Reviews

Miguel Franco

Prospexx A Quiet World 12″

There is an underground scene in Mexico City focused on ’80s dance music (HI-NRG, synth-pop, Italo disco, rare disco). These dances are attended by the working class, elaborately dressed and totally DIY. Every weekend they challenge each other to dance-offs and have an amazing time. All this music is part of the DNA of the city—some hits can be heard every day on local radio stations, and it has become a great local tradition. It’s fun, sweaty, and democratic. PROSPEXX’s music reminds me of all this, “The Devil Has Won” would be a dancefloor classic in this scene. It’s timeless, romantic, fun, and seductive music. Think SYLVESTER or TRANS X. I would like to give a tip to PROSPEXX and invite them to visit Mexico City, they would have a brutal success down here.

Why Bother? A City of Unsolved Miseries LP

In these post-everything times where there seems to be less and less room for truly idiosyncratic expressions, it is very pleasing to realize that there are still people playing with the space-time equation of underground music history, not to simply recreate greatness lost under the weight of memory, but to found new lineages of sound. Iowa’s WHY BOTHER? is just such a band, with a lo-fi sound that takes certain melodic ideas from late ’80s indie music (HÜSKER DÜ) and classic Midwestern punk, mixed with melancholic poppy hooks and, in this case, lyrics about unsolved murder. The result is shattering, an album full of instant left-of-the-dial anthems, with layers of synth that create eerie atmospheres for what is essentially a kind of mutant garage rock album. I read somewhere that WHY BOTHER? doesn’t play live, but I hope they keep producing music of this quality forever.

B.O.R.N. B.O.R.N. cassette

Three-piece band from Birmingham, UK who are specialists in the creation of a tortuous and aggressive noise. The rhythmic base maintains an almost mechanical rhythm while the guitar envelops everything with guitars that paint sonic landscapes as sharp as broken glass. The vocals are like that of a person chastened in hell. I really dig it. Check them out right now.

Telegenic Pleasure Concentric Grave LP

Synth punk is a style that was born perfect. Distilled down to its most primordial elements, it can be taken and re-created over and over again, and you know what? It is made of such noble stuff, that the results are always highly enjoyable. In the case of TELEGENIC PLEASURE (a band composed of members of the GAGGERS, ISOLATION PARTY, MONONEGATIVES, and MISCALCULATIONS), in addition to the aforementioned genre potentialities, you can expect the great talent and experience of such prolific people to generate great songs. And there are plenty of them on this album. Think of the unbridled energy of LOST SOUNDS and the fun and snotty attitude of late ’70s bands from the San Francisco and Los Angeles scenes. Plus, they have an excellent cover of Canada’s the DEMICS that is sure to become a cult classic.

Tulips Tangled in Transition 10″

TULIPS are from Germany, they love both Sylvia Plath’s poetry and SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, and they are able to create songs of ethereal beauty, where they spin a constant tension as if an eminent external danger was about to engulf us all. More than a band, I consider them painters of urban landscapes in the style of German expressionism, searching for ineffable beauty at the bottom of an abyss.

Faucheuse Faucheuse demo cassette

Been listening to lots of interesting and vicious D-beat and Oi! coming from France lately—something must be happening in the streets and local DIY/underground scenes in that European country, you can feel a very exciting effervescence incomparable to other places of the so-called First World. For yet another example, we have this brilliant demo cassette from FAUCHEUSE, an excellent hardcore band from Bordeaux, a city which has already become one of the world’s D-beat powerhouses. This band presents five absolutely thrillingly addictive tracks; please pay special attention to the tour de force that is “Ville Interdite.” It’s a brutal but deeply melodic D-beat sound with a pub-rock or generally dirty and fun rock’n’ roll vibe that I really dig, and that refreshes that ol’ D-beat sound that we love.

Miseria y Kompañía Mundo Muerto LP

This is a reissue of the last album by this Barcelona punk band, originally released in 1997. Formed towards the end of the ’80s, MISERIA Y KOMPAÑÍA created a body of work that is already considered a classic among Spanish punk connoisseurs. I suggest you listen to their fierce 1989 demo called …Y En Un Mal Día, and also give their split with SPATEK a chance. Unlike their early work, which had a more lo-fi and frankly brutal intensity, Mundo Muerto has better production values and more inventive arrangements that give it a very interesting creative variety and make those blastbeats harder. There is also a more marked melodic turn and even forays into ska. If you like Latin American punk, MISERIA Y KOMPAÑÍA is a band that definitely influenced the sound of that region, and this final album is a good entry point to their work.

Optic Sink A Face in the Crowd / Landscape Shift 7″

This is the new single from OPTIC SINK, a band that takes a very minimalist approach to synth punk and who released their debut album in 2020 through Goner Records.  Side A, “A Face in the Crowd,” reminds me of OMD’s “The New Stone Age” being channeled by the URINALS, while Side B, “Landscape Shift,” could have come straight out of Mute Records in the late ’70s, but not really, because it’s timeless—it actually inhabits a dimension of its own where some transhumans invited you to dance in a club that is a white room floating in the eternal ether of creation. It is really good.

Red Gaze Healing Games 12″

I love it when a band takes very particular references, makes them their own, takes their time to digest them, and vomits out something totally personal. A sound that takes you back to different places in the punk timeline, but makes them coexist in a permanent autonomous zone parceled out of our post-everything reality. Austrians RED GAZE are creating their own impregnable fortress in the very crowded field of modern post-punk, and on this 12″ they do it with songs so well-written that it feels like they were always there in the ether, waiting for some guys in tight pants and with gloomy looks to come along and take those ideas and make them their own. You can understand that they started from a more militantly dark post-punk style, to which they have managed to incorporate arrangements, and above all, an impetus and attitude more married to hardcore, but without becoming the typical aggro band on the block. Not at all—on the contrary, here the references take me to CONTROLLERS, METAL URBAIN, and in general, bands from the mythical Bloodstains compilations…I didn’t want to finish this review without mentioning that “Messy Bundle” is a timeless anthem and that you should leave everything you are doing to listen to it the way it should be listened to, loudly.

Et On Tuera Tous Les Affreux Mange Tes Morts LP

Brilliantly crafted hardcore from Caen, France. ET ON TUERA TOUS LES AFFREUX delivers intense and tightly played punk much in the vein of La Vida Es Un Mus bands. They kick and scream against the masculinist clichés of the hardcore scene with ferocity, and they have the songs and the attitude to make serious damage. Excellent release.

Wound Man Human Outline LP

This is a monster of a powerviolence album. Brutal, pummeling and unrelentingly hurtful. The short songs are so chaotic and frenetic that feel like being hit in the face and loving every single blow. But what I really love about WOUND MAN is how they manage to handle the riff-a-rama and all the violent spurts of noise (what a hell of a drummer they have, btw) with more sinister-sounding slow tempos that are incredibly heavy and tense and violent. This album is on repeat in this writer’s house.

Kat Haus Manic cassette

Fantastic EP that stands between egg-punk and post-punk, in the vein of KLEENEX/LILIPUT with the sense of humor of K Records. Songs are fun and catchy, lyrics are smart and satirical, guitars are razor-sharp, the bass wants to dance with me. A delight. My fave track is “Bum a Light.” Listen to that, right now.

Uzumaki Uzumaki cassette

This is the musical testament of UZUMAKI, a Galician punk duo that made noise between 2013 and 2016, and you can now listen to all their recordings on a limited-run cassette. Razor-sharp guitars, melodic bass lines à la Kim Deal, a hyper-accelerated drum machine, and a voice that rips and is reminiscent in a very pleasant way, of yes, Kurt Cobain. Think of FUTURE OF THE LEFT, but more unhinged. Think of those bands that deliver everything on stage with absolute conviction in what they do and that you find in an unexpected way, bands that slap you in your face with their forcefulness and awaken in you absolute devotion by the end of the show. This cassette is your little secret, your own private beach of visceral catharsis, a code that only you manage to decipher. The world sucks, but then you come across gems like this and the birds start singing again and all that.

Gurs Tierra Quemada EP

Tierra Quemada is the impeccable debut of this quartet from Euskal Herria, born from the politicized underground of Bilbao. Four songs of muscular post-punk, with well-sharpened guitars and a very rich melodic quality, delivered in a very energetic fashion. Lyrics are political but full of rapturous, poetic images. For fans of Spanish bands like LA TRINIDAD or BIZNAGA. “Cien Cuchillas” is a great gateway to this band with a very promising future.

Gunfighter Ballads EP

Transmissions of a phantom radio program that broadcasts intermittently from a parallel dimension, a dimension where Martin Rev programmed beats for the LEGENDARY STARDUST COWBOY in a project called GUNFIGHTER that creates psychobilly anthems for the 21st century. Turn it up!

Último Templo Nuevo Hechizo Punk de Amor y Mística cassette

Formed by veterans of the darkest Spanish punk and post-punk scenes, ÚLTIMO TEMPLO’s debut is of a remarkable blackness. A very particular voice delivers dense and catchy melodies that give a touch of expressionism to each song. This band has an original and powerful sound, with lyrics of powerful imagery that invite you to be part of a private occult ceremony. Brilliant and mystical.

Tooth Paint Digital Sex cassette

This is a side project from Henry, the bassist of Germany’s post-punk band L‘APPEL DU VIDE. Henry is a very talented young fella, capable of producing high quality synth punk that lives comfortably outside of time—these five songs can be placed next to the ’80s defining classics, raunchy electroclash, or ’00s no wave. The tunes are catchy as hell, incredibly well-constructed and irredeemably fun. The closing track “Digital Sex” may be my own new personal anthem. Get the cassette now!

The Trouble Seekers The Trouble Seekers LP

What a pleasant surprise. The TROUBLE SEEKERS are Kevin McGovern from the PROSTITUTES and Hillary Burdon from the PANDORAS. On their first album, they deliver a superb set of songs with great elegance, melodic sense, and humor, mixing the classic Southern California punk sound of the ’80s, synths à la SCREAMERS or NERVOUS GENDER paired with a punchy drum machine, and some classic rock attitude. Imagine the McDonald brothers collaborating with Lawrence from DENIM—that’s the closest thing I could come up with to describe the very personal sound of this project.  Listen to “Out of Order” and thank me later.

War Effort War Effort cassette

Rumor has it that WAR EFFORT started as an experiment: get into the studio and try to record an EP in a single day. Maybe we’re hearing the end result, maybe not, but I sure do love the myth-making intention. And what do we have here? Blistering and pure D-beat from a band that offers a brutal execution; an in-your-face sound that lives up to the phrase “first idea is the best idea.” This sounds fresh, free, and unabashed.

Eskizo Abandonar la Esperanza cassette

ESKIZO is a great D-beat band from Georgia in the American South. The band’s been around since 2015, refining a very heavy and particular rendition of DISCHARGE-worship that is aggressive, vindictive, and yet really fun. Most tracks are in Spanish, but that shouldn’t be any kind of barrier to enjoy the mean sounds of ESKIZO. I really dig “Inestabilidad,” a mix between early DARKTHRONE and MG 15. Get the cassette.

