared the high pitched shrieks as seems to be the norm on all retro-thrash records nowadays.
Despite all the positives noted above, I am not blown away by this record. Going back to my opening paragraphs, this has all been done before and although this is done well, I have plenty of this stuff already littered through out my physical and virtual library. In all honesty, even with a short run time, large parts of No Life Forms just pass me by each time I listen and that is not really the fault of anyone in the band, more a reflection of how overloaded my brain is on this stuff nowadays. Five stars for effort but not enough here still to keep this in the higher ratings overall.