CONDITION CRITICAL — Extermination Plan (review)

CONDITION CRITICAL — Extermination Plan album cover Album · 2016 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Extermination Plan" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, New Jersey based thrash metal act Condition Critical. The album was independently released in March 2016. It´s the successor to "Operational Hazard" from 2013 and features two lineup changes since the debut album as guitarists/vocalists Alonso Maguiño and Sam Agnew have left and have been replaced by guitarist Tony Barhoum and lead vocalist/guitarist Ryan Taylor. So it´s only the rhythm section from "Operational Hazard (2013)" (drummer Ryan Donato and bassist Mike Dreher), who are still on board.

Stylistically however the material on "Extermination Plan" is a continuation of the raw and brutal thrash metal style of "Operational Hazard (2013)". Demolition Hammmer is still the first act I think about when listening to "Extermination Plan", which was also the case on the debut album, but the influence is just slightly less obvious here. Condition Critical are not the most original sounding act though, and it´s a bit of a shame that the band haven´t worked on creating a more unique sound in the years since the debut. The material is brutal and raw thrash metal with a snarling vocalist in front. Sharp thrash metal riffs and rhythms, screaming guitar solos, and a loud bass.

The latter is to my ears actually a bit of a sound production issue, as it´s placed so high in the mix, that it often overshadows the guitars, and I can´t help focus on the loud bass, when I should primarity focus on the overall soundscape. A loud and dominant bass is not always an issue, which artists like Sadus, Atheist and Defiled are for example exponents of, but here it sounds more like a production issue than a conscious choice, and it doesn´t take more than a few minutes before it becomes a little annoying.

So "Extermination Plan" is a bit up and down in quality. It´s overall a solid thrash metal release in the more raw and brutal end of the scale with some relatively skilled musicians playing/singing, but the songwriting is pretty standard for the genre with few tracks standing out, and as mentioned the sound production is not without issues. There´s also the minor issue that Condition Critical don´t seem to have developed their sound one bit since the debut album, and therefore a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
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