Caveman Senseless EP

Here is a list of adjectives that will try to describe what these almost eleven minutes of noise made me feel: violent, brutal, wicked, dynamic, creative, powerful, fleeting, venomous, painful, anger-filled, destructive. Indonesia’s CAVEMEN not only delivers the powerviolence goods, their sound is incredibly addictive and deserves non-stop spins.

Cold Brats / Gel Shock Therapy split LP

I love splits because bands usually try to bulldoze everything in their path over their own side of plastic grooves or slice of tape. In this case, New Jersey’s GEL does a search-and-destroy action with four tracks of ear-shattering and brash hardcore, blowing away any neuron connections you have left. Then it’s the turn of Romania’s COLD BRATS, with an army of sharp riffs ready to drive punks and normies alike berserk. After listening to their contribution, you’ll understand why the split is called Shock Therapy. The talent of both bands is undeniable, and putting them together is an act of pure genius.

Clone-Z Nuclear Junkies cassette

A beast of a tape. Nine tracks of raw D-beat, monstrously rabid and brutal, with great guitar leads and great guitar solos. Short and to-the-point. To be listened to under the effects of fury.

3ª Guerra Mundial Violencia EP

This is a really special piece of Spanish punk. This group from Madrid, formed by members of the legendary band PANADERÍA BOLLERÍA NUESTRA SEÑORA DEL KARMEN, recorded these three tracks back in 1987, which you can listen to now for the first time on this archival release by Beat Generation. These songs have a very English sound, totally focused on the UK82 style, but with the humor and very spiteful vocal delivery of the best Spanish punk. It’s a quick listen and makes you want to repeat the experience, so do it.

V/A Nuestra América Hardcore Punk Vol. III cassette

A very interesting diagnosis and snapshot of the state of the South American punk and underground music scenes, with bands from Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. As with any compilation, there are tracks that you connect with better than others, but I dare to highly recommend the hardcore metallic tinge of Argentina’s ASESINATO EN MASA, the brutality of DL50, the raw crust of Brazilian veterans TERROR REVOLUCIONARIO, and the honest and politically charged funk-metal of Bolivia’s AMUKINA NUNCA MÁS.

Altar De Fey And May Love Conquer All LP

The latest release from this cult band from San Francisco is exquisite deathrock, written with the confidence that comes from years, experience, and a full knowledge of the dark underbelly. You have your tribal drumming, your simple but powerful bass lines holding everything together, the deep and dramatic vocals, and an expressionistic guitar that elevates the songs to the quality of personal anthems. The closing track, “Division,” is absolutely addictive.

Rudimentary Peni Media Person EP reissue

I love witnessing the early flashes of bands as transgressive and iconoclastic as RUDIMENTARY PENI. This is the reissue of their stunning debut EP, originally recorded in 1981 and released on their own Outer Himalayan label. Twelve songs in twelve minutes,  absolute glory remastered from the original tapes. Obviously this 7″ is a sample of a searching period of Nick Blinko’s project, where lines are thrown into dark areas of the psyche that the band would later explore in their sound, but where influences and youthful impetus are also noted, manifested for example in an unabashed love of speed.  The songs are short outbursts full of creativity and precision—you can already see the intention to create a private universe, a mental map, so to speak, that can be expressed through an assault on sounds. “Teenage Time Killer” and “Media Person” already point to the Death Church sound, while the rest inhabit a place where an abrasive, dark Pink Flag exists. This is a cultural artifact that deserves to be in our collection.

Asylum Is This the Price? EP

ASYLUM was an English punk band of short existence. Hailing from the harsh industrial environment of the Midlands, they played a few gigs, recorded a demo tape, and some of their tracks were released on compilations.  Now, you can hear for the first time on vinyl that semi-legendary demo, originally released in 1982 by Retaliation Records. What do we have here?  Six devastating tracks. Basically, it’s the blueprint of the sound of worldwide noisecore (especially Japanese) and extreme music in general: a magmatic mix of ultra-distorted guitars, fuzz-drowned bass, chaotic drums, and desperate, disembodied screams focused on personal and political lyrics. It’s beautiful. Mandatory listening.

Vacancy Shadows 12″

Four tight and well-constructed gems from this Californian post-punk band that navigates the turbulent waters of life in 2022 with songs full of emotion, imagination, and even a bit of drama. Hard to single out one song when they all constitute their own beautiful territory, but I can recommend the glorious opener “Burning” and the very intense closer “Withered.” There’s an LP coming soon to look forward to, so keep VACANCY in the loop.

L’Appel Du Vide Abwärtsspirale EP

This is a great EP from an up-and-coming band straight out of Germany. They mix elements of melodic deathrock darkness, surf guitar riffs, and the hypnotic momentum of the most nocturnal and romantic English post-punk (Sturm und Drang-style). Four songs that feel like four anthems. You don’t need more.

Warchild A Question for Today… Not Tomorrow LP

Second album from Sweden’s WARCHILD—pure D-beat worship in the best Scandinavian tradition. This is a brutal, direct, hard-hitting, and breathless attack. The lyrics are focused on the complex web of damage that war creates. For fans of DISCHARGE and TOTALITÄR, and for those who want to enjoy some of the best current exponents of Swedish käng.

Quergeburt Quergeburt cassette

Spanish label Discos Peroquébien released the unmissable reissue of the debut (originally from 2019) of these German geniuses, a beautiful cassette with twelve tracks of an ultra lo-fi punk that looks back to the most riff-oriented Japanese noise freakouts and the terrorist school of the Providence, Rhode Island noise rock scene. Think of the BRAINBOMBS in a hardcore style and you’ll get close, but not quite to the molten core of the beautiful and fun sound of these guys. Music to end parties to.

Stresssystem Vrede Die Geen Vrede Is cassette

Eva from Dutch punks MAKILADORAS has the vocal duty in this incredibly brutal band that delivers an incredibly tight and fast performance of loud, heavy music that encompasses crust, D-beat, and thrash with some vicious riffing, pummeling beats, and a voice that cuts through with clarity and anger.  It’s an absolute blast. A must.

Plot What Happened to Your Face LP

What a mystery this Philly trio called PLOT is. A series of very interesting influences come together in a thick concoction, where we can taste the pulse of the heaviest post-punk (think BIG BLACK or KILLING JOKE) with elements of ’90s industrial metal (voice samples included) and even some of the more exploratory spirit of ’90s post-hardcore. The result is dark, dense, and very singular. A deeply expressive sound that could well serve as the soundtrack of a post-industrial city in ruins or as the noise that our civilization makes when dying, a dreadful final death rattle.

Rudimentary Peni Death Church LP reissue

One of the most influential albums in punk history. But you already know this. This is the prototype from which the discographies of entire bands and even world scenes were created. But you already know this. We can also see it as a master plan for a suicide mission: to expose the farce of the great civilizational institutions and destroy tropes deeply rooted in our minds. Let’s say it is also an initiatory journey where the medium is the message and the medium is these 21 songs that expose the topographical record of a particular spirit, that of Blinko. A notoriously sensitive spirit that generates images that can be brutal and cryptic but powerfully vehement lyrically. An album that invites you not to be a mere passive recipient of riffs, but an active participant in a process of psychological and existential transformation, of the opening in the middle of a dark forest, a path of mental resistance. And besides, it just slaps.  Consider it a unique opportunity to own a piece of history.

 

Crisis Man Asleep in America LP

I’ve never been a fan of the moniker, I hate any kind of label to begin with, and I understand that it came about more or less organically (and more or less ironically tongue-in-cheek), but I must admit that it made me shy away from bands I saw associated with that thing they call “egg-punk” or “DEVO-core.” Anyway, CRISIS MAN is actually good. Like really, really good.  These songs are full of gushing anxiety and energy that seems to make the songs almost collapse in on themselves. But the songs build complex structures that make them dynamic and always interesting. In addition to that, there are melodic hooks galore, great riffs, a beast of a drummer, a howling vocalist, a bass that throws memorable lines, and above all, what is most appreciated by this writer, a spirit of freedom that is contagious and that makes the band transcend any stylistic delimitation. Egg-what?

Organ-ism Nací Muerto cassette

Incredible debut of this Milwaukee band. It’s nine short and punchy tracks of a very streetwise and very violently aggressive D-beat. Paradoxically, it feels quite intimate. Lyrics en Español, but the hate is universal. “Pudre Por Me” is one of the best punk tracks I’ve heard in 2022.

Solucion Mortal Live at the Fairmont 1984 LP

Such a thrill to write some words on this absolute classic of Mexican hardcore. First, a little bit of history. SOLUCION MORTAL is one of the pioneering bands of hardcore in Mexico. They formed in 1981 in the border city of Tijuana and are still active today. This historical document is a live board recording made at a show at the Fairmont Hall in San Diego, and was originally released as a tape in 1984. Unlike bands from Mexico City, SOLUCIÓN MORTAL had a geographical advantage: being on the border with California allowed the band to share stages with DEAD KENNEDYS or D.R.I. That is to say, they were able to play in the United States in their absolute prime. This led them to participate in some compilations on labels such as BCT Tapes from San Diego, ROIR from New York, and New Wave Records from France. And what does it sound like? Urban chaos, urgency, anger, and violence. A raw guitar sound,  pogo-inducing drum and bass work, absolute brutal vocals, and some of the best Mexican punk songs ever:  “Depresión,” “Maten a los Chotas,” or “Solución Mortal.” A must-have.

Classe Suburbana Ao Vivo em 1992 10″

Consider this material as a historical archive. An exercise of subtracting vital, youthful energy from the unstoppable flow of time in order to preserve a spark of revolt and to mark a territory within the map of global punk and say “hey, here we are and this is where we were, we are part of this, too.” CLASSE SUBURBANA was a band that emerged in the late ’80s in the small town of Delmiro Gouveia in the Brazilian state of Alagoas, a deeply conservative and religious place, one of those stifling spaces for any restless youth who want something different from life. We are talking about an area far from the traditional epicenter of punk in Brazil. This compilation is based on fourteen tracks recorded live at Privê Club in 1992 and shows a band with an energy on the verge of exploding, with their sights set on the violent and repressive structures we all know: police, politicians, work, and family. This is a raw, unpolished, and harsh expression of punk rock. The sound quality is the best possible given the context I have mentioned, very DIY. The band reminds me a lot of Mexican punk bands coming from a similar social context and era: POLO PEPO, YAPS, or many urban rock bands from the Discos Denver label. Congratulations to Quilombo Discos, who are doing this great and necessary work of rescuing and promoting the punk youth culture of underrepresented areas of Brazil.

Depress Discography cassette

I couldn’t find much information on this band, either in English or Spanish. I know they’re a ’90s band from Malaysia and this is their entire output remastered for our enjoyment, all released originally by Broken Noise Records. The first half is songs from a split with Indonesia’s ANTIPATHY, and the second half were part of the Johor Hardcore comp. The twelve tracks are a blast, unhinged and blistering hardcore with some cool melodic and street-punk-like vocal hooks. Great song arrangements, furious vocals when needed, and a clear socio-political stance against authoritarianism and war. Would love to hear more from DEPRESS, hope there’s some more tracks in some vaults out there.

