Legen Beltza is one of the most overlooked and underrated bands in thrash metal. They capitalize on
1980's style thrash, falling somewhere between the styles of bay area thrash and German thrash. This piqued my interest, because I'm a big fan of old school thrash. They formed in 1998 in Basque country, Spain. This 2003 release was their 2nd full length album.
The opening track,
Hate, is a hyperdrive of explosive thrash energy. Though this song reminds me of
Kreator, its speedy tempo is on a par with
Destruction.
Insanity has a dazzling guitar lead that sounds similar to those on the song,
Eternal Ban, by
Destruction. Alaitz also has some influences from
Destruction.
The song,
Dying, has a very pleasing melody. After about ten listens to this song, I could recognize that the guitar melody actually was borrowed from old 1960's California surf rock. This basic rhythm has been recycled and reused by many earlier pop bands and later by California punk rock bands. The lyrics seem to be a melancholic view of living, as though life is more trouble than it's worth. Anyhow the song sounds very good.
For the most part, each song on this album thrashes very melodically with a strong influence of
Testament, as the common denominator. The vocals of Azkue even sound a lot like Chuck Billy from
Testament.
This is a dynamite album from an artist that is obscure in the USA. They moved to central Spain from Basque country to expand their fan base. Obviously, that's not working for them. They need to tour outside of Spain, especially in South and
North America. This album ought to become a classic. But it can't, unless they bring themselves out of obscurity.
That's an injustice, because this album truly is a thrashterpiece.
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