Beast Review
Anyone who has seen Montreal’s Beast perform knows that regardless of what you think of their music, they will make you stop and look. Betty Bonifassi’s fiery on stage presence accompanied by Jean-Phi Goncalves’ infectious beats and sampling immediately strike one as unique and refreshing.
Their album may not encapsulate this on stage presence completely, but it definitely gets the job done. The first track sets the mood perfectly, a haunting vocal line, sinister guitar/bass riffs and samples, and a drum beat with enough momentum to run a freight train.
The majority of this album is dark in nature, with the exception of their hit song Mr. Hurricane. Even on that song you can hear a hint of Beast’s macabre spirit. That’s the nice thing about this album, the mood they begin with permeates the entire album, but they manage to keep the album diverse enough from song to song.
As if, the hard earned vibrato on Betty’s voice wasn’t enough to keep you listening, which for me it was, every band member in this group is remarkably talented. Every member of this band leaves breathing room for the other, and through all the weirdness and experimentation, catchy songs make their way through time and time again through this album. The only miss on this record is “Dark Eyes,” a mix between Jean-Phi’s awkward rapping and Betty’s mediocre Portishead throwback. That track will probably put you to sleep, or rush you to your skip button. But they more than make up for it in the following track, an intense, dark, dancy epic called “City.”
Fingerprints is arguably the highlight of the entire album, a song that just seems to build and build until it explodes into a final climax that would catch any Radiohead fan’s attention. It’s on songs like this and city that Beast bring the listener into a place that is dancy enough to be hip, but intricate enough to be beautiful. It’s a tough balance and I would argue that for the majority of this album Beast hit it head on.
It is amazing that this is only the first full length release from this band, as it feels like the kind of album you’d expect a band to release as their fourth, or at least sophomore. But Jean-Phi and Betty prove that they have an abundance of talent and have managed to come out with an album that should have no trouble making it into any Nine Inch Nails, Portishead, or even Muse fan’s iTunes repertoire. If you have a chance to buy this record, buy it. If you have a chance to see this band – see them.
Devil by Beast
Fingerprint by Beast
Tags: album
