Sacrificio

Criminal, the "sacred cows" of metal in their homeland, Chile. All this is due to the supposed musical influence that Pentagram (Chile) had on the band Napalm Death (I think Mitch Harris was a fan... I don't know for sure). With a history of more than 30 years and 9 albums, now they come with "Sacrificio".

"Sacrificio" is an album loaded with "incendiary" lyrics, a lot of groove metal, and blatantly stolen guitar riffs from "Diatribes" by the aforementioned Napalm Death. The album opens with "Live On Your Knees", which is a blatant copy of N.P., so much so that they should be sued by the Grindcore legends. It also sounds something similar to "Slave New World" by the Brazilians from Sepultura (I don't know what the obsession of all the South American bands is to try to copy that already outdated sound). The vocals of Anton sound soulless and without "charisma." I know what I'm saying sounds stupid, but it's true... if you're going to sing, at least put some emotion into it.

Then follow up with "Caged." This song seems to be taken from Sepultura's "Against". They only add a "blast beat" so the influence is not so evident. The production is quite clean and at the same time plastic, which sometimes makes it seem that you are listening to Fear Factory. The distortion of the guitar exudes the 90s so much that sometimes it reminds me of bands like Korn. The breaks of some songs are so "groovy" that it seems that the band has been listening to too much "Nu Metal". and that simple chorus for god sake: "Caged, Caged, Caged". They didn't even try to make this something enjoyable.

The shameless nods to Napalm Death and Sepultura throughout the album are persistent. The lyrics of songs like "The Whale" have an intro that sounds a lot like Korn s "Blind". Then comes a thrashing riff, but the rhythm section is at mid-tempo, which makes the song lose strength and get stuck in a "Nu Metal" mood. It's so bad and poorly written that if it weren't for the production of the album, it would seem that he wrote them as a 15-year-old boy trying to strike an "Anti-Capitalist" pose. I am highlighting this because the music is really uninspired and these flaws become very noticeable in the lyrics.

"Sistema Criminal", which has a catchy riff and is quite aggressive in the rhythmic part, has a classic thrash vibe with a solo quite well-executed. and it is one of the 2 songs sung in Spanish on this album, also has a video that overflows the budget but is quite ridiculous. I think they chose the wrong director, or maybe he's just a student at the visual arts academy and this is his first professional attempt, but who will know and nobody cares.

Trapped in a comfort zone, Criminal tries to deliver aggression, but they sound so fake at this point, like their colleagues from Nuclear. They joined the bunch of bands singing about the "Social Outburst" or "Estallido Social" that occurred in Chile in 2019, therefore The theme of the album is redundant, and soon this becomes boring. "Age Of Distrust" returns to the more 90s roots of the band, with guitar riffs that try to fit in but have no charm as in their first release "Victimized" taking back the thrash groove that put them on the map.

The album culminates with "Ego Killer," which has a chorus that reminds us of Burton C. Bell from the now disappeared Fear Factory. This is the slowest piece on the album and transports us to the 90s with those Pantera-style dissonant guitars, kind of "Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks".

What can I say after listening to this album? Well, nothing... it's so generic in terms of composition and production that it's one more in the infinite abyss of Grove Metal albums that go into oblivion after the "HYPE" disappears. it's sad to see that bands like these never reached the level of their contemporaries, Sepultura, and now like their idols, they only live stuck on the past, releasing album after album without charm or passion, just with the intention of staying current within a scene that died years ago. Anton and company still believe they live in the 90s and, thanks to a reputation that simply vanished years ago, they believe their fans or people are stupid and won't notice the low quality of these "All Filler, No Killer" releases.