Chilean Thrash/Death titans Criminal are back once again with their ninth studio album and first release since 2016’s ‘Fear Itself’. Seemingly continuing to head back to their roots, incorporating more of the Latin and South American musical traits and styles into their sound, the no-nonsense four piece headed up by the legendary Anton Reisenegger (Pentagram Chile, Lock Up, Brujeria) impressed me on their last release with their rhythmic prowess, delivering a masterclass in how to write riffs, grooves and deliver some phenomenal bass and drum lines. The lead guitar work was a bit too-Kerry King flailing wildly, but it did work in places and vocally, it was solid. With an album name that has a fairly obvious translation, let’s see what the lost-time of 2020-2021 produced.
Like a lot of thrash metal, socio-political issues form one of the core pillars of the musical and lyrical influences. These influences help forge the songs into potent musical assaults which hit hard and close to home with their message and the musical delivery. Criminal have channelled this over the years but given the current global situation, along with the band relocating to Chile for the writing and recording process and witnessing the social and political uprisings and unrest there, it seemed the conditions were primed for the creation of this release, and “Sacrificio” certainly channels this spirit in a lot of its tracks.
The explosive opening number; “Live On Your Knees” pretty much has everything you expect from a Criminal track. Fast and furiously paced riffs, precise rhythmic execution, impressive drums and scathing vocal snarls… It’s all there and serves as a reminder of just what to expect across the release. Heavy, hammering and intense, it’s a no-nonsense approach which throws back to the high points of the mid-90’s influx of thrash, death and groove metal, channelling the spirit of South American compatriots Sepultura but also adding in elements of Pantera and Fear Factory… It’s like Arise, Demanufacture and Far Beyond Driven mixed together. “Caged” which follows keeps this approach up and the musical/lyrical themes also surface again in later tracks “Zealots” and “Dark Horse”. All are snarling musical assaults which hit hard with that well-honed thrash-death aggression and healthy groove undercurrent.
There’s also more of a grind-friendly approach on this release. Across the twelve tracks, you catch flashes of the full-out buzzsaws and blastbeat approaches but it’s extremely prolific on “Zona De Sacrificio”, a track which you wouldn’t be surprised to hear if it appeared on a Brujeria release (Spanish vocal delivery aside). It has that raw edge and wildness in it which surfaces again on “Theocrazy” and “Sistema Criminal”, both extremely angry and hard-hitting tracks which embrace the furious nature of grind.
So far, So good?
That depends on your perspective really. Whilst Criminal are channelling the mid-90’s metal spirit, blending genres and hitting hard, some things still remain from prior releases which I couldn’t get on board with. The lead work is still patchy at best. The Kerry King school of flailing about the fretboard is an approach which doesn’t always work with a track. The urgency and intensity it can instil over some solid riffs might help some tracks but it hinders more than it helps. This might go back to my closing comments on the last release from Criminal, about “Who cares about solid leads when you have a rhythmic masterclass in front of you?”, but it is a very disorientating factor which can derail a song and leave you feeling indifferent to it, something a very socio-politically charged band would not want to happen! The repetition factor also surfaces here. The tracks are all very familiar sounding to each other meaning it is easy to get lost listening to them, only realising what song is what by a stand out riff or dreadful solo, which is a shame as individually, each track has some pretty strong moments. Luckily, this blandness at times can be offset by moments of pure musical magic, none more so than the 2:10ish point in ‘After Me, The Flood’ which has one of the best thrash riff breakdowns I’ve heard in a long time! That hammering headbang groove and guitar riff is just fantastic!
In all, “Sacrificio” is pretty much what you would expect from Criminal. It’s nothing ground-breaking or eye-catching but it’s not terrible either. It’s just a solid, no-nonsense musical assault which is loaded yet again with fantastic rhythm work which demands furious headbanging and uncompromising moshing.
(7/10 Fraggle)
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