Band:	Critical Defiance
Album:	The Search Won't Fall
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	March 2024

01. The Search Won't Fall​
02. Long Distance (The What's To Come)
03. Helpless World
04. 44 Minds
05. The Blind Divine
06. Absolüt
07. All The Powers
08. Full Paranoia
09. Margarita
10. Bulldog
11. Critical Defiance

The Search Won't Fall, for critically defiant thrash, anyway.

The Chilean underground thrash metal scene has been steadily rising in reputation over the last few decades, and whilst it may never reach the heights of the famous Bay Area or German scenes, it has still provided some noteworthy acts worthy of mention, such as Nuclear, Ripper, and Demoniac (CHL). Amongst those acts is Critical Defiance, who've been manically thrashing away since their formation back in 2013. Following 2019's debut Misconception and 2022 sophomore No Life Forms, listeners are now treated to the band's third full-length offering, The Search Won't Fall.

This latest release features a new lead guitarist in ex-Demoniac (CHL) member Nicolas Young, with the remainder of the quintet unchanged since 2021, although guitarist/vocalist Felipe Alvarado is the only original founding member still in the present line-up. While the album's runtime of 44 minutes may sound typical for the genre, the tracks themselves sport a wide range of lengths; while 5 of the 11 songs fall under 3 minutes, the longest track runs for just shy of 10 minutes. However, it's not just the range in lengths that's striking, but also the range of the song's styles. The Search Won't Fall is not your typical traditional thrash record; rather, it has quite an unorthodox approach.

The album begins all guns blazing with the cracking 7-minute title track, although this song does open with a soft acoustic melody that is briefly reprised in the track's outro. Aside from these bookending acoustic passages, "The Search Won't Fall" is pure non-stop, aggressive, energetic thrash, with a relentless rhythm section, as well as exciting intertwining guitar work styled and performed in the vein of early Slayer and Death Angel. Although the vocals are mostly classic aggressive thrash in approach (with some occasional high-pitched squeals), they also contain hints of semi-death growls similar to that of Sepultura.

This opener is classic thrash in sound; however, the following song, "Long Distance (The What's To Come)", is where things start to get interesting. This track definitely leans into crust punk territory, albeit with wailing shredding solos and groovy riffs similar in style to those of the blackened thrashers in Demoniac (CHL). This should come as no surprise given the addition of Young to Critical Defiance's line-up, and this isn't the only track with a blackened thrash/crust punk edge. After the brief acoustic interlude "The Blind Divine", listeners are met with several short thrash-cum-punk tracks, before encountering the lengthy, highly energetic and brilliantly performed closer "Critical Defiance". Nevertheless, it's "Margarita" that stands out for me above all, due to its obscure soft, slow ballad-like build-up, which leads to a breathtaking classical solo, followed by beautiful acoustic guitar melodies.

Although Critical Defiance can't be considered true thrash veterans just yet, they've still developed quite a reputation in Chilean thrash for their no-nonsense savage approach to the genre, and The Search Won't Fall steps things up a notch with some extra maturity to their songwriting. This latest instalment may even demonstrate why Critical Defiance should be considered one of the hottest thrash metal acts in not only South America, but in thrash as a whole.