Noose Sweat Death Denial flexi EP

Highly effective powerviolence from this Vancouver, Canada band. Raw, ferociously fast, incredibly well-executed, greasy, precise, murky and severe. Seven songs that last as long as it takes you to read this review. Huge cover art by the great and subversive artist Tommy Wilson. Stunning.

Brain Tourniquet Torture EP

The second EP from the Washington, DC band BRAIN TOURNIQUET is a bouquet of pain and fury. The band, formed by members of PURE DISGUST and TRUTH CULT, knows how to give their own twist to a genre (powerviolence/fastcore or whatever you want to call it) that we know has a limited creative spectrum. And they do it with songs whose foundation is anger, and from that base they build small monuments to bad vibes with a brutal musicianship and very imaginative arrangements. A very pleasant surprise.

Träumer Träumer cassette

Inflammatory tape by this hardcore punk band from Los Angeles, California. Five tracks of fierce and pernicious attacks of loud and distorted praises to thrashing around and flipping the finger to this horrible world. I need more TRÄUMER!

Los Saicos Single Box Set 8×7″

An absolute monster box set (pun intended). Smash hit after smash hit of the legendary Peruvian band. The thing covers their whole career so you can appreciate the richness of their sound: the caveman vocals, the reverb-rich riffs, the wild BO DIDDLEY-esque beats.  I’m not so fond of the whole exercise of historical revisionism the band has suffered and benefited from but, I think they may well be the only band worthy of that sort of intellectual procedure. They truly are a great band and they did anticipate sounds and motifs from the punk era.  This is teenage angst as a form of art. Enjoy the marvelous sounds of LOS SAICOS.

Kara Kara CD

I love how the universal language of punk is anger. Like me, you may not know a word of Polish, but you understand the feeling behind each of these songs. You understand what the struggle to protect our territories from the dispossession of capital in any form is all about. And that goes the same from the Rio Grande to the Vistula. I love KARA’s debut because it sounds as if the Basque band DUT had been influenced by DISCHARGE instead of FUGAZI.  What I mean by that is that we are looking at an album full of sharp and punchy D-beat, extremely fast and precise in execution, almost unbridled but never losing technique. And it’s really fun too.  I hope with all my heart to hear more noise from this band from Warsaw. 

Si Dios Quiere Sol y Guerra cassette

SI DIOS QUIERE is a punk band from Chicago. They make metal-inflicted hardcore: heavy, with intrincate and brilliant riffing and a particular knack for mosh-inducing moments. This EP, Sol y Guerra (“Sun and War”) is full of amazing breakdowns. The band has been incorporating thrash and even death metal influences, and it pays off. The songwriting is tight, the lyrics reflect the issues concerning their Mexican-American community, and the musicianship is off the hook. I truly believe you should see this band live. And, of course, get these songs, like, right now, as the tape is already sold out.

LBM Ankalli EP

You had a long day at work. You’re underpaid. The world is a chimera of misery. Capitalism has colonized every inch of your nervous system. The air in your city feels heavy, full of polluting and poisonous particles. This eight-song EP is the catharsis you need when you feel a scream of frustration coming out of you. Whether you are from the Global South like the members of LBM, or from the precarious zones of the so-called First World, whether you speak Spanish or not, this brutal D-beat exercise appeals directly to your courage and desperation as a worker being swept away by the wave of progress. These songs are ideal for catharsis and if you let it, for the revolution to come.

Riesgo La Edad de la Violencia cassette

Pure mayhem straight from Chicago. This cassette is short, but enough to tell a story from start to finish. A story of violence, struggle for survival, and spiritual struggles. The sound is a cavernous, dissonant, blackened D-beat. The effect of the excerpts from the poem “La Fórmula Secreta” by Mexican writer Juan Rulfo (I recommend you read his novel Pedro Paramo and his book of short stories The Plain in Flames) is absolutely brutal and elevates this short punk flash to the category of art. Lyrics are in Spanish, but the hatred is universal. A hell of a debut.

Total Nada El Camino Más Fácil EP

Somewhere I read that to repress libidinal energy is to repress the genius of creativity. TOTAL NADA, with this debut EP, seeks to do precisely the opposite. They build, with just six awesome tracks, a space of liberation for those libidinal energies to emerge and birth autonomy and personal expression. The band is from Canada, with a Colombian vocalist singing in Spanish, and a sound where the different axes of the global hardcore cartography converge. One senses the brutalist monotone of RUDIMENTARY PENI but also the manic aggression of South American hardcore of the late ’80s and early ’90s and the overwhelming force of the best Italian punk. It’s gorgeous, it’s fun, it’s sweaty, and above all, it’s brilliant. It is the light that guides us out of the ideological labyrinth in which we live.

Sedicion Extintos LP reissue

SEDICIÓN is one of the founding bands of Mexican hardcore. Hailing from the city of Guadalajara, they started in 1988 with an imagination influenced by anarchism, bringing a poignant, pacifist, and self-critical point of view to the social and political misery of Mexico in the ’80s, in the throes of the authoritarian regime of a single party that ruled in those years.  They released several albums, participated in splits with bands like HEREJÍA and M.E.L.I., and evolved their sound during the ’90s to approach melodic hardcore, managed to tour Spain (mainly in libertarian centers and squats in the Basque Country), and split up in 1995 only to return two years later, releasing a couple of albums and touring Mexico and Spain again. The group became inactive in the early ’00s, with some sporadic reunions to play live. As of 2018, the group reunited to celebrate 30 years, touring Mexico and Latin America, and it is precisely that inertia that generates an interest in reissuing their albums. Austin label Esos Malditos Punks reissued on vinyl En Las Calles from 1990 and Verdaderas Historias de Terror from 1991. Now, Punk n Vomit reissues their seminal debut Extintos from 1988. The album is harsh, brutal, savage, blunt, and violent, and at the same time, extremely catchy. A piece of late 20th century Mexican history. A great entry point for the uninitiated is “Líderes,” with one of the best riffs in the history of world punk. A must.

La Rabbia Ideological Weapons / Nostro Obitorio flexi 7″ / The Setting in Motion of Horrific Events EP

I’m so happy to review these two short blasts of inflammable devices by our favorite Italian-British band, LA RABBIA, both released last year. LA RABBIA is a London-based band with a really cool take on the sounds of anarcho-punk, with some more classic ’77 edge to it. Their last album, In the Face of Atrocities, was reviewed last year by yours truly, so I was pretty pleased by their new offerings, where they continue to explore and expand on their particular sound.  “Ideological Weapons” and “Nostro Obitorio” are two gems of pure political fury, like a goth EATER making really dark songs after reading Gramsci. Pretty neat. Now on The Setting in Motion of Horrific Events EP, the band keeps their characteristic tension but wraps it in a much more dynamic sound, somewhere between deathrock and street punk, and with a bonus point, a burgeoning ability to create great hooks and melodies. My favorite track was the one that closes the EP, “La Vulnerabilita,” with a huge, almost Oi! kind of chorus that you just want to scream at the top of your lungs. 

 

Golpe De Gracia Ustela LP

Absolute beast of a debut LP from this Spanish band that sings comfortably in Spanish and Basque. This band arrives with a fully-formed sound reminiscent of Oi! and Basque radical rock, but that also reflects ’80s influences like NEGATIVE APPROACH. This is an aesthetic exercise around hatred. Hatred directed towards a decadent society, and in particular, towards the rotten cities of Europe, sold out to capital. An exercise of hatred that vindicates the angry dignity and the vital vehemence of knowing oneself in constant opposition to everything, but which also finds transcendence in the haughtiness of resistance, in the opportunities generated by the city streets at night.

Eterno Ritorno Eterno Ritorno cassette

ETERNO RITORNO is a punk band from the Veneto region in northern Italy, formed with people from bands like TETRO PUGNALE, KNIGHTZZ, and 3ND7R. This is their debut EP, and it comes in the form of a cassette tape limited to 30 illustrated copies; a beauty of four songs full of dread, anger and desperation. The sound reminds me of the beautiful noise of the Italian hardcore wave of the ’80s, but it is precisely the rabid delivery of the vocals that gives a definite personality to a band that explores all the vicissitudes of living in a deeply conservative region of the country. Keep an eye on them, they have a bright future.

Alternative TV How Much Longer / You Bastard 7″ reissue

Spanish label Munster Records is responsible for outstanding reissue work that has bequeathed us treasures from all over the Americas and Europe. Now, they’ve reissued the seminal 1977 debut single by the band founded by Mark Perry (editor of the zine Sniffin’ Glue), Alex Fergusson (PSYCHIC TV), GENERATION X’s John Towe, and Tyrone Thomas. An absolutely necessary exercise in self-criticism about the insurmountable contradictions of the English punk scene on Side A, and a self-conscious rant about rock’n’roll on the B-side. A great opportunity to get this piece of history, with one of the favorite songs of this writer, on plastic.

Generacion Suicida Regeneracion LP

GENERACION SUICIDA is one of the best punk bands in California right now, and that’s saying something when you’re talking about such a fertile scene. After a four-year wait, the band released Regeneracion at the end of 2021. Ten tracks (in twenty-three minutes) of hardcore attack (the fast and brutal drum work is awesome), with piercing bass and guitars halfway between the CHAMELEONS and WIPERS. It’s really a very beautiful guitar tone. The lyrics are full of rage about life in the empire: violence, racism, abuse of authority. Musically, it all works to give depth to a very developed melodic sense. A great album that grows with each listen—listen to “Fuego” or “Identidad” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Dødsdømt 1989—2019 LP

I’m no expert on the Norwegian hardcore scene, but this band is absolutely fierce. They released a 7″ in 1994 and disintegrated almost immediately. But they had the very good idea to get back together in 2016 and since that time they have released two more 7″s, Deg Allein and Dine Siste Tanker, only available in small quantities in their home country. This is the first time these songs are available to the whole world in the form of a full LP. Excellent crust punk, dense and accurate, without solos and never veering into metal territories; it even reminds me of the ’90s Basque Country hardcore scene.

Hez Guerra Interior EP

This is a real blast of mutant matter. Noisy, with pissed-off vocals full of echo and delay, dirty guitar, the bass like a constant drone, and a drum kit that invites to a crazed slam—you can almost feel at certain times that the violent inertia of the music is about to derive in absolute chaos, specifically in the subsequent disintegration of the songs, which you could argue happens in a couple of occasions. These guys from Panama deliver a short and sweet EP with an absolutely beautiful cover. After listening to legions of limited imitators, I think we finally have a band that extends the legacy of classic Mexican bands like RATAS DEL VATICANO or INSERVIBLES.

 

Cállate Rest in Powerviolence cassette

This cassette compiles all the material recorded by CÁLLATE, a great powerviolence band from the city of Temuco in Chile. It consists of three EPs and a demo, along with some unreleased tracks. Everything is dedicated to their guitarist Javier who passed away, and in solidarity with Gouki Tereucan and Carla. This is a band that takes classic references like SIEGE or MAN IS THE BASTARD, mixes it up with a bit of thrashcore, and creates little gems of absolute noise that temporarily liberate areas of your brain that you didn’t know needed to be liberated. And what’s more, they do it with a great sense of humor. It’s really a pity that the band can no longer continue, but they leave us a beautiful testimony that will last forever.

