Acrania (not to be confused with the more popular but less interesting Acrania from the UK) is a Mexican progressive thrash/death metal band, the selling point of which is their unique incorporation of latin jazz rhythms. They’ve released their first EP in 2007, and then went on to release full-length, Fearless is their third and latest LP and it came out in April of this year.

Jazz, samba, bossa, and salsa are intertwined with more regular thrash and death metal riffs as an integral part of their sound, rather than just a gimmick used for infamous “jazz interludes” and other silly stuff that a lot of modern band fall into. Their instrumentation also highlights their musical heritage: congas, timbales, saxophone and trumpet give that original sound that wouldn’t be achieved with compositional style alone.

That makes for a really enjoyable, fun album to listen to, and one of the best instances of latin metal. The riffs are true to their thrash and death metal roots – depending on the context – and so are the drumming and the vocals accompanying them. The bass and percussions truly shine when the latin parts come in and they play parts that just urge you to dance. There are unfortunately barely no variations in the vocal department, and I would’ve been pretty happy to hear some more traditional singing, mariachi-style maybe!

In the end it’s a valuable album that will surely find a special spot on your shelf!