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.

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