Insanity

When musical trends change, some artists will inevitably have the rug pulled out from under them. Plenty of metal and hard rock outfits found that out in the early '90s, when the Nirvana/Pearl Jam/grunge upheaval radically altered the rock landscape, and caused music loosely defined as alternative metal to become metal's primary direction. A lot of '80s headbangers suddenly began to sound dated, but bands with a thrash background, such as Metallica, Slayer, Testament, Anthrax, and Megadeth had an easier time weathering the storm because they had the punk element; Metallica, in fact, was considered by many to be metal's gold standard throughout the Bill Clinton years. What does all this mean for Legen Beltza, a Spanish metal band that came along in 1998 but has a definite '80s obsession? Because they're '80s-obsessed in a thrash-minded way, Insanity somehow manages to be retro without sounding terribly dated. Legen's sound is a melodic yet forceful blend of thrash and fantasy metal/power metal — basically Metallica, Venom, Megadeth, and Annihilator, with elements of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. It isn't an innovative or cutting-edge approach by 2000s standards, but Insanity still doesn't sound as dated as it would if, say, Legen Beltza was emulating Quiet Riot circa 1983 (which, of course, they aren't). Besides, dated isn't necessarily a bad thing if one holds a certain era in high regard; a dated sound can also be a classic sound, and Insanity owes a lot to what was a great decade for metal. In fact, anyone who has a high opinion of '80s thrash and '80s fantasy/power metal should have no problem getting into this 2003 release. Insanity may not be the most groundbreaking CD in the world, but for diehard fans of '80s metal, there's a lot to admire about this enjoyably aggressive, if derivative, outing.