Track Premiere: Critical Defiance – “Kill Them with Kindness”

If you like your new-school thrash to sound old-school as fuck, look no further than Critical Defiance. On their upcoming sophomore album, No Life Forms, the Ol band rips through 10 songs of gloriously ’80s riffage in just a shade over a half hour. I can hear nods to Sepultura, Death Angel, Kreator and Slayer, but Critical Defiance combine those influences into a sound that’s their own. No Life Forms is tight, groovy, fast, and forever marching forward on a path of destruction.

The album’s second track, “The Last Crusaders…Bringers of Death,” was released as a standalone single earlier this year, and now Decibel is able to exclusively share its vicious follow-up, “Kill Them with Kindness.” Guitarists Javier Salgado and Mauricio Toledo trade a thrilling series of razor-sharp riffs across its three-and-a-half-minute runtime, but don’t sleep on the song (and perhaps the album’s) real MVP, drummer Rodrigo Poblete. His playing is muscular and pummeling but not without nuance, and his cymbal work on “Kill Them with Kindness” is particularly impressive.

“We are Critical Defiance, a band that plays traditional thrash metal in its purest form,” they tell Decibel. “Our aim is to bring you loud and rageful music that makes you want to headbang, clench your fists and smash your head. We bring violent riffs and harmonic sections that seek to bring you a complete thrash experience!

“Throughout our history we have released two full length albums, Misconception and No Life Forms, in which we have been able to materialize our feelings of rage, hate and discontent against the self destructive actions of mankind. Our songs are a reflection of how the world is going to shit and how humans are heading towards our own extinction.”

Pre-order No Life Forms, out 7/18 on Unspeakable Axe Records here or here.