(written by Islander)
As we sometimes do, we’re going to jump right into the Critical Defiance song we’re about to premiere and then come back and fill you in on the details.
The name of the song is “Rivers of Blood“, and it’s the title track to this Chilean band’s fourth album, which is forthcoming from Dying Victims Productions on September 25th.
Critical Defiance are rightly known as a force of hateful thrash built on speed, aggression, and technical precision. They’re skilled at delivering violent, destructive music with raw and raging intensity, and the new album upholds that reputation. But the album includes other dark dimensions, and “Rivers of Blood” is a powerful example of those other facets.
Lyrically, the song is devastatingly bleak, the words of a person whose life has become immiserated by the town in which he lives, and whose hopelessness and unhealed wounds have driven him to carry himself away on rivers of blood — and to greet his end as a kind of liberation from his severe troubles.
In keeping with that harrowing lyrical narrative, the music is also bleak, and leaves a haunting impression. The riffing seems to plead and wail as it throbs; glittering swirls of sound eerily manifest both yearning and pain as the music expands and sears; and the words pour out in tormented howls and burning screams.
But it’s also a very heavy and head-moving song, thanks to the enormity of the bass-throbs and the drummer’s compulsive, neck-slugging grooves. There’s also a mystical aspect to the song, generated by those vividly swirling and soaring lead-guitar arpeggios, but the vocals are utterly shattering in their rage and agony.
The riffing shifts into a different octave, reaching an even higher zenith of despair and desire, and a singing voice (or at least what sounds like one) shivers listeners like the wails of a ghost.
At the song’s end, you will hear a beautifully rendered acoustic guitar instrumental with a Spanish flair, an unexpectedly bright way for such a devastating song to end, and yet perhaps this is the expression of death as liberation. It’s also another sign of this band’s multi-faceted songwriting scope.
CRITICAL DEFIANCE Line-up:
Felipe Alvarado – Vocals, Guitars
Rodrigo Poblete – Drums
Mauricio Toledo – Guitars
Diego Tello – Bass
Sebastián Palominos – Guitars
Now for a few more details: Here is a summary of the album’s progression disclosed in press materials for the album:
Central to the success of Rivers of Blood is its sequencing. “Red Omen” works as an ominous opening; “Innate to Kill” starts the first attack; “The Feeling Destroyer” showcases CRITICAL DEFIANCE’s technique and compositional work; and “Rivers of Blood” lands with a slower form of thrash metal and liberating lyrics.
“Valparaíso” opens Side B as the longest and most distinctive piece on the record, connecting the band’s violence with the blood, memory, and decay of their own city. The second half of the album then moves from the intensity and darkness of “Dead Tongues” into the short instrumental passage “Ceremony of the Final Call,” before closing with “Glorify War,” a direct final attack that reinforces the tone of Rivers of Blood: violent, hateful, and destructive.
The album was produced by Sebastián Palominos. Dying Victims will release Rivers of Blood on variant vinyl LP editions, on CD, and as a digital download. Find pre-orders via the links below, and also check out the first single from the album, the aforementioned “Dead Tongues“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://tinyurl.com/CDriversofblood
https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/rivers-of-blood
CRITICAL DEFIANCE:
https://www.facebook.com/criticaldefiance
https://www.instagram.com/critical.defiance