CRIMINAL ELEMENT’s main lyrical concept deals with the felonies, gangsters, drug deals, delinquents, jail and death. The opposite of the Punk influenced "anti-system, socially aware" Grindcore one is used to. I find the mix pretty interesting, if you ask me. Here we have their third album, "Criminal Crime Time". The line-up for this album includes some well-known musicians such as Terrance Hobbs and Derek Boyer (of SUFFOCATION fame) plus founder Vince Matthews (ex – DYING FETUS) and newcomer Maliq Emanuel. Still deeply rooted in their own style of "Urban" Death / Grind, "Criminal Crime Time" has some pretty good ideas that, in my humble opinion, were not completely developed. I mean, this style of music is pretty much straight forward. It only needs conviction and a no non-sense approach. And even though it delivers as it should with some solid riffing, pounding bass and drums and great vocals, there were several times that I didn’t even notice it had ended. Sure, it clocks at 30 minutes and it’s supposed to be an intense listening experience. But despite some really good riffs here and there, the album didn’t grab my attention as a whole. The production works perfectly with their style. It is not stellar but raw, heavy and deep. I was not expecting it to be polished though. Every instrument comes clear in the mix. Specially, the gritty guitar tone and a gnarly bass guitar that (surprisingly) has all the bottom end / top treble tone one could ask for. The drums might be my only complaint here. I really don’t like how they sound. And I sincerely cannot say if they are real or not. The overall sound has a lot of dynamics; a total "in your face" sound statement. All in all, this is a good album. It proves that CRIMINAL ELEMENT found a niche and they have been exploiting it. From what I’ve read, I don’t know if the band has disbanded or not. But so far, their 3 album / 5 EP legacy leaves a good mark in the underground. Support the band here: www.facebook.com/criminalelementdc. And their label here: www.metalage.sk