Neon Lies Loveless Adventures LP

The energy of the minimal beat of a drum machine, the icy kiss of the keyboard, a simple and hermetic melody, the detached but at the same time romantic and confused vocal, the irrepressible desire to dance and forget for a while the misery of modern life, the infinite capacity to create personal hymns, the invitation to inhabit the night and lose yourself in it, with or without love and to join other lonely people in the repetitive movement of your feet, your body and your head. To be outside yourself for a while. That’s Loveless Adventures by NEON LIES, the minimal synth project of Goran Lautar from Zagreb, Croatia. The album is so good that it’s sold out, but I recommend buying it digitally so you can listen non-stop to the four songs that close the album, my favorites: “Loveless,” “Hands,” “Alone,” and “Light.” Brutal.

Socio La Defekta Kreski EP

This is really interesting. SOCIO LA DIFEKTA, from Tokyo, Japan, is a band formed by members of UNARM and MALIMPLIKI, among other bands of the big and effervescent scene of the region. This EP contains six songs of rabid and at times brutal hardcore, almost on the verge of falling apart.  The musicianship is top-notch, they have two vocalists, each with their own style, register, and tone, something that helps a lot to make the music grab you and never let go. The best thing is that they sing in Esperanto! The EP is so good that it’s sold out, but you can buy the digital version and enjoy this little work of art.

End Result Hellfire EP

Within a miasma of metaphysical chaos, you can hear screams, a grotesque guitar tone, a dirty bass, and brutalist drums. All these elements come together to create nine songs that represent the best soundtrack for moments of extreme personal nihilism. The people responsible are END RESULT, they are from Los Angeles and call themselves “Crasher Crusters.” Frantic raw punk, brutal D-beat, take-no-prisoners crust, call it what you want, I loved it. 

Visions Visions LP

VISIONS is a post-punk band from Portland, Oregon formed by various members of the anarcho/post-punk goth band DEAD CULT. Great debut. Nine perfectly constructed songs of dark post-punk, very much in tune with the CHAMELEONS or SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES. There are expressive guitar riffs, punchy melodies, and a strong rhythmic base that brings a lot of energy to each track. Despite appealing to the dark side of existence and with a clear mission to explore the nooks and crannies of universal weariness, this album feels vital, full of life and contagious.  “Hidden Lake” and “Christian Militia” are the standout tracks in my humble opinion.

Exilent Beyond Reality LP

A story about life under capital in the present told with a tour de force of violent and dark songs by this band from Hannover in Germany. EXILENT specializes in apocalyptic and heavy crust, and knows how to be metallic enough when needed, like on “System D,” or a brutal thrasher like on “Common Blindness,” or more ethereal and dense like on “Hammock.”  This band turned ten years old in 2020, so this album is a good gateway to their sound if you don’t know them yet.

Bosque Rojo Bosque Rojo cassette

BOSQUE ROJO is a band from Montreal that sings in Spanish. They released this cassette with the great label A World Divided, specialized in giving focus to bands from the Mediterranean (Southern Europe, North Africa, and Middle East). This is a band with a very classic Spanish sound: sharp political lyrics, a voice that spits fury and truths, a thunderous rhythm section, and guitar that creates quite addictive walls of noise, often with touches of dark post-punk. It’s forceful. It’s catchy. You can feel the knack for personal hits in all four songs, but I highlight “Solostalgia” and “Muertos en Vida,” sublime punches to the face of conformity. The truth is that I already want them to record a full album.

The Dissidents The Dissidents demo cassette

The context is the fertile Philadelphia scene, where members of bands like MISCHIEF BREW, WITCH HUNT, the PIST, and MANKIND?, among others, came together to create music in the midst of a rather bleak socio-political landscape. The band is the DISSIDENTS and the result is this demo that shows a fully cohesive band, generating a melodic sound, even sing-along-y, but powerful enough to create the much-needed liberating pogo. The lyrics are political, attacking issues such as police abuse, racism, the treatment of immigrants, and the history of the United States. A great demo that is just a little taste of what this band is capable of in the future.

Desorden Público Discografía LP

Fuego a las Fronteras, a Basque-Mexican label based in Barcelona, is undertaking a much-needed exercise of reissues, focused so far in making available to the world great pioneering bands of hardcore in Mexico as XENOFOBIA or, in this case, the great DESORDEN PÚBLICO. This band was formed in the hardcore epicenter of the country during the ’80s, the San Felipe neighborhood in the outskirts of Mexico City around 1984. After recording a couple of demos and playing around the Mexico City metropolitan zone, in 1989 they recorded their first album Fúnebre, which serves as the basis for this beautiful vinyl, which also includes their two contributions to the legendary first Mexican punk compilation Rock Nacional Volumen II: Sólo Para Punks from ’87. So, what does DESORDEN PÚBLICO sound like? From the first track, one would think that we are listening to a First Wave of Black Metal band. The track that gives name to the album, “Fúnebre,” is pure darkened thrash, very much in the line of pioneers like the Colombians PARABELLUM and BLASFEMIA and of course, HELLHAMMER. The rest of the album indulges in a frenzy of chaos and pummeling attack, reminiscent of WRETCHED’s most destructive moments and D.R.I.’s crossover thrash, with lyrics about war, genocide, and poverty. For this writer, this is one of the best Mexican punk albums ever and every dedicated fan of the genre should listen to it. A true classic.

Qlowski Quale Futuro? LP

First, the future was denied. Then a different one was fought for. Then realist capitalism settled among us and absorbed and neutralized any hint of rebellion until it flattened reality and returned us to a path that is, in fact, a dark tunnel to nothingness. Nihil. The London band QLOWSKI wonders what future or futures can be envisaged under the current circumstances. And they do it with an impeccably well-constructed work, full of urgent, edgy, tense songs that use the tools of post-punk and new wave to create little treatises on the things that matter: the everyday vignette that glimpses a potent poetic image, frustration and weariness transmuted into dreams that invade real life, noise as a knife to tear the veil of suffocating reality, creating cracks for desire, possibility and hope to seep through. It is truly beautiful. Referentially, you can detect the early OMD melodic spirit, the cubist punk edge of SWELL MAPS, the majestic simplicity of New Zealand punk, the dark romanticism of after punk. The references are just that, references that serve to orient you in the hanging garden of QLOWSKI, a garden full of pleasures oscillating between melancholy and the golden light of twee, whatever that may mean to you. Two good songs to enter this world are “Larry’s Hair Everywhere,” with that wonderful noise freakout in the middle, and the track that closes the album, a Lynch-esque tour de force, “In a Cab to Work ft Les Miserable.”

Ultrasónicas Yo Fui Una Adolescente Terrosatánica LP reissue

A much-needed and vital reissue of an absolute classic of the Mexican underground. Yo Fui Una Adolescente Terrosatánica was released as a 10″ in 1999 by the Spanish label Munster and released as a CD in México in 2004. It is a jewel of adolescent spontaneity, absolutely transgressive for the timorous and ultra-conservative Mexican society at the time of its release (here, I include the very macho Mexican rock and punk scene of the time). An all-female group that soon formed an outrageous and free gang that took garage (the SONICS, the PLEASURE FUCKERS, THEE HEADCOATEES), surf, and the most outlandish rock’n’roll as basic blueprints for a sound that not only refreshed the stagnant México City scene, but also opened the way for women in the rock scene. Side A has the more polished versions released by Munster, while on Side B we can listen to the versions of their mythical low-budget demo. There are also bonus tracks and inserts with photos and memorabilia for the fans. I feel I’m selling short the importance of this album for the music made by electric guitars in México. The most fun band this country has ever produced. Get it now.

Xenofobia Discografía LP

XENOFOBIA is a Mexican hardcore band, formed in 1983 in Mexico City. One of the original bands of the Mexican scene, crucial in developing a particular sound that—by taking the watershed sound of UK82, the unleashed fury of Brazilian punk, and the more chaotic path of American hardcore and mixing it with a native knack for atonality and ultra-politicized lyrical themes—managed to generate an authentic, vital, brutal and highly influential style for the Mexican bands that followed. This compilation includes the Muerte en América 7″ from 1987 and their LP Presionados from ’89. All the material was self-produced. DIY all the way. Great job of rescuing and recognizing a band that made noise with all the circumstances against them: police brutality, immoral poverty, rampant corruption, and an authoritarian regime that was beginning to lose control of its narrative. A must for all of those interested in this region of the world.

Oi Boys Oi Boys LP

OI BOYS are a French coldwave band from Metz. They specialize in creating desolate atmospheres, ideal to enhance the acid sadness of the de-industrialized panorama of a decaying West. And they do it being absolutely melodic, joining their ability to create small personal hymns with a tendency to nostalgia and drowned hatred. An album that grows with every listen.

Miami Death 2 Erfahrung Macht Krank EP

Six songs in eight minutes of pulverizing noise. We are looking at a relatively new project with people from bands from the Leipzig punk scene in Germany like CHEVIN, ROBERT PAULSON, CHOIR BOYS, and RANT. This is the band’s second EP, after a rather brutal debut in 2019.  A sound that oscillates between hardcore razor edge with powerviolence leanings and Europe’s most violent punishing grindcore. Kudos for “Döner mit nur Fleisch,” the track that closes the EP, a complete treatise of noise, aggression, and use of libidinal energy with the deliberate purpose of destroying eardrums. Excellent.

Colapso 2021 cassette

COLAPSO is a punk band from the city of Buenos Aires. They recorded these songs last year during the quarantine, now released as a cassette by Brazil’s Yeah You! Records. I really dig their sound, like early SWELL MAPS playing the repertoire of Dangerhouse Records. We are talking about five great songs with monumental riffs, like that wink to the Angelinos X in “La Estética del Berretismo.” In general there is a lot of rage and forceful reflection on what we have lived through since last year, which I think is what we most need at critical moments where many opportunists seek to profit from the desperation of the people. My favorite track is “Certeza Ajena,” with that poetic spoken intro. 

HHH Intelectual Punks EP reissue

Great gem rescued by the essential Discos Enfermos—a 1986 EP by HHH, a band from Girona, Spain. Their debut EP in fact, after having recorded a demo, Sin Identidad, in 1985.  Here we have nine vicious, ultra-fast songs, very much in the vein of early D.R.I., where they scream against nuclear energy, industry, war, the city of Barcelona and the then-upcoming ’92 Olympics, and the punk scene itself. Real sonic beatings. A classic of Spanish hardcore.

Koma Internment Failure LP

Take a breath before facing the brutal decadence of modern life. Prepare yourself to receive a blast of pestilence and moral rot. You still go forward and face it head on, because it’s the only thing you can do, right? You are alive. You resist. That’s how it feels to listen to these twelve tracks from the debut album of KOMA, a band from London/Leeds. This is noisy hardcore, the kind that can generate tinnitus, very much in the vein of Swedish hardcore and the more static-filled Japanese styles. The effect is brutal, claustrophobic, and frenetic, an assault on the senses without pause. Absolutely desperate, like these times.

