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I didn't think much of Fuerza Metal from Columbia's Ursus the first time I listened to it all the way through. My opinion has definitely changed with subsequent listens. The album is sung entirely in Spanish which is a novelty for me. The kind of Thrash Metal Ursus is peddling isn't Bay Area nor East Coast or even German. It is most akin to the pulsating Thrash of Canadian bands like Exciter and Razor. The guitars are thin and fuzzy and attack your ears like a swarm of angry hornets. The riffing is almost uniformly speedy with the occasional slow song mixed in. The vocals are an angry, gritty howl. The production is raw and simple and that works well for this type of Thrash as a slick production would rob Fuerza Metal of much of its energy. Every member of the band sounds like they are putting their all into the performance and, because of that, the final product shines. I find the Spanish lyrics a bit of a negative as that language just isn't guttural enough for my Thrash sensibilities. Of course, when vocalist Felix Zamora drops down to Death Metal growls, like on "Pueblo Sin Memoria," the language hardly matters. The backing vocals are bit weak as well.

Fuerza Metal, the band's second full-length, surprised me with some quality Thrash that is a bit off the beaten path, yet not so different that mainstream fans will be turned off. A young band on the rise.