ANONYMUS Win GAMIQ 2020 Awards "Metal Album of The Year" For "La Bestia"
L-R: Carlos Araya (Drums), Daniel Souto (Guitar), Oscar Souto (Vocals and Bass), Jef Fortin (Guitar)
Photo Credit: Dani Rod
Canadian thrash legends Anonymus' 12th studio album La Bestia (Bam&Co Heavy) has won two GAMIQ Awards (Gala Alternatif de la Musique Indépendante du Québec) for "Metal Album of The Year" and the first-ever "Piggy Award", named in honour of late Voivod guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour for career recognition in the Quebec music industry. The full list of winners from the 15th annual GAMIQ awards can be found here along with the viewing of the event online here that was hosted on Sunday, December 6th.
GAMIQ - Metal Album of The Year Nominees:
Anonymus - La Bestia - WINNER
Obey The Brave - Balance
Sandveis - Saboteur
Scare - Not Dead Yet, Probably...
Souphl - Commerages
Warsenal - Feast Your Eyes
Celebrating his birthday on the same night of the awards event, Anonymus drummer Carlos Araya comments on winning the GAMIQs:
"At the start of this adventure for "La Bestia", which began not long after the release of our 2019 Sacrifices album, the question arose... What do we do afterwards, do we change the pattern? Are we going to push elsewhere and differently? So, Carlos Ponte, our manager proposed to do something different, to make an album totally in Spanish, which will naturally attract the attention of a Canadian band with a wide history along with all of us being tri-lingual (Spanish, French, English)… Starting from there, things were instinctively created in what we do and what we know in metal.
We're very thankful and honoured to have won Metal Album of the Year, we want to thank those who worked with us on this, our label Bam & Co, including Steve, Dany, Virginie and company, Propagande, Believe, Soundblast Media, Asher Media Relations, Background Noise and Omv Networking who helped put us forward. Benoit Nantel for the live recordings, which served us well, Mat Charest for the video "Bicho Loco" and Anthony Chognard for the recording along with Colin Richardson and Jean-Francois Dagenais of Kataklysm for their co-producing contributions.
I like to add, we are extremely honoured to win GAMIQ's first “Piggy” for career recognition. “Piggy” aka Denis D’Amour of Voivod was and still is a big influence on our metal culture in Quebec and beyond, so we feel very privileged to receive this award.
What more can I say, but that Anonymus is a feat from over thirty years ago when I received my first drums from my parents and from the band's founding. That the band is together with only one change after all these years is also an achievement so let's underline the undeniable contribution of Marco Calliari in the band for the first 17 years. Continuing to make music with the Souto twins who have been my friends since I arrived in Canada at the age of 8 is a fate few can dream of. Our friend Carlos Ponte who has been helping us since day one is also remarkable. Marco's departure was not easy, but Jef Fortin was able to bring stability and efficiency to the riff and the songs. Wow, how lucky we are to have him as a guitarist, songwriter and producer. Above all, he quickly became a member of our tightly-knit family.
There are lots of highlights from our career. We like to thank a brother-in-arms, Mononc ’Serge with whom we shared the stage on three tours, two albums and two DVDs; what a divine collaboration ... Many thanks to Nadine Methot, Kaz Choucri, Pierre Rémillard. All the promoters, presenters, bookers, festivals, technical teams, bands, people from the community that we met; you know who you are, thank you.
And the biggest thank you without a doubt goes to our FANS. Without you, this band would be really anonymous…. Eternal Thanks."
About La Bestia:
Known for their discography of both French and English releases, La Bestia is the first full length that the band offered up to metal fans that is completely in Spanish. Many metalheads and critics asked the most relevant question, why an album in Spanish? The answer... since Drummer Carlos Araya is Chilean born, and Oscar (lead vocals and bass) and Dan Souto (guitars and backing vocals) are sons of Spanish immigrants, it was only inevitable to make a record in that language that 3/4 of the band is fluent in.