Esses Bloodletting for the Lonely CD

I really enjoyed the sophomore album of this Bay Area band with members of ALTAR DE FEY, BLACK ICE, the PHANTOM LIMBS, RED VOICE CHOIR, and the HOLY KISS. Their sound is immersive, mysterious, and when it’s needed, pummeling and violent. These are dark and gloomy goth rock practitioners, ready to take you to the bottomless pit of your soul. It’s an intense listen, with the striking and grab-you-by-the-throat vocals of Miss Kel, who uses her voice to explore some deep metaphysical ruminations. The opening song “The Source” is my favorite, with a circular and beautiful guitar riff and really creative build-up of the song as bass, drums, and voice work together in gaining intensity through the track. Great album that grows with every listen. 

Hounds of War Rabid March EP

Three-song EP from this band composed by Claire Vastola on vocals and Max Parker on all other instruments, who you might recognize from their work in bands like PROCESS, SUBVERSIVE RITE, or VERMIN. This is hardcore in the vein of the great UK82 bands; fast, big riffs galore, metallic tone, and metal guitar solos. A great EP full of combative fury, vibrant and too short for my taste, but hey, that’s life.

Toxic Waste Belfast LP reissue

Sealed Records is responsible for this vital reissue of Belfast, the 1987 posthumous album of the Northern Irish anarcho-punk band TOXIC WASTE. Formed in 1982 after a CRASS gig (so it goes), they immediately made the DIY ethic their own and began playing in a scene that included bands like STALAG 17. You have to think about the harsh context in which they created their noise, the Troubles, and all the political violence that the area experienced. Generating spaces of creative freedom and denunciation was of utmost importance and TOXIC WASTE did it under terrible conditions. They recorded some demos and participated in some splits and compilations with bands like ASYLUM, the latter released by the Warzone Collective, which also included a screenprinting studio, a practice space for bands, and a vegetarian cafe. After touring their homeland and Europe a couple of times, the band split up in 1986. Let’s go to the music. Side A contains tracks from their early recordings produced between 1985 and 1986 while Side B contains tracks from a later session between the band’s Roy Wallace and members of DIRT. The sound is furious and urgent, with a vital energy that magnifies the power of the internal dynamics of the songs, where there is enough room to pay attention to the band’s politicized lyrics, to sing along with them (the male/female vocals are incredible), and to degenerate into a good mosh pit when needed. I recommend above all the pair of songs that close the album, “Belfast/Plastic Bullets” and “We Will Be Free,” brutal and beautiful.

Variolación Frenética cassette

I have reviewed several pandemic projects in the last few months, coming from different parts of the world, and they all share something: a feeling of brutal urgency to connect and shout out the current state of the world. And what’s more, they’re all great. VARIOLACIÓN does not escape this new paradigm. This is a four-piece hardcore band from Portland, Oregon, with components from other bands like PROHIBITED, TOTAL WAR, DEAD HUNT, and FALSE RITUAL. I love the nods to the past like that “Pretty Vacant” riff that opens the brutal “Sombra de Humo” or the repeated chorus of “Obsesión Mortal” reminiscent of OLHO SECO. Sonically, this is political hardcore that paints scenarios of everyday terror (misogyny, animal cruelty, war, etc.) through raw and primitive noise, very much in the vein of Mexican bands like M.E.L.I. and SS-20. “Massacre de Inocentes” has an ear-splitting guitar solo that is just fantastic. “Castillo Negro” has a pretty amazing First Wave of Black Metal riff vibe to it. To sum up, seven great songs from a band that hopefully won’t remain just a quarantine project.

V/A La Masacre Continua cassette

The great tradition of solidarity through punk compilations is one of the most profoundly beautiful, selfless, and powerful actions this type of music is capable of. Not only do they constitute forceful allegations in songs about, almost always, the repeated use of violence in social conflicts, they also map routes of musical scenes, establish lists of ethical companions in this twisted planet, and generate snapshots of crucial moments of youth culture. La Masacre Continua (“The Massacre Continues” in English) follows this line. It’s a fabulous compilation of 21 bands, mostly from the vital Colombian scene, but also from France, Spain, and the United States, united by language, all singing in Spanish, and by the urgent need to denounce the terrible state violence unleashed against social movements in Colombia this year, which has caused dozens of deaths. The selection of bands is impeccable, and just as a sample we’ll mention titans such as MURO, SYSTEMA, PRIMER RÉGIMEN, PORVENIR OSCURO, and LUMPEN. As for the sound palette, we have street punk, noisy hardcore, DIY lo-fi greatness, D-beat fury, Japanese-style madness, cavernous violent screams, powerviolence, and much, much more. Buying the cassette or downloading the album means supporting Colombia’s worthy fight against the state. You can also make a donation if you like. Either way, it is important that the message is heard. From Colombia to the world.

Das Das Leben in Bildschirmen cassette

Roughly translated as “Life in Screens,” this cassette is the Berlin’s synth duo’s second album, released earlier in the year. What a wonderful piece of plastic. DAS DAS creates a world where simple, screeching synth lines amalgamate to create little punk gems that you can sing along to (if you know German) and/or dance to, whether on a dark, cavernous club night or in your bedroom on a Saturday night. Their sound is clearly ’80s-oriented; we could mention bands like FUTURISK or KAS PRODUCT, although by the noisy use of the guitar and the playfulness of their melodies, they remind me more of the Spanish AVIADOR DRO. Great bands to be in the company of, in my opinion. Big mention to “Invisible Man,” a brutal and sexy song, like a kind of seductive psychobilly EBM. Eight excellent songs that exploit the libidinal energy of dance as a political tool of emancipation.

Disposición Negativa Disposición Negativa cassette

DISPOSICIÓN NEGATIVA is a grindcore band from Perú. This cassette is 21 short blasts of fury, including a cover of AGATHOCLES and another one of DISRUPT. Being grindcore, you know what to expect and the band delivers it: sick blastbeats, incessant and heavy riffing, and low-pitched growls. The sound is personal though, and you can tell the creative potential of the band in future releases. What I really enjoyed and want to emphasize is the haiku-like brevity, conciseness, and terrible beauty of the lyrics (all in Spanish), decrying the Western ideal of progress, neoliberalism, war, family, the church. Killer release.

The Passengers Under the Cruel Light LP

Debut album by the goth/post-punk band from San Diego, the PASSENGERS. It seems that every month I’m telling you the same thing, but there is something sinister in the water in Southern California, where bands just pop out incredibly formed, with fully crafted statements, personality traits, and a carefully developed sound—case in point, the PASSENGERS. The band has a sense of dynamics within their songs that plays to their advantage, each song has a narrative arc with peaks and valleys, the faster songs are full of vitality while the mid-tempos are oppressive and brutal. The keyboard work generates oppressive or romantic atmospheres depending on what the song requires, the drums are powerful, the bass hypnotic, the guitars melancholic, and the voice tremendous. I want to highlight “The Plague,” “Strange Patterns,” and “Burning Pride,” great anthems that any follower of darker sounds should listen to now.

Cemento Killing Life cassette

I guess it’s all that sunshine that makes people uneasy and avid seekers of darkness, and they use post-punk and deathrock to paint an opaque shadow over the eternally sunny Southern California. I say this because that state, and L.A. in particular, has shown in recent years that the land is fertile in bands that seek to create bleak sceneries to inhabit. CEMENTO is one of those bands. Formed by members of SMUT and SMIRK, the band bets on the immediate power of good melodies, the great force of its rhythmic base, some very intense bass lines, and an extremely expressive voice. The guitar creates simple but elegant riffs, able to hook and generate dense, hazy atmospheres, ideal to dance all night long. “Cash Grab” is already one of my favorite tracks of the year in any genre, followed by the great “No Ambition,” but still, the rest of the album is full of great moments. I particularly love the very fast and fierce “Coming Down.”

Desintegración Violenta Desintegración Violenta cassette

This is some nasty and dark hybrid punk/metal. Think of the weird hardcore but quite metal Japanese ’80s punk bands, HELLHAMMER, and obviously, DISCHARGE. The band is a collaboration from Bogotá and Berlin, the lyrics are sung in Spanish, the riffs are heavy as a brick, vocals are demonic, the D-beat is omnipresent, the bass tone hits you directly in the face, and guitar solos are demented. All of that in only sixteen minutes. I think they are truly following the path of Colombian underground extreme metal legends like PARABELLUM or BLASFEMIA and I celebrate that. Get it as a cassette, all the proceeds (also the digital ones, btw) go directly to the band to be distributed to local collectives in support of the national strike in Colombia.

Inyeccion Marginada cassette

Maybe you know them from their rather excellent demo released by the vital Discos Enfermos from Barcelona earlier this year. Maybe you don’t. If that is the case, I can tell you this: INYECCION is a band with members from Chile and Argentina, with a sound that merges perfectly noisy and raw Latin American punk with a little of the classic UK82 style. Maybe it’s because I’m Mexican, but I feel a lot of the bubbly energy and celebratory discomfort of the early ’90s Mexican scene in these two songs. “Inyeccion” is an awesome street punk anthem about the despair generated by the lack of opportunities our countries offer to the youth. It has bile, it has vigor, it has hatred. It’s beautiful. “Peleas Callejeras” starts with a clean riff and devolves into a pure mayhem-inducing ritual. Love the way the male and female vocals interact in both tracks, so vicious.

Adrenochrome The Knife 7″ flexi

ADRENOCHROME is a dark punk supergroup of sorts straight out of Oakland, with members of bands like CRUZ DE NAVAJAS, ZOTZ, KURRAKÄ, ÖTZI, and FALSE FIGURE. The Knife is released as a 7″, a story of reflection on the trauma and abuse experienced by women in the world, through fantasies of revenge and violence and self-empowerment. Musically, it is thrilling and addictive, the bass and drums building a solid and muscular base where the riffs work in a really expressive way, and the vocals, full of tribulation and agitation, deliver the message in a direct and brutal way. They also have a great EP, The Buzz or Howl Sessions from 2018, highly recommended.

Canal Irreal Canal Irreal LP

By now, Martin Sorrondeguy should require no introduction. His work with the transcendental LOS CRUDOS speaks for itself in the minds of thousands of young people across the American continent. The queer emancipatory effort from LIMP WIRST is a visceral work of self-acceptance which you can mosh to. Martin got together with members of SIN ORDEN and DROIDS BLOOD to form CANAL IRREAL, and now they present their debut, a 12″ with nine absolutely addictive tracks; one of those materials that the more you listen to it, the more details you discover and the more you enjoy it. Sonically, this is hardcore punk, but the band happily travels a twisted path of their own—it’s trashy but incredibly dark, like Greg Sage taking leads in the ADOLESCENTS. But it’s all that and more. The muscularity provided by the throbbing bass, the often dissonant guitar work with that chorus pedal, and above all Martin’s voice, intense and hostile as always, give the band a truly unique sound. The whole thing is fantastic, sung half in Spanish, half in English. That guitar riff on “Glaze” is incredibly nasty, amazing how it builds and builds and never releases the tension it creates. Get it now!

