BALA

WHILE WE ALL love to hear stories about bands slaving over their art and driving themselves to the brink of madness with endless, Chinese Democracy–style meddling, there’s a lot to be said for grabbing life by the jugular and just getting on with it. Spanish duo Bala – Violeta Mosquera (vocals, drums) and Anxela Baltar (vocals, guitar) – exemplify this attitude, with their new album Maleza, a superb slice of all-caps ROCK that combines adrenaline-hit immediacy with crashing riffs and huge, skull-invading hooks.