Victimized

If you've heard Chaos A.D. you've heard a superior version of this album. Hell, even if you've heard Pantera or one of A.N.I.M.A.L.'s early albums, you've heard a superior version of this. What gets me about Victimized is that it tries so hard to jump on the trends of the time and delivers something that sounds so simple, so standard, and so half-hearted, yet also almost-competent. I mean, these guys pretty much existed in 1994 to be Chile's answer to Sepultura. The similarities are so striking, yet the emulation of Sepultura's ideas feels so weird and so weak that this album just feels like something trying so hard to get your attention yet doesn't have the fire to even make a decent album-worth of worship towards their idols. They pretty much have no identity of their own.

Criminal's Victimized feels like it's just ticking the boxes and riding the groove metal train in order to catch a couple of sales from people who like similar albums. The problem is, that this album does not deliver anything resembling the fire, fury, catchiness, or sharpness that made their counterparts in Brazil, Argentina, and the US worth listening to. I mean, these riffs are very, very regular. They sound like something Andreas Kisser would write if he was just writing songs to get a paycheck (kind of like post-2000 Sepultura, hey-oh!). I mean, these guitar rhythms aren't bad, but when you combine their simplicity with how subdued, one-dimensional, and in-the-background Anton Reisenegger's shouts are, it leads to this feeling flimsy. I mean, I keep waiting for a groove to snag me and it just doesn't come. Maybe some louder, more potent vocals could have helped keep my attention, but the riffs are such standard mid-paced groove metal that it makes me wish I was listening to a Pantera album instead.

While serviceable in some respects, Criminal seem to be trying to do as little to be special as possible while still hoping for some attention. I mean, their idea of making their songs "catchy" seems to be repeating the name of the track a couple of times when they write a chorus-like section. Yeah, there's a good headbanging section or a cool breakdown every now and again, but these moments are so sparse and not really all that special that it seems like I'd be looking in more rewarding places elsewhere. It just doesn't have the spark or the catch or the excess crunch to show you why they, Criminal, are so special and so deserving of your attention.

So people, if you are curious about South America's contributions to groove metal and thrash, Victimized gives you the bog-standard and nothing more. Just stick to Sepultura, or if you’re feeling adventurous, give one of the older A.N.I.M.A.L. albums a spin. This stuff just doesn't cut it. You don't get anywhere in metal by just being a box-ticker for trends. However, it seems like it was all these guys were content to do on Victimized.