Sial Zaman Edan 7″

SIAL is a great band from Singapore. Like, really, really, great. I don’t know what’s going on in the city-state, but Singaporean punks tend to be quite intense in their approach to music, something that my own intense self appreciates. The single is titled Zaman Edan, which means “mad times” in the language of Shakespeare. Both songs are cathartic in ways I couldn’t fathom if catharsis was possible before. Side A means “You Were Born To Fight” and it displays a really interesting sound, anarcho-punk with space rock elements: a really sick guitar riff, a dirty bass tone, and a synth bringing out of space and drone-y effects into the mix. Side B means “You Were Born To Die.” The song starts with a beat reminiscent of that part of the thumping bassline of “Land” where PATTI SMITH starts singing “Horses, horses, horses,” which leads to getting suckerpunched by a huge power chord ringing with a tinnitus-inducing guitar tone. There is some cowbell thrown in there just for fun and then you get this death disco beat with an ominous synth that maps a deathrock-y territory. Awesome. And then the song gets all this anarcho-punk in-your-face brashness that gets you exhilarated until it finishes with noise-induced psychedelia snippets Á  la HAWKWIND. Brilliant. Get it on vinyl.

Campaña Del Terror Atropello cassette

This is the debut EP from a one-man Chilean project started by Luis from MISA HISTÉRICA and INCENDIO, edited as cassette by To Live a Lie Records. Imbued by the violence and strife of Chile’s recent socio-political climate, this pandemic bedroom-core document of fast-as-fuck D-beat and powerviolence with furious high-pitched vocals is a visceral chronicle of the South American country’s last two years of popular rebellion. The super-short EP reflects the frustration and impetuosity of the rioters with ten songs that cover the full spectrum of the experience: media manipulation, police violence, corporate greed, the terrorist violence of the state forces, and the burning desire of change. The sound is brutal and will leave your ears ringing, there’s this feral intensity akin to MOB 47 and that whole scene that I particularly find addictive.

Systema Sobrevivir demo cassette

This is the demo debut for Bogotá’s SYSTEMA. You can get it on cassette with some really cool artwork. These guys talk business and get to the point. They get mean, brutal, and raw while perfectly creating dynamics inside each song in order to release the right amount of aggression for those moshpit-inducing violent attacks we love. They remind me of the rough sound of ’80s Italian hardcore and the primitive scorched earth approach of ’90s Mexican and South American punk. This is a beautiful and fulfilling aesthetic experience. We need a full-length now.

Erik Nervous Bugs!! LP

ERIK dropped the BETA BLOCKERS for this LP; he’s going solo and the results are marvelous.  Eleven tracks of DEVO-worshipping, synth-laden Midwest garage rock which sometimes veers into absolute hardcore mayhem. Songs are fast, hooks are catchy, riffs are sick, guitar solos are quick and frantic, with a vital impulse to push things to the extreme which is very alluring and fun. This kind of sound’s been on a revival kick of sorts lately, I haven’t been that interested in it to be honest, but ERIK NERVOUS delivers. Just listen to the chaotic opener “Our Hungry Fruit,” ERIK never lets up the intensity throughout the record. This was released on cassette last year but now you can get it on red, white, or black vinyl. Be stiff!

The Mind Open Up the Window and Leave Your Body LP

This is the second album by Cleveland’s the MIND, a band capable of crafting beautifully gloomy gems of songs: vaporous, uncanny, and with all the hidden qualities of a Man Ray photograph. Their sound is really peculiar, it lives in the exact confluence of ’80s post-punk and early dream pop. The music feels like a monolith casting a shadow over a poppy field.  There is a dark psychedelic edge to the songs, reminding me of Chicagoans DA! or really early SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES. The band seems to really be hitting you straight from the unconscious with each song, and this is an LP that deserves to be played really loud late at night. A pleasant surprise.

Ataac Peligro de Muerte cassette

D-beat attack (pun intended) from Benidorm and Alicante, Spain. This was originally released in 2016, and this reissue on cassette is from September of last year. People from bands like PUNKO UK, TOKKŌTAI, and PEQUEÑA ORUGA MECÁNICA take part in this album, with eleven songs worth of visceral ruminations of the 21st century global violent psyche. The prison system, the absurdity of life, and the murderous desire of the capitalist system get all their due with the proper street punk rawness and D-beatness it deserves. Crispy guitars, shouty vocals, throbbing bass, pummeling drums, the works. Highly recommended.

V/A Seaside Sickness EP

This is an excellent regional punk compilation that documents an under-reported scene, the East Coast of Canada. We can tell it is a small but highly active and creative scene. The 7″ includes exclusive tracks from the ferocious MISANTHROPIC MINDS, the KBD style of ANTIBODIES, the brutal chaos of FRAGMENT, the primitive fun of DARK DIAL, WARSH’s sharp blast of rage, BRAIN POLLUTION SYNDROME’s gutter noise abuse, and the unique genius of the BOOJI BOYS. Absolutely no filler. 

Balacera Gafas demo cassette

“I already saw how I’m gonna end, dead in a shootout against officers of the law and assault weapons, and if this is my time…well, fuck it!”  This is a rough translation of the movie sample (I guess) that Argentina’s BALACERA uses at the beginning of their demo, an ultra-fun lo-fi affair that mixes a TALES OF TERROR approach to punk, as in the opener “Gafas” and “Confundido,” and straight doom metal, as in the bass riff that slowly builds itself into a full on thrasher in “Busted” that, by the way, sounds like Argentina’s own minimalist art-punkers DIOS being more into VENOM than British post-punk. The tape manipulation of the voice and their eerie use of keyboards all adds up to an extremely original sound with the low production values of the demo. Awesome, get it on cassette.

Detoxi First Flesh LP

DETOXI is a band from Ventura, California, formed by members of MAASK and CATHOLIC SPIT, with roots in the Nardcore scene. On this, their first LP, they present us with ten dark rock songs that grow with each listen. DETOXI wears their influences on their sleeve, a mix of English post-punk like the CHAMELEONS with the impetus and tonality of Southern California deathrock—I’m thinking in particular of Rikk Agnew’s color palette. The keyboard sound is awesome and gives a particularly sinister touch to the songs, along with Derek’s deeply distinctive vocals. We are talking about perfectly crafted songs, with inventive and catchy riffs, outstanding basslines, exciting arrangements, and intelligent lyrics that dissect current popular culture issues with a precise scalpel. The opener “Grey Lines” and “Death of a Nation” are impressive. Such a thrill. You can get it on a beautifully designed cassette, CD, or vinyl.

Alambrada Muerte Preventiva EP

I love debut 7″s. Bands tend to showcase their virtues in a raw and colorful way, like they have so much to prove in just a few minutes. ALAMBRADA is a new Colombian band, straight from Bogotá with members of beloved MURO in their ranks, and this is their first EP, one of the best of the year so far. Eight songs of noisy-as-fuck yet incredibly hooky guitar riffs, a rhythm section that splits your head open with uncompromising determination, and a voice so thick in poisonous spit, it can melt metal. Their sound is so vicious and raw that it can sometimes veer into total chaos, but just this close enough of atonal oblivion. It is actually hard to have a favorite track, but I can tell you to go straight to the double-decker of “Control Total/Un Acto de Lealtad” and you can thank me later. So it goes.

Hatã Demo 2021 cassette

HATÃ, “hard” in the Guarani language, is the name of this band formed in Barcelona in the middle of the pandemic by people from Paraguay, London, and Colombia. International solidarity manifests itself in beautiful ways when we see migrants from different countries come together to create noise that denounces global injustices and share the experiences of those who seek to destroy the borders that divide us so artificially. It reminds me of the sound of ’90s South American and Mexican hardcore: raw, brutal, with enough room to breathe and wait for the stampede of the next riff. Beautiful and intense. This is their first demo of four songs, and it comes with a fanzine if you want to get it on cassette.

Bibione Tell Me What I Think EP

If you sometimes feel that the post-punk realm is overcrowded with bands that leave you totally indifferent, don’t miss this amazing 7″ inch from this female Czech trio from Prague. Five songs of playful, intimate and furious post-punk, seven if you get the download. The band can make poppy and dynamic short blasts of surfy fun, like “Tell Me What I Think,” that make you think of BRATMOBILE, and they can get harsh and noisy like in “Gloves” and “Call Me.” “Summer Hit” may be the, erm, hit of the record, with some beautiful guitar riffs, like a riot grrrl ELECTRELANE. “Pleasures” sounds like PYLON fighting KLEENEX/LILIPUT.  Sorry if I’ve been name dropping too many bands, BIBIONE has a sound of their own, I just don’t wanna sell them short. This is a record that deserves to be played repeatedly. The two bonus tracks are damn good: “Colours” just kicks you in the face.

Mundo Primitivo Paisaje Interior cassette

Sydney’s MUNDO PRIMITIVO is a band formed just last year with Melissa from Colombia’s ABUSO and members of MORTE LENTA, ILL BRIGADE, PHOTOGENIC, and MUM. This six-song tape is sung in Spanish, but you can get the lyrics in English on their Bandcamp. I urge you to do that, just to get the full message of the band: the personal is political, but if the personal is imploding while the world burns, what are we supposed to do? To resist is the answer. There is a hallucinatory edge to the images painted by the lyrics, the urgency of action is so strong it takes the form of expressionist and vitalist imagery. Sonically, we’re talking about some intense and gripping hardcore with catchy riffs and energetic performances; it reminded me of early ’80s Southern Californian bands like the GERMS or T.S.O.L. Anyway, this is one of the best punk releases of the year. You can feel and smell the sweat dripping from each song.  I particularly loved “Medium” with its very deathrock-y slow intro, noisy guitar feedback, and slightly pysch hardcore finale. You can get the single-sided tape, with beautiful original artwork printed by Melissa, on Static Shock Records. Also important, all proceeds from this release are donated directly to all the people resisting fascist state violence in Colombia.

Hallucination Hallucination cassette

I’ve been loving all the stuff that’s been falling on my ears from Philadelphia. What a great scene you have there! HALLUCINATION presents their self-titled first cassette, five tracks of obsessive guitar noise that meshes D-beat, rough punk, and crazed crust. Get the cassette tape for the exclusive POISON IDEA cover.  Songs are short and violent with riffs that replicate themselves as they morph into a destructive nuclear squall, scorching a city in just a few minutes. This EP is a place to inhabit, so take your time to listen to it repeatedly and grasp the slowly revealing melodies and hooks, catchy guitar riffs, and pounding drums between the manic thickness of the guitar tone.  Just play this loud and demolish your last vestiges of hope.

Rata Negra Una Vida Vulgar LP

Finally, the highly anticipated new album of Madrid’s RATA NEGRA is here, and it’s a treat. It is a pleasure to realize that this ability for melody has become their main weapon. Each of the songs on Una Vida Vulgar (“A Vulgar Life”) have memorable choruses; you can imagine yourself singing them at the top of your lungs as soon as you hear them for the first time. We are facing direct and fresh songs, perfectly structured to generate the greatest emotional impact on the listener, the desperation and boredom of life in 2021 are reflected in the lyrics and in a hint of generational sadness that contrasts and makes more powerful the vital energy of the music: amphetamine pills for people who no longer have anything to lose, all with a sound that is already absolutely personal; dark melodic punk, desolate power pop. A new classic.

