Well ladies and gents there is another fantastic, technically gifted, passionate, ear splitting and heart pounding Canadian Thrash Metal band that has made a truly astounding album. One that even the gods of old would love listening to. I was quite astounded that this band from Quebec were doing an album where all the vocals are in Spanish; well a lot of us listen to RAMMSTEIN who the majority of the time sing in German so why not a band that sings solely in Spanish.
In this review, I will not only be talking about the music on the album but also how it makes the listeners feel when they listen to it. I will also talk about the production quality and musicianship.
One thing I definitely love about this album apart from being a Thrash Metal album (it is my favourite sub genre) but the fact the guys from ANONYMOUS have made the music sound diverse. Each song doesn’t sound like the previous track (I hope a certain Danish drummer from a bay area thrash metal band is paying attention to this). You can hear this with the tracks La Bestia and on the song Tierra as it starts off with a soft sounding acoustic guitar as if you are travelling through a Spanish village in the rural countryside of Spain. Then the music all kicks off like an artillery barrage or Brian Blessed having a shouting competition down the pub. From one of the photos of the band on their promo page, they are all sitting around a table with pints of beer and I might presume they have done the latter.
From a music producers’ point of view, the album sounds superb. That could be because not only did they have it produced by Jean-Francois Dagenais of KATAKLYSM but they also had the legend that is Colin Richardson who has been the producer for CANNIBAL CORPSE, CARCASS, KREATOR, BEHEMOTH, OVERKILL and the list goes on. On a documentary about CANNIBAL CORPSE; someone said that one of the albums, which he did for them, sounded so good because he produced it and that ‘he can make incredibly heavy music sound even heavier’. You can definitely hear that on this album. The fact they got Colin Richardson in is the greatest gift from the gods.
You can hear everything and it sounds like you listening to ANONYMOUS when they are playing live. This is something I had always tried to do when producing during my time at university.
The overall musicianship is of a very precise and skilful quality. There are complex fast guitar riffs and ear splitting guitar solos. You can definitely hear that in the tracks Terremoto and Sobrevivir with all the tempo changes on the songs. It’s great that you can start off the songs as if you want whiplash for three days from wind milling their heads; which is something every Thrash Metal fan does. When listening to this album at home, I was trying so hard to focus and not to windmill my head off as if a Viking smacked it off with a battle-axe.
To sum up I would really recommend you buy this album; it is exciting, aggressive, super fast and superbly brilliant. If these guys are ever tour the UK, I am definitely buying a ticket. I also hoping they play a certain festival up in Derbyshire in early August that my mates and I go to every year.
Rating: 10/10
Words: Alex Blaza
La Bestia is out now.
Find ANONYMUS on Facebook.
