Crushing thrash metal with Spanish lyrics from Quebec - A review of Anonymus's La Bestia

Canadian thrash metal band Anonymus has been around for more than three decades now but the dynamic quartet has never gotten the critical acclaim it would have deserved out of its home province of Quebec. If you have never been in touch with the band, the group's eleventh album La Bestia might be a good occasion to catch up. The record has been released digitally in the summer and physically in the autumn of this year. The quartet offers nine thunderously produced intense thrash metal songs sung in Spanish.

Promotional single ''Sobrevivir'' shows the direction of this output very well as it takes no prisoners with gripping riffs, steady rhythm section and variable vocals that are screamed, shouted and sung. The experimental ''Violencia Versus Violence'' that convinces with its intelligent narrative passages features French hardcore band Black Bomb A that has been around for twenty-five years as well as Mexican groove, nu and progressive metal outfit Lethal Creation. The only slightly smoother song on the album is the melancholic ''Tierra'' that features acoustic guitar harmonies and clean vocals without ever sounding too predictable and sappy.

The nine tunes and thirty-eight minutes pass by very quickly and make you feel like hitting the repeat button again. There are few bands who sound as convincing, creative and hungry in the thirty-first year of their career. This album might not break new ground but a very good thrash metal output by a French-Canadian band with Spanish lyrics should certainly sound interesting enough for genre fans to put this fine release into their collections. These nine energetic songs would certainly unfold even more energy on stage, so let's cross our fingers that live shows are coming back soon enough to let us enjoy La Bestia under the perfect circumstances.

Final rating: 75%