Não Não demo cassette
I was not late to the party for this one, as I was lucky enough to see NÃO play last summer in Hamburg and gladly enjoyed their short set of energetic hardcore punk. They were the opening band, always a tricky spot since most of the audience is generally busy downing cheap cans of lager (and Germany has a lot of these) outside of the venue, and they managed to keep things interesting. They did a good job and I was curious to see what this Bremen band with members of INFERNO PERSONALE would produce in the studio. I like the production, it has a genuine ’80s feel without too many fancy effects. The band is not trying to “out-distort” anyone, and the balance between contemporary fuzzy D-beat punk and raw ’80s hardcore is adequate. It has a simplicity that I find refreshing, and listening to these six songs is basically a pleasant experience, like a Sunday morning stroll in the park in good company. The vocals are really good here, raucous and angry, but still managing to get some tunes in all the mayhem (the sonorities of the Brazilian Portuguese language certainly help, it’s like the singers of POTENTIAL THREAT and TOŽIBABE going to a hardcore festival in São Paulo in 1984). I like the fact that they are not drowned in effects, just a bit of reverb and saturation which confer that ’80s touch that I mentioned. Musically, the recipe is tried and tested, DISCHARGE-influenced old school hardcore punk, but not exactly D-beat. It’s a revisit of classic peace punk like the ICONOCLAST and DIATRIBE, UNDERAGE from Italy, and definitely INOCENTES from Brazil. A good hardcore band worth keeping a watchful eye on.