Beast — Beast

Montreal's Beast is a collaborative effort between Champion's Betty Bonifassi and Plaster's Jean-Phi Goncalves, which mixes Bonifassi's powerful vocals with Goncalves' gritty electronic beats. Their eponymous debut is a mixed bag in terms of songs: there are awkward moments, like Bonifassi's rap style and preachy lyrics on opener "Devil" and the cheesy choir on the chorus of "Mr. Hurricane." The album is almost split down the middle, with Bonifassi being more wild, dramatic and in-your-face on the first half, and the second half dipping into a more tamed union between vocals and beats (like on "Arrow," "Out Of Control" and "City"). The caged Beast breaks out of the sleepier tracks at the album's end with "Satan," a strange amalgamation of electronica and Bonifassi's bluesy vocals. This duo is definitely onto something — they just have to figure out the happy medium between wild and tame.

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