Reviews

Polze De La Mort

Anti-Dogmatikss Rompan Filas!!! cassette reissue

This is hardcore before anyone figured out how to make it safe. Barcelona HC legends ANTI-DOGMATIKSS, formed in late ’83 and were right there at the birth of the city’s hardcore scene. This is their classic 1984 Rompan Filas !!! tape, remastered for the fifteenth anniversary of the Polze De La Mort label. Pure early Spanish hardcore fury—the big reference points, besides early Spanish punk, are DISCHARGE, DISORDER, BGK and the faster UK/Italian hardcore stuff, but there’s something unmistakably Barcelona about the sound. Eleven tracks, with songs like “Fuego a la Moncloa,” “Anti-USA,” and the ten-second blast “Ellos o Tú” delivering maximum confrontation. Historic, savage, completely fucking essential.

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.

Forma Forma cassette

Debut release from Bilbao, Spain’s FORMA, a mixed female/male-fronted group singing mostly in Italian, with one song (“Itzalen Artean,” I believe) sung in Basque. Songs are heartfelt, angry at times (“Non c’è Spazio”), and run in the post-punk realm, at least in the phaser/effect pedal bass, crunchy rhythms, and clean lead lines way up front in the mix, while the vocals take a little more from a hardcore/melodic hardcore sound. Dynamic sound all around, great mix—music for the good and bad times.

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.