Vision-questing for their own unique tessellation in the realm of classic thrash metal mentalism Villa Alemana, Chile-based quintet CRITICAL DEFIANCE aim to bottle the essence and the voice they’ve cultivated over the last decade plus as they sum their experiences on this third full-length album. In bringing together past-and-present vision ‘The Search Won’t Fall…‘ doesn’t necessarily ease on the ripping speed and traditional thrash wares of their first two releases but instead cuts deeper into tuneful craft nearly as much as they splay into a broad variety of tones and textures. In realizing the unreal Escher-esque tapestry of what thrash metal can be today they’ve yet managed an album which serves tradition just as well as it does their own purposes of divining the self, making for a proper soul-searching stretch into their own skin.

Critical Defiance formed somewhere between 2010-2013, as I’ve read different reports of this over the years, and after a few minor releases and a demo tape they’d eventually manage to break through with a debut full-length (‘Misconception‘, 2019) that’d been nothing short of a modern classic of traditional thrash metal. In my review of the album the basis for this high praise was due to a certain knack for ‘old school’ thrash metal composition of a certain style, think late 80’s Teutonic aggression meets Bay Area arena-sized showmanship, which’d held up well for my own taste. After placing it at #6 on my Best of 2019 list I’m not sure anything they could’ve done, especially after a number of line-up changes beyond that point, that could’ve lived up to that first record. So, by the time they’d demoed a new set of ideas in 2019 and eventually put together a sophomore LP (‘No Life Forms‘, 2022) the results were of course above-average and thankfully something a bit new my review of the album suggested that those pieces felt incomplete or rushed, leaning toward an easier-going almost metalpunk infused style with three-to-four minute songs. It was the same band in most respects but a very different result, not necessarily a step down but a step into a different portal.

The main suggestion for this new material is that it includes some manner of melancholia and dramatic presentation inspired by classic black metal sounds though we should not take that as a suggestion that their work has gone the way of black/thrash metal (at all) but moreso that this album tangentially lines up with recent interest from contemporaries such as Hellish and Demoniac when certain songs call for a darker edge. In fact their new third (lead) guitarist on this album is none other than Nicolás Young who played in the latter crew up to and including the impressive ‘So It Goes‘ (count drummer Rodrigo Poblete in that same boat) and this seems to account for some of the more ambitious and sometimes unhinged arrangements which help to characterize ‘The Search Won’t Fall‘ as a balance of the band’s decidedly different debut and sophomore LPs alongside some -slight- venture toward new extremes. The first of which is a nearly ~eight-minute opener/title track (“The Search Won’t Fall“) a late 80’s Bay Area-sized mission statement translated through Teutonic modifiers for speed and gang-shouted aggression, a grand leveler and a rousing return to what we can now begin to define as the Critical Defiance sound spread wide across a venomous and hammering classic thrash piece. So… they’re back, right?

The complete picture of Critical Defiance isn’t just ‘epic’ displays of aggression they’ve got a speed metal lovin’ metalpunk side too, as indulged within the ‘No Life Forms‘ demo and LP line-up, and we get a condensed bolt of that dark electricity with “Long Distance (The What’s to Come)” where they’ve up held the barking aggression of the opener but now bring a sort of early days Megadeth meets death-thrashing pummel which is given its main rhythmic phrasing by way of claw-fingered black metal chords, a hard-ass single foot blast on the drums (best example is ~3:32 minutes into the song) and wailing whammy-diving leads. At this point vocalist/guitarist Felipe Alvarado has already let loose with plenty of growls, snarling and disgusted vocalizations which lend a certain maniac gruffness to the first impression ‘The Search Won’t Fall‘ makes but as the density of their songwriting soon takes on shorter pieces, most of which curve down closer to ~2-3 minutes on average as the record plays on, we find that ragged growling beast lets up a bit. The bigger picture soon arrives in terms of this being a more representative vision of what these folks are all about, a different album altogether wherein these folks needn’t create the same album thrice.

Possessed by speed and tearing through the major density of Side A in the space of ~four songs the intensity of ‘The Search Won’t Fall…‘ comes with the one-two push of singles “Helpless World” and “44 Minds” wherein the former brings more mid-paced sections for a thinking man’s thrash moment or two as their sound still reminds me of German and Polish crews such as earlier pre-thrashcore Erosion (Germany) and ‘Epidemie‘-era Turbo as it starts to feel like we’re right back where ‘Misconception‘ left off at its best. With a reasonable riff count and plenty of leads being slung left and right “44 Minds” is the first moment where I’d felt the more tuneful attempts made on ‘No Life Forms‘ best meet up with the classic thrash structures of Critical Defiance‘s first album, that screaming intensity finding its ideal barrage while working enough finesse in there for a ‘complete’ feeling but relatively short piece. The song is high impact in passing but there is a compromise being made here from my point of view and moreso for the sake of keeping things tuneful, holding off on the long-winded statements for the sake of broadening the horizons a bit as shorter, catchier pieces (see: “Absolüt”) chunk through their riff machine.

As we reach the halfway point within ‘The Search Won’t Fall…‘ it feels like this third album could go either way, that a wave of unfocused energy overtook these sessions and in truth things schizo-out a bit in terms of blitzing through ~four pieces which are little more than half-formed vignettes and ~3 minute thrashers biding their time as if running out the clock. “Full Paranoia” and “Bulldog” work for sure but the rest feels like filler once the main event and the grand finale of the nearly ~10 minute closer “Critical Defiance” has landed. In fact I don’t think this album would’ve held all that much water with me without the dramatic scope-expansion and energetic jolt given by that final piece; If you are one to analyze thrash metal guitar work on a micro-level moment to moment no doubt the listening experience here will have you checking out for the first half of Side B to start but this will be bookended and made whole by longer more riff and shred-handled songs which carry a similar attack, occasionally threading a lighter motif on their path through. That said, I wouldn’t go into this one expecting a full-on return to the style found on ‘Misconception‘, an album which’d basically been perfection in my mind when released, but (again) a combination of traits observed on both of their first two records which are more in line with the intended personae of the band.

Without a doubt Critical Defiance have upheld their reputation as one of the more promising classic thrash metal-minded crews out of Chile today with this third album. Of course I suggest this while fully aware of the numerous releases that’ve set the bar ridiculously high this last decade or so. Their work remains world class thrash metal through and through on this third cycle wherein they appear more intent on defining their sound, emphasizing and expanding upon the personality behind their work and this means they’ve got more than riffs, wild leads and a blister-paced chunk of songs to showcase… a bit of everything they can and want to do. While I still prefer their work when it hits the ~4-6 minute range and high-rate riff count it is just as important that they’ve still got crucial and timely things to say in the space of ‘The Search Won’t Fall‘, actions reinforce the spirit under which they’ve long proven themselves as a vital, reactionary yet deeper-thinking addition to the contemporary thrash metal tradition. A high recommendation.

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