Carnival Diablos is a pure, blood-soaked metal album that bridges Annihilator's heritage with its present and reaffirms Jeff Waters' place in the thrash pantheon. From the frenetic call-and-response of the opening track Denied to the mid-tempo swing of the title track, tinged with progressive elements, Carnival Diablos offers thrash heavy metal as solid as it is satisfying, more heavy metal than thrash, but 100% Annihilator, at one of its many peaks.