I don’t listen to a lot of old school thrash these days, unless it’s ACTUAL old school thrash; but if and when I do broaden the search, I’d be grateful if all bands could sound as good as Chile’s Critical Defiance.

In simple terms, No Life Forms is an absolutely faultless trip back to thrash metal’s heyday. However there is not a whiff, not one, of nostalgia about coruscating tracks like The Last Crusaders… Bringers of Death! or the quite superb title track. There’s even an instrumental track on the album that doesn’t suck!

Basically, Critical Defiance are too busy being very good indeed in the here and now to worry about rehashing what’s gone before; every member of the band is a top-class practitioner of their art – I don’t think I’ve heard as uniformly great bass playing across the entirety of an album as Ignacio Arevalo‘s on this in a long, long time – and they bring with them a youthful fire about them that actually sets them right up there with some of those old schoolers still doing the rounds. Altering The Senses, for instance, could teach Kreator a thing or two about endless pain in 2022…

… But let’s not drag this review down with negativity. Better to just celebrate the emergence of a thrash metal album that’s got it all, an album you simply won’t tire of over repeated listens. I’m not a guitarist, but that doesn’t stop me marvelling at the splendid soloing of Felipe Alvarado (who also supplies a full range of Araya/Petrozzaesque vocalising), whilst the hammer force assault of drummer Rodrigo Poblete will keep your upper body fully toned if you choose to indulge in a bit of air drumming…

Alvarado and rhythm guitar pal Mauricio Toledo take line honours for some mouth watering riffage on that instrumental, Elephant, but, at the end of the day, there’s isn’t a single moment on this album where there isn’t somebody going above and beyond in the quest to supply prime, succulent thrash metal. Buy or die!

No Life Forms releases on July 18th.