Album Review: Critical Defiance - No Life Forms
Reviewed by Carl Black
A learned thrash metal aficionado once said that the debut Sodom album was recorded when “four German teenagers with limited ability but bag loads of energy, fell down some stairs with their instruments attached to them, whilst someone pressed play and record on a tape player at the same time”. What emerged from that “session” is a high octane, low quality ball of fury that sprouted a hefty career in thrash.
Chileans Critical Defiance can draw comparisons from the Teutonic forefathers with the same ball of furious energy, the same chaotic material and same enthusiasm for the music. The South Americans do have an advantage over the Deutschlanders as the tape player has been replaced with some sophisticated recording equipment. They are not falling down the stairs, it's not quite as haphazard as that, say more sliding down a disability slope with instruments attached.
One quality that is prevalent is speed. Tons of it. More speed than a Lemmy dressing room. The speed ranges from a comfortable head bang in songs like 'Dying Breath' and 'Edge of Consciousness' to Tom Araya head banging speed with songs such as 'A World Crumbling Apart', 'Kill Them with Kindness' and the super-fast, 'Warhead'. This is not blast beat, drum triggers, tempo of the song is six times faster than the riff. NO!! This is pure speed. All members played as fast as each other with Ignacio Arevalo’s bass playing a real stand out during the session.
With all this velocity it could fall into “speed fatigue” for the unprepared. You just need to keep up because not many will go faster. With it being around the 30-minute mark, most seasoned thrashers should be able to sustain all ten tracks.
Critical Defiance have graduated from the old school with their second offering. It's quick, pummelling and vicious.
