Reviews

Polze De La Mort

Blessure Blessure cassette

Here’s another one to add to the growing number of emerging Oi! bands: BLESSURE from the Basque Country. BLESSURE is refreshingly female-fronted, and plays a post-punk brand of Oi! with wiry guitars, rumbling fuzzed-out bass, and leftist lyrical content (at least that’s what you’d gather from the “A-C-A-B!” chanting chorus on opener “Ils Sont Partout”). BLESSURE keeps it sparse and simple, even cold at times and bordering on deathrock; check the icy synth on “Ça Suffit.” Overall a solid effort, although I can’t help but feel like if they leaned into the deathrock/goth sensibilities more, they could stand out a bit more from the crowd. That said, I’ll be looking forward to hearing what BLESSURE puts out next.

Ratonera Humana 3 Temas cassette

Some straightforward punk out of L.A. here with a simple and sinister sound. With a name that translates to “Human Mousetrap” (and a bizarre depiction of this concept on the cover), this cool unit delivers a buzzing guitar chug and venom-laced vocals sung in Spanish on this three-song cassette. Sounds like they’re just getting started, but on the right track.