Review Summary: Drugs, Brutallity, Funk, Satanism, Humor...all these and more can be found in the culture breaking wolrd of Brujeria and Roadrunner Records released a compilation that proves it.
I"m back with another Roadrunner Records Roots Review, this time:
BRUJERIA
Ok, for those who dont know what is Brujeria or who is Brujeria, here s something that sums it up:
Brujeria is one of the most underrated bands in the metal scene, but somehow Roadrunner records (good days) sing them up.
Brujeria is formed by different band members from other bands like: Fear Factory, Down by Law, Napalm Death, Faith No More, Cradle of Filth and more. The member use fake identities as Mexicans drug dealers, assassins, serial killers, satanic priests and revolutionary leaders. They also are distinguish by their three bassists and their Mexican clothes, they even made the FBI believe that they where part of drug dealer execution back in 94.
Brujeria refuse to reveal their identities, they refuse to tour and make interviews, and to tour.
Members:
Asesino( Dino Cazares from Fear Factory)-guitar, bass, vocals
Juan Brujo-Vocals
Fantasma-bass, toungue
Gre"udo( Raymond Herrera fron Fear Factory)-Drums
Hongo-Guitar, Bass(Shane Embury from Napalm Death)
Pinche Peach- Screams
Guero Sin Fe-Bass, Guitar{Billy Gould from Faith No More)
Just by reading their history and looking their band members origins, you might think Brujeria is one of the most Brutal acts in history, but to be honest they sound more like a death/grind band with awesome latin rhythms and ludicrous speed drumming.
Once you enter the world of Brujeria , you either live in there or escape as fast as you can from it. Why?
Well, the first track of the compilation is
Pura de Venta which is basically a comical intro, no music on it, just the voice of some American getting killed by some Mexican drug dealers,if you think about it it is a pretty dumb thing to put this kind of tracks into a compilation, but this is really an important aspect in Brujeria, many of the songs/albums have this kind of intros and the world of Brujeria turns around the drug lord world. After this song, it enters
Las Leyes Narcos, a one minute song of pure brutality, nothing special but it is a bit of a shock after Pura de Venta. The album follows the same brutal sound in all their songs,
Matando Gueros doesnt sound like the typical death metal song, the bass line at the beginning is deep and heavy, the song is in a slow tempo and the vocals sound distorted, not like a grunt, what makes this song worth of mention?, well the lyrics are about killing white boys( racial issues sucks) and they made a lot of controversy when people started translating it.
The compilation shows some of Brujerias potential, many of the songs follow the same structure,
Castigo del Brujo and
Sacrificio are typical Brujeria songs, they keep it brutal, with some slow tempo riffs and distorted bass lines, the guitar work on both songs arent nothing special, but the frenetic rhythm of the songs are unique, I cant find any other band that sounds like an average Brujeria song.
The compilation is itself, has some great tunes, like
Padre Nuestro, the drum intro is outstanding, fast and is probably one of the most memorable drum intros I have heard, the satanic lyrics are executed under distorted death grunts, which makes it one of the most brutal songs on the album, the first verse is slow but the song outro change into a more faster riff-drumbeat combination, making the song as one of the best of the compilation.
The compilation shows a large variety of riffs, although the songs are short and some of them are repetitive, the creativity of the band keeps intact, the musicianship of the band and the individuality of each instrument seems to work perfectly, some examples of this musicianship are
Raza Odiada(Pito Wilson) , an infamous song dedicated to Pete Wilson once an extremist anti migration leader; the song has a music less intro(kind of Pura de Venta) , the first guitar riffs is kind of in an odd time signature and the drumming is using an stop and go technique(Ray Herrera technique), the song follows a different structure from other songs of the band, it is repetitive, but it works because of his short length.The other example is
Ritmos Satanicos a six minutes Instrumental, although is way repetitive and the music ends near the fourth minute, it features an interesting poem with noise at the backround, you might thing this doesnt show any musicianship and probably you are right, but I think this a great combination between music and lyrics.
So, where is the controversy in Brujeria? Well after, songs like Matando Gueros, Raza Odiada, many others like
La Migra,
La Ley del Plomo, Laboratorio Cristalitos, Division del Norte and
Anti Castro that face serious political issues, along with illegal drug abuse, you can clearly understand the controversy.
What could ruin Brujeria for some of their listeners it can be what makes them unique: their humor.
Songs like
Colas de Rata, Pititis Te Invoco and
El Desmadre are lyrically pointless, somehow comical , like the sexually oriented of Pititis or the destruction and mayhem of El Desmadre. Musically, this songs arent that great, what saves them is the incredible rhythm, somehow funky, in the case of Colas de Rata.
Many people(specially not Spanish speakers), get easily scared or freaked out by simple intros, this compilation only features one:
Brujerizmo, the song is probably the second best in this album, musically is outstanding, it features odd time signatures, and it"s the most technically complex song in the album, what scares the people about this song, is the intro, which is basically a folk song singed by a woman with strange voice(nothing scary, but many people had told me that intro is sick).
To be honest, this compilation isnt as good as the Mercyful Fate, basically is the
Raza Odiada album with half
Brujerizmo and a few others, and it doesnt show Brujerias real Potential.
Pros:
1. Different kind of Death Metal.
2. Great Drumming.
3. Variety of Rythms
Cons:
1. Repetitive Songs
2. Doesnt show the band real potential.
3. Few song material.
Overall: It is nice to see that RR didn"t forget about one of their most underrated roots: Brujeria, although they messed up at the time of selecting the songs, this compilation made many people fans of the band.
