Review by Felix on August 14, 2022.

It’s sad. It’s sad to see a band with an enormous potential that releases a (solid) album far below its capacities. It’s sad to listen to the new material of a band that can nail hammering outbursts full of anger into your ears, but instead of doing so, it prefers to meander between strict, powerful eruptions and lukewarm melody-stamped compositions. Defiatory, you guessed it, is one of these combos that jumps short for the second time in a row. If they go on this way, we will never get anything as good as Extinct again. And that's sad.

The Swedes, that’s for sure, are still able to write pure thrash killers. 'Only War' is a fantastic whirlwind full of double bass, razor-sharp riffing and powerful vocals. The apocalyptic chorus crowns the track and the lyrics are also great. “Broken legions watch the enemy arrive” – this picture characterizes the entire aura of the song. No doubt, to make this song the first one available on youtube was no coincidence. But how many songs of this quality can we find on Apokalyps? 'No Place To Hide' is driven by Slayer-riffs, but this eargasm ends already after two minutes. 'Let Them Burn' lives up to its name and generates a fiery heat. Only trace elements of softness appear.

On the other hand, there are nearly tired sounding pieces like 'Knives' (total throwaway track) or 'Assassinate' which derails during the overly harmonic chorus. They lack aggression, vehemence and intensity. Perhaps I witness the revival of the sub-genre “radio-friendly thrash” (read: no thrash at all) that was once invited with “Enter Sandman”. Frankly, I could do without this experience. Between these poles you have the so-so tracks like the (representative?) opener. It delivers some parts full of pressure and power, but also a meaningless atmospheric intermezzo. More or less the same applies to the closer; it begins in a vehement way, but it also presents some Maiden-esque lines during its second half. Somehow the beginning and the end show sustainably that the here collected material is not free of laxity. I am not sure what the mixed portfolio says about the authenticity of the musicians. But I don’t want to offend anyone and at least their manual skills are beyond doubt (as it is more or less always the case when it comes to Swedish musicians.)

The production does not disgrace the metal-exporting country Sweden. Apokalyps has enough muscles to stand up to comparisons in technical terms. However, the music is the crucial factor. Maybe I expected too much and no, Apokalyps is no bad output. It’s just not what I wanted it to be. Maybe I am the problem, who knows? Anyway, I want my kind of thrash pure, musically violent and sticking to the old school yet fresh. Defiatory plays partly a bit differently while with one eye always squinting for new scenarios. It’s sad.

Rating: 7.2 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 1, 2023.

I'm not particularly well versed in punk, but when I stumbled across Acidez, my enthusiasm for them told me to order two albums straight away. So now “Welcome to the 3D Era” is spinning on my turntable and it’s pure joy, musically and visually (red-blue vinyl). But at first, let’s take a look whether these punks are really authentic. They hate the police (“El día que la policía muera”), at least until they are threatened by a horde of homicidal fascists, they are mega-sceptical in terms of technology whose only purpose is obviously to kill mankind (songs 2 – 5 and “Amenaza nuclear”) and of course they do not accept authorities (“Rompiendo cadenas”, “Outlaw warrior”). So far, so good, so necessary. But why do they see a “Futuro decadente”? Is this the luxury edition of “No hay futuro”? However, details aside, I see no lack of authenticity.

“Welcome to the 3D Era” stands with both feet on the filthy, urban ground of punk and the more I listen to the album, the more I like it. There are plenty of positive attributes the musical content deserves. It is energetic, straight, fast, furious, dynamic, homogeneous and (punk, dudes!) naturally reduced to the essentials. Even guitar solos are rather a sign of undesirable adiposis than a stylistic ingrediant they want to use. Okay, “Maquínas de guerra” houses a solo and it shines with a fantastic, almost overly opulent section (from 2:40 to 2:49!). But in general, the dominant components are the constant pace of the drums, the sharp riffs (one per song is more or less enough) and the raw voice of Tupa. He has this snotty charisma that a punk singer needs and given this, it does not matter that he delivers a one-tone-performance. We are not in the opera here! And when I want to hear varied singing, I let my sweet girlfriend drag me into the Christmas cantatas of J. S. Bach (once a year…).