The tracks on La Bestia were produced mainly by guitarist Jef Fortin as well as Colin Richardson who also produced 1999's Instinct and Jean-Francois Dagenais (Kataklysm) who produced 2006's Chapter Chaos Begins. The album also features the bilingual song “Violencia Versus Violence” with the participation of Carlos Maldos of Lethal Creation (MX) and Arno Dhenain Le Bourhis of Black Bomb A (FR) along with a second bilingual track “Tierra” with Marco Calliari singing in Italian.
La Bestia album stream and download on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer HERE. Vinyl HERE.
And for the beer lovers out there (myself included), Anonymus also launched their own IPA beer (La Microbrasserie Le Fermentor), named in honour of their first Spanish release. Info here.
Track Listing:
Bajo Presión (3:31)
Bicho Loco (3:58)
Sobrevivir (4:11)
Violencia Versus Violence (featuring Carlos Maldos of Lethal Creation (MX) and Arno from Black Bomb A) (4:33)
La Bestia (5:22)
Máquinas (3:32)
Cada loco con su tema (5:37)
Tierra ( Produced by Colin Richardson and Featuring Marco Calliari) (4:01)
Terremoto (Produced by Jef Dagenais (Kataklysm) (3:08)
Album Length: 37:57
Album and Live Band Line Up:
Oscar Souto - Vocals/ Bass
Daniel Souto - Guitar/ Back Vocals
Jef Fortin - Guitar/ Back Vocals
Carlos Araya - Drums/ Back Vocals
About:
Anonymus is a Canadian thrash metal band that explodes on stage with each presence, that pulls you in with its passion and that yells at you with corrosive and violent texts that will not leave anyone indifferent.
Since their first release in 1994, Anonymus has made its mark on the Quebec music scene. From the beginning, the group has been well received while demonstrating its brutal sound and technique that has continually evolved over the years. Oscar Souto (vocals, bass) Daniel Souto (guitar, vocals) Carlos Araya (drums), Jef Fortin (guitar since 2006) and Marco Calliari (vocals, guitar from 1994 to 2006) have since widely traveled the roads of their country, participated in the deprivation of Mononc’Serge and continue today to ignite stages everywhere they go. These veterans of the metal scene continue to proudly carry the torch after 20 years of chaos and barbaric music.
Forever hungry for metal, everyone in Anonymus brings ideas to the table. Sometimes it is a whole song or just the beginnings of one, yet together the band works to create a full thrashy anthem from the pieces, working on it until it is complete. The music always comes first, and when the ambiance is formulated, the lyrics, which come from a personal place and from current events, can be added.
Unstoppable and indestructible, inspired by bands like Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax; Anonymus is nothing short of the powerful, aggressive and technical thrash metal that they have been refining for decades exemplified on their impressive discography of both French and English releases, which includes: Ni vu, ni connu (1994); Stress (1996); Instinct (1999); Daemonium (2002); Academie du Massacre (2003); Chapter Chaos Begins (2006); Musique Barbare (2008); État Brute (2011); Envers et contre tous (2015); P.O.M.M.E (2017); Sacrifices (2019); and their first-ever Spanish album La Bestia (2020) due out June 12 via label Bam&co Heavy.
Today, Anonymus does not need a presentation. This institution of the Quebec metal industry has been offering for twenty-six years, a passion for dark notes and unrivaled power. The offer is still valid. With more than 1500 career shows under their belt, Anonymus is completely in their element when performing in front of fans, they offer only their absolute best ensuring the crowd is moving. Having shared the stage with metal great such as Anthrax, Cannibal Corpse, and Kataklysm at festivals such as Heavy Montreal, Montebello, and through international tours, they are no strangers to a wild show.
ANONYMUS FOLLOWS ITS PATH, AGAINST ALL ODDS!
I thought I was done with these guys… apparently not!