Review by Greg on October 11, 2025.

Those who happen to have read my opinion on something at least once will know that I'm an easy guy to please, but a tough one to completely, unreservedly, 100% satisfy. I reckon I might be excessively nitpicky, or oftentimes that annoying 'great album but here's the one thing I would change to make me like it even more' kind of person. Yet, I did my best to keep a tight rein on my unrequired advice when I was exposed to Critical Defiance's then-latest No Life Forms, back in 2022, since they did such an egregious job at pulverizing my skull and grey matter through sheer force that they convinced me their mission statement was 'simply' that. Now, guess what? Those little Chilean rascals ended up doing exactly what my subconscious was pondering back then, and then some, with their brand-new The Search Won't Fall. And well, what can I say... only at the third spin of the album was I able to gather and collect some thoughts, instead of simply gazing at my PC screen with a blank, defiant stare and nodding my head at variable speeds for the whole 45 minutes.

If you allow me a more dated South-American analogy, The Search Won't Fall could be considered the new millennium counterpart to those unpredictable second albums of the '80s forefathers (and bear with me on the fact that this is, indeed, their third effort). Whereas No Life Forms could be the coarse, explosive first step, The Search Won't Fall has a wildly different vision, with the crucial difference that this one is more along the lines of, say, The Laws of Scourge, rather than inexplicable trainwrecks like Holocausto's Blocked Minds or Attomica's Limits of Insanity – meaning that it doesn't negate the previous release but builds upon its sound, honing and expanding it to the point of turning it into something more interesting, without the need for any unnecessary U-turns. However, at no point does it feel like the band is starting to sound pretentious or technical to a fault, and certainly at no point do Critical Defiance convey the idea of softening their attitude – should you ever worry about it! – we're just witnessing the same efficient band who wrote 'A World Crumbling Apart' having built greater confidence and awareness, deciding to marry that barbaric approach with newfound ambitions, basically striking gold in the same field where actual debut Misconception seemed to reach too far for its grasp.

"How come, then, that I see three tracks exceeding 6 minutes, and one nearing 10?", you might be asking. Simply put, The Search Won't Fall was written with the same twisted vision that brought us Idolatry, Spectrum of Death, and similar relics of those long-gone times when you could furiously and continuously riff for 7 minutes straight and sound awesome in the process. No pseudo-intellectual detours, no wanky flourishes, no atmospheric intermezzos (no more than the couple of short acoustic snippets that ominously bookend the title-track, at least), no ANYTHING, just pummeling riff after riff after riff, until morale improves. Said title-track inaugurates the album with more killer riffs in its first 2 minutes than entire albums have (something I like to call the 'Narcotic Mirage factor', after the legendary track by Danish thrashers Battery). The first trio is actually a succession of methodical, brutal masterpieces unheard since the 'Deliver the Suffering' to 'Forsaken Hatred' stint. Other personal favourite 'Long Distance (The What's to Come)', despite its almost traditionally inclined riff introducing it, is even a step above in terms of brutality, with frequent blasts that will surely be an endurance test for any drummer (not to mention, neck), and a central section that somehow always makes me feel like I'm in the middle of the unsettling Escherian artwork. 'Helpless World' has that Invicta's 'Battle the Beyond'-esque recurring riff that gives it a different character, amidst the merciless, unstoppable bludgeoning, as well as the most vertiginous refrain I've heard in quite some time. Along with the efficient '44 Minds', it's a fuckin' 10/10 first half, plain and simple.

With all the rest of the lineup intact, you gotta believe new recruit Nicolás Young made quite the impact, after having served (and shredded) for equally outstanding thrashers Demoniac, and currently lending his services to Ripper, among countless other bands. And holy fuck does Felipe Alvarado manage to grow angrier and angrier as years go by. His terrible English is an afterthought when put against the outright visceral fury he exhibits. I'm really curious to see what the hell he does before entering the recording booth, and whether it includes getting in a barroom brawl or simply reading the everyday news. But really, everybody has stepped up their game, as none of this would have been even remotely attainable if drummer Rodrigo Poblete didn't follow suit – indeed, he's impressively tight even at the most extreme pace, and sounds constantly on the verge of doing something unexpected. In this regard, I'm starting to view him as the spiritual successor to Sadus' incredible (and also a scumbag, regrettably) Jon Allen. Actually, scratch that, the whole band's a fucking unstoppable obliterating machine that knows exactly what it's doing, and yet sometimes pushes itself slightly beyond its limits and its own total control, and that might just be what makes Critical Defiance so. dangerous. That, along with the anachronistically self-empowering lyrics, as well as the muffled, organic production, makes The Search Won't Fall the most authentic thrash album I've heard in ages, and I've heard a lot of ones I love.

And yet, circling back to the opening paragraph, here I go back to my weapon of choice – but really, it's not like the guys made it difficult to do so. Indeed, the middle of the tracklist is schizophrenia personified. Between the calming and uplifting arpeggios of 'Margarita', almost powerviolence moments (sure, not that the average No Life Forms song was much longer than that), and literal dogs barking at one point (you can safely guess in which song, I'd say), I had many questions on my mind, and most of them started with the word 'why'. They proceed to wipe it all away with another riffy mammoth, which is also their namesake song, but that makes it even more puzzling. I don't need to say that a side B of an equal, or comparable, level to side A would have resulted in an even higher rating, that's for sure. Really, I sound this pissed because I was genuinely convinced I was nearing more and more towards a perfect score, so here's where minor details start to matter.

On the upside, this is really as far as my complaints about The Search Won't Fall go. It's one of those albums that set a new standard for thrash in my mind, and will forever be remembered by me as a golden standard for the genre. If you catch somebody dismissing it because of the production, take it as a good example of how far we've fallen as a species.

Once again, my only certainty in life: Chile rules the world.

Rating: 9.4 out of 10