Plague Thirteen Plague Thirteen LP

It’s dark. It’s heavy. It’s oppressive. It induces moshing. It’s the debut album from PLAGUE THIRTEEN, a crust punk band from Czech Republic formed by ex-members of LINK and SORE in 2019. Inspired by last year’s COVID lockdown, the band presents six songs that achieve a really satisfying balance between expansive arrangements (like the brutal breakdowns of “Eyes Wide Open”), guitar epicness, D-beat fury, and full-on assaults and melodic richness.  If you wanna sample the intense power they can produce, I command you to listen to “Saturated Black,” which veers into extreme metal territory with some vicious riffing and death metal growls.

Drill Sergeant Vile Ebb LP

Echoey and cavernous hardcore from this Philly-based band. Vile Ebb is their debut LP for Denver’s Convulse Records, after 2020’s The Cosmic Leash demo. DRILL SERGEANT walks a line between vicious ’80s hardcore and just full powerviolence assault. The songs are short, dynamic, and almost dramatic in their take-no-prisoners approach. Hard to have a favorite song; all the songs come in a line of successive brutal blows to the head, giving you a really satisfying punchdrunk feeling. But I’ll give it a try. I really like “Real Evil,” which is part INFEST, part NEGATIVE APPROACH, and the closer song “Sense of Community,” with its sonic barbaric battle against your senses.

Nunca Nada Discordia LP

This was a total surprise. Composed of two ex-members of Spain’s darkwavers ANTIGUO RÉGIMEN and another one from TERCER SOL, Discordia is NUNCA NADA’s first album. It has a really stern sound: lyrics are direct, pointing out the futility of life, while guitar, bass, and drums sketch impressionistic sketches of gloom. Love the way the band allows each instrument space to breathe. It makes the sound truly expansive, like the songs could last forever and nobody would mind. The band takes its cues from WIRE’s precision and their less-is-more approach, the more melodically rich end of British post-punk guitar, and the doomy tones of the always magnificent WIPERS. They manage to make a personal and distinctive sound out of these key influences. Discordia is a pessimistic record you can dance to. A really good companion to the long night of capitalist decay.

Academy Order To Wilt Without Shame cassette

ACADEMY ORDER is a band from the Philadelphia area, formed in 2021. It features current and former members of DRILL SERGEANT, FIXATION, STUD COUNT, and FLUORIDE. This is their debut, six songs of deathrock with some prominent synth work. Think Southern California staples like 45 GRAVE or the mighty TSOL with a great dose of SKINNY PUPPY-esque synths. My fave track is “Slice of Life,” a song with just the right amount of darkness and abandonment to dance the night away. I think the tape is sold out, but you can buy the digital version or ask for another run of tapes directly to the band. It’s worth it.

Cyanide Cyanide cassette

This short EP comes directly from Tel Aviv. I have no clue about the Israeli punk scene, so it was really fun to listen to CYANIDE and their take on street punk. This is teenage angst in its purest form, nine songs played with earnest intensity by a bunch of teens with some kinship for BLITZ or the Killed By Death bands. It’s a blast. There is a short doc about the band, their life, and surroundings while they get ready for the release of this EP. You can easily watch online, it’s called “Dreaming Tel Aviv.” You can get the EP as a beautifully designed tape released by A World Divided, a collaborative non-profit label that promotes Mediterranean punk from places like Tunisia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, and more. You should check out their entire catalog.

Mundo Infernal Nunca Más cassette

Just listen to that trashy guitar riff intro and how the whole band comes pummeling through. “Aniquilacíon De Este Mundo Cruel” is just eight seconds in and it’s already one of the most powerful moments I’ve heard this year in heavy music. Just wait a little more and enjoy those epic guitar leads. “Sin Control” follows on Los Angeles band MUNDO INFERNAL’S Nunca Más cassette. A show of brute force and savagery en español. We’re talking about beautifully crafted hardcore: lyrics lamenting the current state of the world, heavy tone guitars, chokingly disgruntled screaming vocals, and a ceaseless rhythmic attack. The record it’s too damn short, just four songs, and it leaves the listener wanting more. Awesome feeling, by the way. Nunca Más was released as a cassette with a limited run, but I urge you to get it as a digital album and play it as loud as you can.

Alement Onward EP

ALEMENT is a crust band from Philly with a hideously dark guitar tone, trashy riffs, raspy vocals, fun solos, and furious tempos. Think AXEGRINDER, AMEBIX, and the like. Just three songs on this EP from last year, but you can expect a hell of a ride. “Sea of Consequence” starts with a full trash assault, reminiscent of ENGLISH DOGS in its most violently-induced slam riffery. “Dwell” develops with even more metal-sounding riffs, with some cool mid-tempo choruses and gigantic breakdown worthy of a wall of death. “Onward” ends the EP in a darker tone. It begins with a drone-y and doomy intro, followed by an amazing demonstration of killer after killer riff and epic solos, a real tour de force.

Declaration What is the Reason for Tomorrow? cassette

This is the sold-out cassette from Singapore’s DECLARATION. The city-state’s punk scene is rife with incredible bands, including this one, formed by members of SIAL, DAILY RITUAL, LUBRICANT, PAZAHORA, C.L.A.W., the SCUDS, FALLEN WORLD, and VAARALLINEN. The album was recorded during lockdown and it sure shows. The paranoia and profound disbelief of watching the whole world paralized delivered in eleven songs of pure and raw D-beat, executed with vigor and respect for the DISCHARGE legacy. The guitar tone reminds me of Swedish D-beat, plus there’s some really cool riffs in songs like “What Is The Reason for Tomorrow?,” “Always Restricted,” and “Lifelong Subscription.” I urge you to keep checking out the Singaporean/Malaysian punk scene, it is full of delight.

Pöls Agrieta el Asfalto LP

Love it when bands like Madrid’s PÖLS get me to listen to styles I haven’t been exposed to or cared about in decades, such as melodic hardcore. Along with Barcelona’s ACCIDENTE, this band has taken that suburban sound and infused it with themes of anarchism, animal rights, ecology, and self-empowerment. And they do it by mixing up youth crew energy, heavy breakdowns, lots of “wooaahs,” and even rap. The contrasting relationship between the girl and boy voices keeps you interested for the whole record. They also feel free to experiment with flamenco-ish ending in “Barcelona” and rap with the last song “Pöls.” Intense energy and creative songwriting. Get it on vinyl.

Asocial Aldrig Som Er 12″

ASOCIAL’s history begins in the early ’80s in the Swedish hardcore scene. They pushed the envelope with great EPs of crust and D-beat, and an album, How Could Hardcore Be Any Worse, an absolute beast of noise that had a great and lasting influence on extreme music worldwide. The band has been writing new music since 2017, and this EP finds the band revisiting four of its classics and presenting four new songs. I have to admit I’m not really into bands re-recording their old songs, but in this context, they sound as raw and chaotic as the originals, and the new songs are pure mayhem. The EP starts with “Religion Still Sucks,” one of the best openers I’ve heard so far this year. “Krossa Nazismen,” “Mïlitardiktatur,” and “Samhällets Offer” are all incredibly intense. A must-have.

Mausoleo Absolución LP

MAUSOLEO it’s a post-punk band from Valencia. They call their sound “devotional punk” and certainly there’s a spiritual quest quality to their music: super melodic and dark arpeggiated riffs, deep and throbbing bass lines, and pounding drums. It’s Andrés Sanabria’s voice that gives the band an almost ethereal idiosyncrasy. Sonically, they thrive in the space created by their hometown’s ANTIGUO RÉGIMEN and the legacy of Spanish bands like DÉCIMA VÍCTIMA, or, at least in vocals and lyrics, GOLPES BAJOS. The record is great. “Mausoleo” is a hell of an album opener, somber and beautiful, “Paredón” quickly takes us to a sort of celebration of personal dismay. My favorites: “Sodomizado” with that irresistible SISTERS OF MERCY type of guitar riff and “Dogma,” with a crystalline guitar tone and a fast and interesting riff, like KILLING JOKE without the metal leanings. They also have a pretty cool cover of Valladolid’s punk band QLOACA LETAL. Get the vinyl, the artwork is awesome. You won’t regret it.

SS/BLOCK Mob Violence EP

Amazing D-beat straight from Malaysia. This EP is the debut release of this band from Mentakab Pahang, and they’ve got a pretty cool demo that you should check out, too. Oh man, the sound. So raw, so furious, it makes my brain pogo against my skull. This EP is full of energy blasts, and with production values that accentuate their sonic attack, it feels like you’re listening to the constant and overwhelming noise made by some river rapids. The lyrics are highly political, as you might expect, being a punk in Malaysia ain’t easy at all. This band clearly likes DISCHARGE and delivers six songs within that frame, but their primal rage provides a distinctive sound. I really like the sing-along and shouty chorus of the track “Anti77-Fascist Society.” You should have this band on your radar, I hope they make an LP soon.

Ansiedad Cerebral Terapia Cognitivo-Conductual cassette

When it comes to no-frills punk, it’s always best to go the lo-fi way, allowing your chops (or lack thereof) to become an integral part of the message you’re delivering. Malaga’s ANSIEDAD CEREBRAL shares this piece of wisdom and offers nine songs full of sloppy and splendorous p-u-n-k. These guys have already made some racket with other bands (RATAS DE SUMATRA, LIMASSA, and MASS VOLUMEN), so they know how to write a hook or two. They’re actually so good at it, “Punkis de Gimnasio” or “Vive Rápido y Aterriza en el Geriátrico” could be hits in the next Matado Por La Muerte comp of Spanish-speaking punk. Their lyrics are usually extremely ironic, as they say, “designed to offend and undermine morale.” Quite a commendable enterprise in my book. The one that I replay all the time is “Rosalía,” with that raw and almost atonal guitar riff, a sardonic little hymn in honor of the Spanish pop singer. Short, sweet, sweaty, and to the point, get it on cassette for more lo-fi pleasure.

Codigo Neurotico Totus Tous EP reissue

When a record starts with some Gregorian chants, you know it’s gonna turn out to be something else. Barcelona’s CÁ”DIGO NEURÁ”TICO makes exemplary first-wave punk rock: snotty, fun, with buzzsaw guitars, great basslines, and conceited vocals. The overall sound reminds me of Killed by Death bands in style and content, with very tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a healthy dose of adolescent humor, reminiscent of Spanish bands like SINIESTRO TOTAL or M.C.D. “Totus Totus” sounds like a WEIRDOS song played by KAKA DE LUXE, with a chorus that’s a real earworm. “Pega a tu Mama” has the ANGRY SAMOANS’ shock value energy. It’s dumb and it’s fun. “Quema Tanques” is a pure adrenaline rush with lyrics concerning WWII while “Las Malvinas” continues with the rush and war themes with an irresistible sing-along that you will have stuck in your head for weeks. “Cotolengo” is yet another manifestation of their incredible ability to create a gem of beautiful trash. You can get the 7″ on red vinyl. Les sugiero que lo hagan.

