Reviews

Decline Humano

Ella Se Peló Resiliencia cassette

ELLA SE PELÓ shifts musical gears throughout this record, usually at a manic pace. It’s not that thrash metal riffs, post-HC noise, or melodic hardcore are so different from one another, but the frequency with which they’re rotated here left me spinning. It felt like I was listening to a sampler of 30-second-long songs by different bands. Luckily, each of those bands was quite good. ELLA SE PELÓ is incredibly tight and executes all those riffs, breakdowns, and instrumentals with skill. Each part, however different, sounds great, if a bit brief. I would have preferred to stay with one or two styles the whole time, or for longer stretches.

Moflex Moflex cassette

A collection of previously released material by Mexico City’s MOFLEX spanning from 2016 to 2018, with two additional songs specific to this cassette release. Repetitive lo-fi punk rock songs that are a bit heavy on the upstrokes; not sure whether that is meant as a pop punk or ska-infused element to these songs. Nice-looking packaging. I’m sure fans of this band will be excited to get this collection rather than tracking down the two different cassettes MOFLEX released a handful of years ago.

Ratizzage Ratizzage demo cassette

Grueling, dirgelike, and guttural crust punk from Mexico. The initial rhythmic delivery reminds me of early BRUJERIA splintering out of the speakers with a much more punk angle. Varying vocal pitches harken to DEATHTOLL 40K, COP ON FIRE, or later era ENT. Grisly crust that does not let up on the D-beat and chaotic soloing. I reviewed a demo a couple years ago by PERVITIN from Finland, and this reminds me of that powerful impact. Hopeless, bleak, pulverizing filthcore spanning twenty minutes, from a demo with seven complexly written tracks. RATIZZAGE has groove and gruesomeness. The bass grumbles lower than anything else, like a tank rumbling in the distance, and the vocals scorch. Not sure how easy this will be to find, but it’s one of the better crust demos I’ve heard so far this year. Everything that went into this sonically and visually exceeds that of an average demo tape.

Slevy Vol. 1 cassette

Alright, I’ve got a lot of numbers to throw at you and it may seem a little confusing, but stick with me because it’s more than worth it. SLEVY is a solo project (one man) from Irun, Spain. This Vol. 1 cassette is part of a two-cassette series which has the artist’s entire discography on it. Vol. 1 has his first couple EPs, comp tracks, and unreleased songs all recorded around 2005, it seems. This cassette was originally released in Spain in 2014, but a run of 100 tapes was just done by two Mexican labels at the end of 2023. SLEVY seems to truly be someone who loves all aspects of music within the punk umbrella. Ranging from darker, moodier, goth-adjacent synth-heavy tracks to catchy synth pop to driving garage rock, and some crust punk and hardcore influences on songs as well, SLEVY does it all without it feeling like a novelty. Here’s hoping these labels are working on Vol. 2 as well.

U.N.E. Sin Esperanza cassette

A collection of recordings from Toluca, Mexico, dating back to as early as 1994. According to the cool little booklet included with this cassette, UN NUEVA ENEMIGO played their first gig in ’94 with LOS CRUDOS after starting their band mere months earlier “without experience or knowledge of music.” Pretty damn cool. It’s a little rough around the edges, as one would imagine from a band who started without any experience. Lo-fi, repetitive, sloppy punk riffs with vocals passionately delivered in Spanish over the top. A cool collection by a band that apparently never played out of their hometown. My only gripe is how overwhelming the flanger effect on the guitar is on half these tracks. Sure, it was the ’90s and that effect was absolutely everywhere, but it comes off incredibly distracting to the overall song whenever it’s engaged. A minor gripe for a neat little piece of history in the form of this collection cassette.

Violetas Violentas Ensayo 2023 cassette

Staking claim to being the first all-female punk group in their city, VIOLETAS VIOLENTAS is a legacy act from the early ’90s who play lo-fi and rudimentary punk on their Ensayo 23 cassette, a collection of five newly recorded songs as well as six older tunes they’ve deemed worthy of recording and releasing. Straightforward tupa-tupa is how I’d describe VIOLETAS VIOLENTAS, and on songs like “Me Estaran Buscando,” “El Bulto,” and “Veneno,” they deliver the goods. They’ve obviously got a formula that works and I love it; there will always be a place in my heart for pure punk like this.