New Jersey’s Condition Critical have been rather quiet since their second album, Extermination Plan in 2016. They had followed their 2013 debut, Operational Hazard, with that killer album. Brazil’s Marquee Records did remaster reissues of both albums, which I reviewed here.

The band is made up of Mike Dreher on bass/vocals (backing), Ryan Donato on drums, Tony Barhoum on guitars, Vocals (backing), and the band welcomes back Ryan Taylor on vocals/guitars. The band incorporates many elements of brutal thrash mixed in with some death metal moments, but by and large, this is aggressive and at times high velocity brutal thrash metal. Demolition Hammer is still the main influence here, with those crushing bone bone-shattering riffs and groove. Condition Critical is like a blast beat version of Demo Hammer. Degeneration Chamber is nine songs in 33 minutes.

With no time to spare, the band opens with “Wretched Aggression”. The Holy Shit moment is from the get-go. Isolated guitar riff, then a furious thrashing gallop before the blast beat erupts and the band is on fire!!! Vocals, music, and the rhythm section are on point. Even the slower groove early on is aggressive. Get ready for that isolated guitar riff, then the cymbal hits, and that furious thrash gallop. 1990 called and it wants that beat back mofos. Nicely crafted guitar solos over the thrashing moments. The guitar riff at the 2.55 section, with one bass drum being hit, signifies the second Holy Shit moment. The bass guitar, ever so prominent, guides the listener to a monster groove. No doubt, if the band has plans of playing live, they need to open their sets with this song. Ferocious opener!

Bring on “Deconstructive Horrors”, the next song. Starting with a monstrous groove and killer drum rolls, the song eventually picks up a nice thrash gallop pace. This is very headbang worthy of your time, then BOOM!!!!!!! Right into a blast beat, then back into the galloping. Ryan spews out his signature vocals, which are filled with a lot of anger. The song gets back into that heavy groove moment. The galloping continues into a killer guitar solo, then back into more galloping, then right into a sick blast beat. Intense ending!

“Postmortal Simulation” was a single released for this album. It has a nice opening guitar riff with prominent bass guitar mixed in. This opening groove makes me understand why the band released this song first. This song will be a staple in the band’s set for as long as they’re around. This opening will cause sinkhole slams and circle pits all damn day. After about ninety seconds of this groove, the thrash galloping erupts, equipped with a tight little blast beat placed perfectly. This song is intense, in its tempo shifts, and one minute you’re headbanging and the next you’re 2-steppin’ in the pit, picking up change! The gang vocals are present on this song and add that extra! The groove once again returns, and the pace picks up. Catchy and tasty riffs.

“Psychological Epidemic” has such a catchy main guitar riff, and the thrashing galloping attack is immediate. The blast beat soon comes in and is one of the fastest blasts on the album – o,h it’s fast AF, dear reader! Ryan spends some time screaming his head off, as if someone did him wrong. It’s great when he spews out “Slow and Brutal Death”. The guitar solo and thrashing gallop then come in perfectly timed. We are then treated to some groove, then galloping and brutal AF blasting with Ryan, then holding out a killer scream. Somehow, he called Tom Araya, from Slayer, and got some pointers on reaching those highs, as Tom used to be capable of. Think “Angel of Death”, opening scream, for reference on what Ryan is going for on this song.

The rest of Degeneration Chamber is scorching as well. The album cover is on par with their previous albums and is well done. The music is catchy, heavy, and as much as it is brutal the melodies and harmonies are ever-present. If you loved their other albums, you will love this too. This may even be a tad more aggressive than their other albums. Condition Critical is an excellent band, and I am hopeful they do some touring and perhaps I’ll catch them and do some 2-steppin’ at the show. This album is not for the faint of heart!!!

[Visit the band's website]

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