Stagger Abuse of Power cassette

The Philadelphia scene is full of talent and STAGGER is just one example of it. This is their first LP, and their first proper release since Thermobaeric Blues EP from 2018 (you should check that one too, it’s got a SUN RA cover!). What do we get here? A very cool cassette with nine songs, volume, distortion, and feedback all the way up to red; it reminds me of the raw energy of Mexican or Colombian hardcore from the ’90s. This is just eighteen or so minutes of pure D-beat mayhem sometimes verging on noise punk. That guitar tone is pure filth. I can’t really understand the lyrics but vocalist Mike’s tone is all you need to really get it. We’re talking about pissed-off commentary on the current state of the American empire. You can also tell Mike has an incredible ability to generate a pit in a split second just with an “uggg!” Their violent cover of “You Tear Me Up” by the BUZZCOCKS is just awesome.

Auxiliö Mi Piel cassette

The moment the riff in “Mi Piel” starts playing, you know you’re gonna be bulldozed by the raw power of it. This is an extremely pissed-at-the-world work of art. Four songs, four punches straight to your face. AUXILIÖ works the line between D-beat, thrash, and pure hardcore mayhem, and they do so by way of some great songwriting: violent riffs, driving bass lines, pummeling drums, and some truly great guttural vocals. Thematically, the band lashes out against the usual sources of oppression: religion, misogyny, the trappings of a decaying capitalist world, only with a unique point of view, switching between Spanish and English. “Religión Hipócrita” is great trash with some vicious riffing,  “Ciclo Vicioso” has some cool ’90s Mexican hardcore vibes, and “Death Trophy” is an instant moshpit-inducer classic. AUXILIÖ is a hardcore band from L.A. They’ve been doing their noisy thing since 2016 and have played in Perú (they’ve got a split with PODRIDO on Unsainted Records, if you want to check it out). You can get this furious EP as a CD or cassette. Do hurry cause they’re running out.

Los Saicos El Mercenario / Un Poquito de Pena 7″

Oh, LOS SAICOS, great representatives of Peruvian sonic teenage terrorism. This pair of songs came after “DemoliciÁ³n” and “Entierro de los Gatos” and all those great classics that led them to be retroactively read as the originators of punk rock. We’ve almost got a new band here, as there’s only two original members left, Erwin Flores and César “Papi” CastrillÁ³n, who recorded these songs together with other musicians for a local Peruvian label in the distant year of 1969. The Spanish label Munster Records is in charge of the reissue and it has everything we came to love about the Los Saicos sound. “El Mercenario” is a mind-blowing tale of a mercenary, who embarks to Africa in order to commit atrocities as a soldier for hire only to realize the futility and damage he caused, leading him to commit suicide; the story is narrated by a voice somewhere between a ballad singer and a young amphetamine user with euphoric screams marking “1, 2, 3, 4″ as a kind of cool vocal hook, plus guitars with dark surfer vibes. On the other side, “Un Poquito de Pena” is a love ballad with intense singing, arpeggiated and extremely melodic guitar riffs, a true gem that could’ve been included in one of those Back From The Grave comps. Great single that deserves to be on par with the rest of LOS SAICOS’ work.

V/A Matado Por La Muerte Vol. 3 LP

I remember quite well the first time I listened to Matado Por La Muerte Vol. 1. I think it was 2008. It just felt like being hit in the face by a brick and just laughing about it while you bleed. It became an instant classic. This is the third volume (the second was released in 2015), with 21 exclusive tracks from eighteen Spanish-speaking bands. As always, the comp is full of gems and styles, all sharing the same iconoclast spirit. Here are some of the songs I enjoyed the best: CAMPAMENTO RUMANO’s PEGAMOIDES-meets-REZILLOS sound, the lo-fi fun of FINALE, the fury of Mexico’s CREMALLERAS, Peru’s MORBO’s street knowledge, Spanish SATÉLITE’s gothic notes on modern life, and the anthemic “EspaÁ±a Me Pertenece” from TENDIDO CERO. This a really good introduction to current Spanish-speaking punk, hardcore, and post-punk if you’re interested in getting into it.

Burning Image The Final Conflict / Burning Image, Burning 7″ reissue

Bakersfield’s BURNING IMAGE was one of the original bands from the California deathrock scene and this is the official reissue of their classic single from 1984. The 7″ has “The Final Conflict” and “Burning Image, Burning,” two songs produced by Chaz Ramirez, producer of SOCIAL DISTORTION’s Mommy’s Little Monster. Enough context. Side A starts all sinister and dark. “The Final Conflict” has an awesome guitar tone. I really enjoy the way the almost angular riff sets the unsettling space for the chorus, then those Spaghetti Western-style solos, and how it ends in almost full chaos. Amazing. Side B’s “Burning Image, Burning” riffing is pure Rikk Agnew beauty, both melodic and dissonant, always interesting and full of harmonics. The band really knows how to build tension and release within the song while making it catchy as hell.

Disappearances III cassette

This cassette got me immediately into a frenzy. Just the kind of harsh and vicious noise that’s so needed in times like these. This is the third release by Philadelphia’s DISAPPEARANCES, ten songs full of short, intense, and brutal spurts of vile. The powerviolence influence is there, but I would say that it’s just the template for more angular and dissonant leanings (think of ’90s bands like BORN AGAINST and RORSCHACH), with just the right amount of breakdowns to keep things dynamic and interesting. Lyrics can certainly be bleak, but that’s just how the world really is. They really know how to weave the personal and the private within the structural and systemic. There’s humor in there too, a self-deprecating and black one. “Blue” is my favorite of the bunch, it has a really cathartic feel to it. Would love to hear this in a live setting.

Satélite Otra Era LP

SATÉLITE is a Spanish band with a dark, melodic, and beautiful post-punk sound. Otra Era was released in February but it missed my radar. The album’s second song “Estado Hipnótico” condenses the themes and sounds of the whole LP: prominent bass lines, chorus pedal guitar, gorgeous melodies, and vigorous drumming with lyrics that paint paranoiac landscapes of capitalist desperation and the urge of getting the hell out it, into a new era, with new ways of living. There’s a sense in all of these songs of trying to escape the new systems of control. Some of my favorites are the pretty “Otra Era” and the disquieting “Nuevas Maneras.” If you’re into Spanish post-punk bands like DÉCIMA VÍCTIMA, or early CURE, this is for you. You can get it both digitally or on vinyl. Really cool cover design, too.

Antifaces Como Moscas LP

ANTIFACES is a three-piece band from Miami. Their language is Spanish and their weapon of choice is direct and sincere melodic hardcore punk. Six years of career, and several demos and LPs later, they have come up with a forceful sound: the angriest and sweatiest of melodic punk from Argentina and Spain with some sinister touches here and there. This is ANTIFACES’ bet: to unleash a storm of noise and create urgent songs dedicated to survivors of the system; men and women who live on the edge, who fight and resist the terror of modern life, violence, and corruption of the soul. Rather than wait to be devoured by the nothingness of it all, these songs demand us to spit, kick back, and dance in a mental pogo of catharsis. As they say, “I don’t want to die in the arms of a policeman.”  It doesn’t matter if it’s Latin America or the First World, there is a system in place that seeks our death, ANTIFACES sings to life. Choose life.

La Rabbia In the Face of Atrocities LP

This is a good one. Get ready for 24 tracks of raw and in-your-face noise blasts from these London-based anarcho-punks. Formed by members of the GAGGERS, MISCALCULATIONS, and WARREN SCHOENBRIGHT, LA RABBIA (“The Rage”) contains the best bits of England’s punk; as they say in their Bandcamp bio, the classic ’77/’82 sounds. You have it all: hooligan sing-alongs, street punk defiance, classic razor-wired riffs, cool melodic sensibilities, and lyrics decrying the terrible state of the world in both English and Italian. “The Ends Don’t Justify the Means” has some really sick riffs, so vicious, almost atonal. The violent intro of “Professional Arrogance,” well, the whole damn song, gets me immediately into a frenzy. I also really like how they mix Italian and English in the song “In The Face of Atrocities,” they should do that more.  Keep an eye on LA RABBIA, they’re delivering the goods.

A Culture of Killing A Culture of Killing LP

This ain’t how you usually expect anarcho-punk to sound. This band from Italy goes epic: they take the icy guitars, melodic basslines, and baritone from early ’80s post-punk and mix it with anarcho themes and sensibilities. Think of short-haired the CURE, SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, the CHURCH, and the MOB, the latter whom they cover (go straight to “Mirror Breaks”) on this LP. I couldn’t find that much information about these guys but it doesn’t matter, this record is full of hits. A CULTURE OF KILLING’s songwriting takes you places. Overall they sound dark but not bleak, dynamic yet really melodic, almost thrilling. “War” and “We Can Never Go Back” are two beautiful gems, a pair of chart hits from an alternative timeline in the ’80s. Perhaps what I’ve said so far might make you think these guys are fixated on the past, but they do have their own style and their lyrics are completely focused on the tribulations of these times. These eight songs were originally released on tape and now as vinyl. I hate to tell ya, though, the record is so good it actually sold out. Hope there’s a new edition we can get our hands on very soon.

Tentáculo Cansados de Esperar LP

Straight from Triana and Nice (Spain/France), TENTÁCULO is a punk band that treads a fine line between mid-tempo melodic punk and hard rock, or NWOBHM and post-punk, with the chops and attitude of those great working class heavy metal Spanish bands from the ’80s. Whatever, we don’t need to pinpoint TENTÁCULO down anywhere: these eight songs give no-frills rock’n’roll with existential dread-themed lyrics and hook after hook after hook. “Extrañas Luces” shines with an old-school hard rock riff in contrast with the bleak pessimism in the lyrics and the energetic singalong of the chorus. Have to highlight the guitar work on this record: simple at times, but extremely melodic in a HÜSKER DÜ kind of way. The three last songs on the B-side are some serious bangers: you can imagine yourself singing with your pals in a sweat-drenched embrace at a dark small club or spitting this street poetry into a hot and humid night after a really bad day at work. Beautiful cover and design work. 

Tumbas Dolor LP

It’s a shame that this is TUMBAS’ last album. The Bogotá, Colombia band embraces the gloom and doom of deathrock with the intensity of hardcore, and showers it with a sick guitar tone that paints a picture of a world in pain. TUMBAS make you think, make you scream, and most importantly, make you dance your misery away. There’s a sense of urgency in Marcelo and Fausto’s dark guitar riffs that works nicely with the driving pulse towards catharsis of Maria Paula’s bass and Ximena’s unrelenting drumming. On top of that, you have Luisa’s vocals, with the necessary anger and poise to expose the rotten corpse of Latin America’s social reality. These songs get better with each listen but if you make me pick one, “Destinados a Perder” has it all: it’s dark, it’s heavy, and the guitars sound like a swarm of furious bees. The album has a really cool cover and insert. It also includes four extra songs from their demo cassette.