But let’s stick to “Welcome to the 3D Era”. As mentioned above, I enjoy the homogenous album. A very homogeneous one. I would not be surprised if they cross the verse of song A with the verse of song B on stage and probably nobody would recognize this. Yes, the single songs do not boast with an overdose of individuality, but the compositional formula simply works. From this follows, that there is no need to change it and everybody who knows the value of a song like “Don’t Pay the Poll Tax” will enjoy this album. Acidez revitalize Exploited’s refreshing beat in a superb manner. This approach results in a lot of thrilling pieces like “Amaneza nuclear”, "Futuro decadente" or the aforementioned “Maquínas de guerra”. Only minor details could have been done better. For example, the background vocals do not really enrich the songs. But I guess I’ll just get a big “f**k off” from the Mexicans – it is surely not punk-like to moan about bagatelles. Moreover, beer drinkers survivors don’t ask for permission. Thus, let’s see the big picture: “Welcome to the 3D Era” is a properly produced album that does not lack attitude and musical class. Even an ordinary metalhead like me is able to realize this.

Rating: 7.9 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 1, 2023.

I'm not particularly well versed in punk, but when I stumbled across Acidez, my enthusiasm for them told me to order two albums straight away. So now “Welcome to the 3D Era” is spinning on my turntable and it’s pure joy, musically and visually (red-blue vinyl). But at first, let’s take a look whether these punks are really authentic. They hate the police (“El día que la policía muera”), at least until they are threatened by a horde of homicidal fascists, they are mega-sceptical in terms of technology whose only purpose is obviously to kill mankind (songs 2 – 5 and “Amenaza nuclear”) and of course they do not accept authorities (“Rompiendo cadenas”, “Outlaw warrior”). So far, so good, so necessary. But why do they see a “Futuro decadente”? Is this the luxury edition of “No hay futuro”? However, details aside, I see no lack of authenticity.

“Welcome to the 3D Era” stands with both feet on the filthy, urban ground of punk and the more I listen to the album, the more I like it. There are plenty of positive attributes the musical content deserves. It is energetic, straight, fast, furious, dynamic, homogeneous and (punk, dudes!) naturally reduced to the essentials. Even guitar solos are rather a sign of undesirable adiposis than a stylistic ingrediant they want to use. Okay, “Maquínas de guerra” houses a solo and it shines with a fantastic, almost overly opulent section (from 2:40 to 2:49!). But in general, the dominant components are the constant pace of the drums, the sharp riffs (one per song is more or less enough) and the raw voice of Tupa. He has this snotty charisma that a punk singer needs and given this, it does not matter that he delivers a one-tone-performance. We are not in the opera here! And when I want to hear varied singing, I let my sweet girlfriend drag me into the Christmas cantatas of J. S. Bach (once a year…).

But let’s stick to “Welcome to the 3D Era”. As mentioned above, I enjoy the homogenous album. A very homogeneous one. I would not be surprised if they cross the verse of song A with the verse of song B on stage and probably nobody would recognize this. Yes, the single songs do not boast with an overdose of individuality, but the compositional formula simply works. From this follows, that there is no need to change it and everybody who knows the value of a song like “Don’t Pay the Poll Tax” will enjoy this album. Acidez revitalize Exploited’s refreshing beat in a superb manner. This approach results in a lot of thrilling pieces like “Amaneza nuclear”, "Futuro decadente" or the aforementioned “Maquínas de guerra”. Only minor details could have been done better. For example, the background vocals do not really enrich the songs. But I guess I’ll just get a big “f**k off” from the Mexicans – it is surely not punk-like to moan about bagatelles. Moreover, beer drinkers survivors don’t ask for permission. Thus, let’s see the big picture: “Welcome to the 3D Era” is a properly produced album that does not lack attitude and musical class. Even an ordinary metalhead like me is able to realize this.

Rating: 7.9 out of 10