CRIMINAL
Chile's CRIMINAL showed some measure of promise on their debut effort in 1997 but nothing on that release prompted me to get overly enthusiastic about Cancer, their belated follow-up. It seemed to take forever and a day to finally land this disc and it was with one simple listening session as I casually went about my laundry chores that I realized CRIMINAL had matured and found a chemistry that, while simplistic on the whole, is raw and to the point to the extent that they'll win over followers merely by playing so angrily.Zealousness aside, Cancer has enough hooks, enough gumption at the production helm and the right hooks in the right places to have me reaching for my neckbrace by album's end. Opening the album is the title track, a testy, pompous and riot-provoking song that had me envisioning BOLT THROWER in the throes of a meth-amphemtamine overdose. CRIMINAL's sound is thick and digitally crunchy and it should be no shock to anyone that this South American band comes off a bit like SEPULTURA in their more respectable days. CRIMINAL play an enraged form of bare bones Aggro-Thrash that at times, and I say this with the utmost conservatism, does catch a Nu-Metalism here and there but pleeeeeaaaase take that with a grain of salt! I hate Nu-Metal and I would never recommend anything that I felt belonged in that category. The touches of this element are sparse but I just thought I'd make it clear that they approach that boundary from time to time. The reason I don't let it bother me is that when you look back, or listen back as is the case with music, bands like MACHINE HEAD who started their days with very good material that today many would call Nu-Metal, still sounded awfully good in their infancy. Here too, CRIMINAL are playing very hard-hitting respectable Thrash, at least for the time being. Where I sense major differences with that comparison is in the lack of groove on this album, which I am sure is just fine with most. Furthermore, CRIMINAL rely more on traditional Thrash and even Death Metal architectural underpinnings than their distant Bay Area cousins. What's so critical here is the way Cancer is executed - tightly and forcefully. Highlighting the riffy carnage are some excellent lead guitar breaks and migraine-promoting drumwork.
Cancer is a temperamental, threatening and bruising release full of the type of Aggro-Thrash thuggery that put early MACHINE HEAD and SKINLAB on the map. If your musical poison is that which is of the hateful, resentful and malicious variety, this might be a good release to pick up.
