Mid-tempo, no-frills punk rock trio from Barcelona. All Spanish-language chanted vocals complete with doubled-up, sing-along style choruses on many of the songs. Repetitive riffs that manage to keep my attention and make the recording sound incredibly timeless. We’re not reinventing the wheel here, because it needs no such reimagining. This is A+ in my book.
At first listen, I admit I was a bit confused by this cassette. KATUPARTIO is from Barcelona, Spain, but all song names and lyrics are seemingly in Finnish. There was a band from my neck of the woods years ago that was obsessed with Finnish hardcore and attempted to learn Finnish so as to sing badly in the language. Too much of a gimmick for me. I did my research and found a ripping live set of KATUPARTIO where the singer looks like a true madman, a wild punk that inexplicably seemed slightly out of place. That all made further sense when a bit more research discovered that he was originally from Finland. No damn gimmick here. Weird, plodding, mid-tempo punk with killer barked vocals drowning out the lackadaisical “woah-oh”s sung by the backing band.
Two bands from Barcelona that I have absolutely never heard about (damn, I do get older) do a split tape together, and well, you’ve got to like it when local bands team up to release something. Sadly, this is not my cuppa at all. SVNYA reminds me of late ’80s Deutsch punk or early ’90s Mexican hardcore back when both genres were starting to become boring. The band definitely sounds like a Spanish band (especially the very special vocals, half spoken/half shouted). I am not really sure what the band is trying to achieve—you’ve got straight-up punk songs, some with a crossover metal punk feel, and the production is heavy but somehow lacks energy and aggression to really work. I am a bit harsh and I can see the band has a worthy political message, but their side is not for me. On the other side, BANDA DES FEMER delivers 21 short hardcore songs, and I actually quite like it. Simple and unsophisticated old school hardcore punk in Catalan with a raw sound that fits the genre. I am reminded of classic Spanish bands like HHH or ANTI DOGMATIKSS, and more recent bands like OTAN when BANDA DES FEMER goes fast, but I am unconvinced with their slower, snotty punk songs. You can tell the band has a lot of fun and they’ve got that youthful energy that makes their side worth giving it a try if you are into raw Spanish punk. This is the first recording for both bands, so they are bound to improve (or are they?). The artwork is punker than you.
