Review by Greg on December 9, 2025.

By now, it's clear 2025 is gonna go down in history books as a notably thrashing year. I'd also call it a year of comebacks, in this regard. For example, a new Testament album isn't great news by now (but is certainly a great album), especially when compared to new full-lengths by Violator, Vindicator, or even Dark Angel or Coroner. Among these more or less illustrious returns, New Jersey brutal thrashers Condition Critical recently joined that club with their new effort Degeneration Chamber, nine years after Extermination Plan was met with enthusiastic reception...

...and to be fair, I should say I never understood much of it. Even their long-standing 'Demolition Hammer Jr.' nickname always perplexed me, as a huge fan of the real deal – I've long been convinced it was actually coined by someone who thought 'oh wait, I know another band playing thrash and talking about medical stuff", and as such I was going to inevitably approach Degeneration Chamber with a somewhat sceptical attitude. Nevertheless, I figured that, at worst, I would enjoy half an hour of something to bash my skull to and distract the negative thoughts I'm drenched in. Whether I'd have been able to remember something out of it or not, then, was anybody's guess.

In any case, we get another collection of stories of that little rascal Dr. Criti-Kill (a pun that shouldn't have lasted this long) to sink our teeth into. The salient points of the band's sound, such as the massively beefy guitars, the dominant bass (which is pretty much a constant in every album Mike Dreher plays on), the unrelenting drumming, and the brute vocals, are all back in full force. Also, for once, it's worth noting that the second half is the strongest part of the album – like the guys were still a bit rusty from the long studio inactivity, and they proceeded to gradually shake it off as songs went by. But really, from 'Postmortal Simulation' onwards, it's almost like another album starts. The tempo changes are more successful, like also 'Excarnation' confirms, while 'Psychological Epidemic' is way more engaging already from its creative intro riff, and also supplies a generous dose of blast beats, and 'Incubation Disposal' sees Tony Barhoum finally letting loose an honestly great solo, the kind I'd been waiting for the whole album.

This obviously means that the earlier tracks basically go in one ear and out the other. There are other moments where I can feel some of that Bronx-wannabe groove, like 'Deconstructive Horrors', but nothing else to grasp onto, complicating the feat of distinguishing between tracks (the especially similar 'Wretched Aggression' and 'Cranial Dissolution' don't help in this regard). I keep returning to the nickname matter, and I know I'm probably making a bigger deal out of it than it actually is, but the fact that I can't foresee anything sticking in my mind even after three full listens is worrying. It's not that Demolition Hammer themselves were masters of the vocal hook art, and yet, try to tell me you don't remember the refrains in, say, '.44 Caliber Brain Surgery' (which they previously covered, incidentally, yet leaving me just as unimpressed) or 'Aborticide'. I don't get a similar treat this time.

Once again, Condition Critical have presented a work that technically has everything in its right place, and still leaves me just on the verge of loving it, without ever crossing that threshold. And I say this with full awareness of Barhoum's new Mr. Universe-like shape, and with the relative serenity that comes from being thousands of kilometres away from him, just in case he'd have liked to perform a cranial dissolution on me. But if you aren't searching for the next milestone in thrash history, Degeneration Chamber might be well worth a listen.

Rating: 7.4 out of 10

Review by Michael on November 11, 2022.

I was pretty surprised to get a new Disinter promo in my mailbox, I have to confess. Actually I didn't know that they are still active but they are and they are active as hell on their 6th full-length album called Breaker Of Bones! A lot of things have changed in the band, with Jon Billman they have a new bass player, Max Colunga is their new drummer (both since 2015, so “new” is relative) and the most important change comes with Casey Loving as front grunter. Just to keep you updated about the band interna. But now let's talk about the music...

Disinter changed their style a little bit on Breaker Of Bones. They have some more classic US death metal influences like Morbid Angel (especially in the guitar soloing) or Cannibal Corpse as they had in the past but they combine this very smart with a mix of some slight punkish drumming here and there, some more groovy death metal parts and also some more technical brutal death stuff. All together this makes this album a really interesting piece of old school death metal which is very much enjoyable and doesn't get boring for a second during about 38 minutes of total running time. Disinter manages it quite smart to not fall into sheer chaos in their compositions, sometimes it seems to be a total bedlam but after a few seconds of absolute brutal thrashing they find their way back into more organized structures.

Although the album as a whole is very enjoyable, there are some songs that kept my attention a little bit more because they have that certain special something if you know what I mean. First of all the title track is a brutal technical monster with such finesse that it really makes fun listening to it. The groovy parts which are combined with faster stuff are fantastic. If I should compare it to any similar bands, I would say that it sounds pretty much like newer Cannibal Corpse – that may also be due to the vocals which are quite similar to Corpsegrinders. Another very interesting track, especially because of its piano arrangement in the beginning, is 'Cold Cell Torture'. This is a good example of how close beauty and disgust lie beneath. This is a mid-paced and very catchy song with a lot of staccato-like riffing and a great double-bass inferno. 'Bring All Of Hell' shows their more punkish side that I mentioned before with the drumming tact and will probably be a bad-ass song for the mosh pit.

With Breaker Of Bones Disinter have created (at least in my humble opinion) one of the best albums in their 32-year career (with some breaks) and one of the best US death metal albums in 2022 because of the high number of breaks, twist and turns and the very good and powerful production. I hope that this will not be the last one they did and I hope that they will get some more publicity than they did in the past. So now go and let'em break your bones!!!

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 broken bones