Young-pup thrash bands aping the efforts of the legends got old pretty fast, but every once in a while, along comes a band like Chile's Critical Defiance, who here on their debut take all the great elements of Bay Area and German thrash while throwing in some frantic NY thrash leanings for a wholly enjoyable 41 minutes. 

I find a lot of modern thrash bands who are looking back do so through an ultra-sterile production sound that sucks away so much of the energy; Critical Defiance utilize a perfectly raw production that actually brings out the band's manic performance, tracks like raging opener “Desert Ways” or even-more-raging second track “Spiral Of Hatred (seriously, great one-two punch to get things rolling, the latter's flirtations with melody totally hitting the spot) not at all wearing out their pushing-it song lengths, the band taking their time getting to the point on tracks like the insane “Punished Existence”, and making us enjoy the trip through every raging polka beat and crazed guitar solo along the way. “What About You” shows the band's skill at extremely heavy Germanic thrash, “Misconception” showcases some off-the-rails drum work (really, much of this album does), and “Onset”'s melodies are a reminder of just how powerful thrash can be. This is a surprisingly excellent album, Critical Defiance showing homage to the old school while not being exhausting or repetitive at all, the sounds here pure thrash glory. Not bad for a debut at all.