By: Anders

Posted: Oct 6, 2005

Once again strikes the death/thrashers in Criminal our unprepared ears. The band is lead by the charismatic Chilean Anton Reisenigger, who still mostly is known for Pentagram, the band he had before he formed Fallout, which later became Criminal. I was kind of disappointed by the band's last album "No Gods, No Masters", which was a tad boring and introduced keyboards on some of the tracks, which I didn't find very fitting at all. Though it seems like the band have heard my ramblings about the last album, because "Sicario" is an all out attack of aggression, brutality and speed.

The aggression and straight forwardness were some of the first things which struck me when I threw this album in the player. It has to be said that I was expecting the worst, due to the last album, so I guess it was easier than normal to get me in a positive mood. And I have to say this album did.

There are many great standard riffs, good melodic work in the vein of Arch Enemy, and I have to say Reisenigger's way of growling, does once in a while remind of the way Angela Gossow uses her lungs, try to check out the track 'Walking Dead'. But he has still preserved the infamous Reisenigger snarl and brutal and direct approach to screaming. But back to the music, the guitars deliver a nice mix of brutal thrash riffing, and more heavy and crushing death metal sounding moments. The drumming is straight forward, the twin pedal get a severe beating, while the rhythms are kept tight, and the fills and breaks are delivered hard hitting, even though they often appears when expected. The bass is also present all the time, rumbling just below the guitar tracks.

This album is charming due to its drive and straight approach and as always the vocals from Reisenigger is a prominent factor to the onslaught Criminal delivers, the frustrated blend of a growl and scream, possessing emotions and anger. Too bad the band only has chosen to have one track sung in Spanish on this album, 'Por La Fuerza De La Razón' sounds more angry and spiteful due to the Spanish pronunciation. Though is a really good album if you're into thrashing death metal, or the term the other way around, and the melodies the band have incorporated in this album does not make it more gentle, but adds a nice variation to the rather hard hitting material. Criminal is once again back on the right lethal track, no compromise and no surrender, but not that many surprising moments as well.

Rating: 7½/10

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