Review by Felix on January 15, 2022.

The four guys of Chemicide seem to have a spiritual connection with the Ramones. They have nothing in common in terms of music, but just like the godfathers of punk, all band members are "brothers": Jairo Chemicide, Sebastian Chemicide... and the most enthusiastic member of this amazing family is called Frankie. He has written each and every track, plays guitar and is responsible for the lead vocals. Well, his ordinary vocals are nothing to write home about, but he has composed a couple of very solid pieces. I admit that Chemicide are not as furious and dangerous as their artwork scenario, but they play a competent form of old school thrash metal. And to add a very personal comment: after two reviews for albums with pretty pompous music, it is overdue to return to some bone dry, dusty thrash.

Due to their more or less exotic origin, the brothers from Costa Rica have to fight from the rear of the field. This means that there is no time for high sophisticated gimmicks or any kind of extravagances. The songs are straight, mostly fast-paced and completely aligned with the principles of the sub genre. External influences do not appear, but unfortunately the same applies for highly impressive riffs. Chemicide have good songs, but the album lacks of two or three riffs that are able to make the difference between a decent and a very good thrash album. The quasi-title track, for example, is swift as an arrow, but regrettably a convincing melody is missing. The high energy level builds a robust fundament and the manual dexterity of the guys does not need to be discussed. Only the transformation of energy and dexterity into irresistible killer tracks does not always work, but, almost ironically, exactly the closer shows that the band is basically able to manage the transformation process.

The Act Of Retaliation is a surprisingly well produced album. It shows that the bass guitar can deliver a fine portion of heaviness as long as it is not marginalised by the dominance of the six strings. Despite their name, Chemicide's production is not marred by toxic clouds, but it delivers a clear and powerful sound. From this follows that the full-length boasts with three components: its technical implementation, the dedication of the artists and the fact that letdowns are not to be found. Each and every tune reaches a solid level at least - and the pretty short playtime of less than 32 minutes prevents boredom from the start. Thus, I recommend to invest more time in working out the individual tracks and perhaps Frankie is well advised to kick his brothers in their lazy asses so that they give him a little help in terms of the song-writing process for the third full-length. Until then, I will listen from time to time to resilient numbers like 'Book Of Lies' or 'Age Of Extinction' (the latter delivers a slightly apocalyptic touch at the end, well done Frankie) while being happy about the fact that thrash has become a worldwide respected style. Greetings to Costa Rica - and to mom Chemicide!

Rating: 7.1 out of 10