HISTERIA was a short-lived band from Mexico with a couple tapes, compilation appearances, and splits. Prior to this release I had not heard of them, which is a bummer, but better late than never—they turned out to be another sick group of the early Mexican scene that had an amazing variety of great bands. This discography release contains two of their recordings from ’84 and ’86. The great thing about such retrospective releases is that the members probably did not expect that one day they would be an obscure band for collectors, and therefore I guess their tape releases did not include as much information as the 32-page-long appendix fanzine with photos, information, and lyrics included here. Nerds like me love that shit, so even if it’s rad to own tapes in falling-apart condition with inserts that once were folded by the original members, these packages that tend to be created for current discography releases are still super entertaining—if you only press the mp3s to vinyl and the most effort you make is to print the cover, then you are doing a bad job. But how does it sound? The best way possible! As if it were recorded with a single tape dictaphone thrown into a rehearsal room where the excited band plays their ferocious tracks. The sound quality distorts the guitars into a chainsaw-like level, something that you would need at least three pedals and a week full of research to turn out something so nasty nowadays. The tracks are pretty short and dense, with a moving jet-like sound as the base, the drums are as distinguishable as a heavy banging on a door, and the singer yells with desperate urgency. The guitars are the best when they make zero sense, and as they do most of the time. It’s a super angry and determined record. Great that such things are recovered, and even if it is sometimes a pointless mania to put everything on a preferred format, the fact that such a band has resurfaced is worth all questionable obsession.
