Like many would say that a criminal is a product of his environment, similarly the Chilean band of the same name is largely a product of theirs. There's certainly a lot of that pent-up fury that yo u'd expect from people who'd just had the leash removed after a long period of dictatorship rule. However, it would be a bit unfair to leave them with only that tag, si nce they were clearly trying out some other things as well. Rather than follow the tried-and-tested Slayer method of 'faster, heavier and more evil', they threw i n quite a few curve balls, like their chuggy breakdowns, tasty solos and melodic passages that served to punctuate the aggression. An admirable stab at individuality .

Eventually, main members Anton Reisenegger and Rodrigo Contreras relocated to Europe in the hope of giving the band better prospects, and over the course of three albums released from the Continent, they seem to have soaked up the spirit of their surroundings there as well. I say that because when 21st Century Paranoia comes shooting out of the blocks, it sounds like a dead ringer for some Dark Tranquillity/At the Gates number. Sure, they mix it up with some bonafide Criminal spin here and there, but there's no getting the Gothenburg out of some of those riffs. After that, it does head back into more familiar territory, switching back and forth between furious death-thrashing, catchy grooves and some other dynamics like Gojira-esque chug-pinching and bouncy breakdowns.

All members on board are certainly more than competent - the Brit rhythm section of Zac O'Neil and new guy Dan Biggin are on the ball and don't leave any slack to pick up, Reisenegger doesn't seem to have the completely unhinged vocals from his early days but still comes across pretty venomous and Contreras now seems comfortably settled in his mercurial, melodic and slightly sloppy lead playing style.

While this still makes for a lot of fun, it's nothing we haven't heard before. Songs like Sons of Cain and Invasion do get the blood pumping, but fall short of the rabid intensity of Sicario and also fail to match the awesome versatility of No Gods No Masters. Taking that into account, the album length of 50 minutes seems a little excessive. A couple of songs sound a bit like filler, suffering from a dearth of ideas, and you can't help but feel that they would have been better served cutting the number of tracks and concentrating on making the remaining ones a little more interesting. This modern trend of trying to touch or exceed the hour mark does seem to have its drawbacks in these situations. Anyway, so while these guys are definitely still doing a fine job dealing out the aggro, you've got to wonder whether it's time to let them out on parole.

Label: Massacre

Year of release: 2009