In case you’re wondering where all the vicious, speedy aggression of your favorite classic thrash metal bands has gone: it sounds like Costa Rica’s Chemicide has absorbed all of it and put it into ‘Violence Prevails’. And yet, the dynamic songwriting of ‘Violence Prevails’ shows more depth than the average hyper-aggressive throwback thrash metal band. There is a rebellious undertone to the album that has been middle-classed out of a lot of the European and North American metal scene, and it makes ‘Violence Prevails’ a joy to listen to if you are into thrash metal that hasn’t lost its rabid hunger.

What sets Chemicide apart from the pack of young thrash metal bands is that they did not turn inspiration into imitation. If forced to compare them to a classic thrash band, I would say that ‘Violence Prevails’ sounds like it could have been the transitional album between Kreator’s ‘Pleasure to Kill’ and ‘Terrible Certainty’, but that’s not a perfect comparison. There is some Demolition Hammer in the riff work, and the more elaborate compositions show a clear Metallica influence, but Chemicide always manages to put its own spin on it. That goes for the songs as well as the production style.

To start with the latter: ‘Violence Prevails’ sounds unlike any modern thrash metal album, including those of bands that influenced Chemicide. Frontman Frankie’s razor sharp rhythm guitars sound crisp and contemporary, but the drums by newcomer Chalo sound massive and constantly on the verge of collapsing, though never over that edge. There’s none of that neat, controlled sound that frankly takes some of the much-needed sting out of many recent thrash releases. Sebastián’s seemingly chaotic, but deceptively structured and memorable guitar solos add to that as well. All of this makes ‘Violence Prevails’ feel like a boiling ball of energy, and I love it for that.

Of course, none of that would matter if the songs weren’t any good. Fortunately, they just work. From short, aggressive bursts of speed like ‘Chokehold’ and the title track to grinding mid-tempo monsters like ‘Parasite’ and the rather unpredictable ‘Prey of Failure’, they all contribute to ‘Violence Prevails’ sounding like thrash metal hasn’t sounded in a while. And although all of those songs are great, I’m particularly fond of the more elaborate compositions ‘Supremacy’ and ‘Systemic Decay’, which show how varied thrash metal can be if you decide to not weld yourself to one specific aspect of the style.

Everything that annoys thrash purists about contemporary thrash metal is notably absent from ‘Violence Prevails’. There’s no sterile production, no pandering to the metalcore crowd, and no obvious imitations of a far more competent source of inspiration. Instead, Chemicide came up with a bunch of fantastic riffs and, through a fantastic sense of dynamics, arranged them into suprisingly well-written songs. And they do so without sounding like they are desperately trying to be old school. It is also the album on which Chemicide best lives up to the promise shown on their previous albums. A must-hear if you like your metal aggressive.

Recommended tracks: ‘Supremacy’, ‘Systemic Decay’, ‘Violence Prevails’, ‘Do As I Say, Not As I Do’