Criminal
White Hell

Damned profession, that of the reviewer. Sometimes it's easy (and quite fun, all things considered), because, perhaps, you come across a shitty album and you tear it apart by freely insulting the unlucky band of the moment. Often, the opposite occurs: a work immediately charms and engages you. At which point, you know you can praise it.

Everything, however, proves to be always very challenging when you deal with something you don't really know how to classify, whether for better or for worse.

In truth, these Criminal can be easily labeled as a thrash-death metal band, clearly inspired by “made in Bay Area” influences yet simultaneously boasting a very contemporary sound and thus with a modern "flavor". Perhaps too much so.

Assuming that I know little about this band, I couldn't provide a very objective judgment. However, I can still offer one regarding this "White Hell", an album that is unquestionably excellently played, better sung, and divinely produced.

In short: all the elements to make a breakthrough are there. A band that certainly enjoys excellent potential to break the sound barrier within a sector like thrash metal, which nowadays seems increasingly stagnant and, unfortunately, passé. A musical genre with very flat and derivative songwriting. Not very original. Yet, still quite praiseworthy among its followers.

Being a thrash metaller of the old school, at the beginning, I couldn't help but rejoice upon listening, for the first time, to "White Hell". Because, right from the opener "21st Century Paranoia", I hear a band with a lot of anger inside and the desire to wreak havoc on the entire planet, which, at this point, I don't know what it could have possibly done to them.

In short, everything goes great, flowing through the various "Bastardom" (whose name comments on the song itself), "Crime And Punishment", "Black Light", or, again, "Incubus". Reaching, finally, the concluding "Sons Of Cain".

Great riffs, rocky and damn bone-crushing. Solos that give you goosebumps and explosive drumming. In short: a perfect album with groove being its strong point.

An album that doesn't settle for just making a lot of "noise" but manages to break it up with excellent melodic breaks like in the already mentioned "Sons Of Cain".

However... I can't avoid making some negative comments. First, the "devotion" to bands like Machine Head or At The Gates is too palpable, along with the shadow of those influences looming over the Anglo-Chilean combo. Second: the album seems to drag on too long, ending up being, ultimately, quite boring. Perhaps, I repeat, even too much so.

And it's probably this excess of perfectionism that ruins it all.

For heaven's sake, I repeat: the album sounds practically divine. But we are, in my opinion, faced with a product built based on the "profession" formula that ultimately leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth.

With that damned bland sensation. Neither fish nor fowl.

What the heck do you want me to say... if you’re itching for this type of sound, for a singer who roars like a lion over 12 tracks, for a drummer who seems like Dave Lombardo's clone (maybe I’m exaggerating a bit... but don’t hold it against me. It’s just to better illustrate the point) in "The Gathering", for guitars that manage to churn out those heavy-as-boulders riffs and quick, melodic, sharp solos... Well, in that case, you will have reached your Nirvana.

I, personally, would prefer to direct my gaze elsewhere. And, above all, my money.

P.S.: Pass mark reached “by the skin of its teeth", thanks to the album cover which is really not bad...