Brujería- Pocho Aztlan (2016)

Brujería- Pocho Aztlan (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

There's nothing more fake these days than Brujería, well, perhaps Donald's Trump presidential campaign; Once a powerful and mythical band, including the Narcosatanicos, Perdita Durango, Pablo Escobar, Carlos Castaneda, Pancho Villa, Zapatismo, among other interesting things within their cosmogony, now, in its live form, Brujería looks more like a poor man's version of metal circus GWAR, yes, Brujería still sounds fast and furious, they are still an all-star death metal band featuring an international cast composed of amazing extreme metal musicians, including once members from Napalm Death, Carcass, Fear Factory, Faith No More, Terrorizer, Cradle of Filth, Static X and even México's Control Machete. 

Brujería in fact is not a Mexican death metal band, but a conglomerate of USA and British musicians, more a legend than a reality, in the pre internet world they were a macabre legend, a legend that created two awesome records, the groundbreaking Matando Güeros and the ultra-heavy grooving Raza Odiada, after those ones, something went off, the recordings were made more professional, but the band sounded less creative, the band became well known, released Brujerizmo, another great collection of songs, with the band concentrating more on themselves and recycling their mythology. 

Pocho Aztlan is their latest recording, released 16 years after Brujerizmo, also released in September 16, the day of the celebration of the Mexican Independence, a product aimed to the Mexican market, considering the release date, if it was made for the USA market, it would have been released the more popular, in the USA, "May the 5^th”, another curious calculous mistake, a couple of months ago I was expecting a band like Brujería could use the current events concerning the USA elections in order to gain momentum and make a truly significant musical statement, well, Pocho Aztlan is a lost opportunity, it barely touches the subject and lyrically is the least interesting work coming from the band, musically it kicks ass at some times, is a brutal and groovy work, with pretty interesting additions instrumentally, although it is the first recording without Fear Factory and founding members Dino Cazares and Raymond Herrera, although the guitar and bass duo of grindcore masters Shane Embury and Jeff Walker hold pretty well, is less dynamic than the Cazares-Herrera duo.

The title track displays a new version of the classic Brujería sound, although more melodic, less intense, with less defined guitar, more primitive sounding, No Aceptan Imitaciones is not as cool or as scary as it might sounds, and is supposedly the lead track in the record, but things get better on Profecía del Anticristo,  a relentless song with a remarkable sense of melody, a great prelude to the colossal Angel de la Frontera, and the all-out thrasher Plata o Plomo, unfortunately, from there on, the band falls into self-parody, with comedic songs like Satongo or Isla de la Fantasía, lessening the impact and tension of the previous tracks, or unashamedly accessible songs like Bruja -, a strange song that leaves the death metal realm and enters the early grunge era. 

Songs like México Campeón are truly mediocre, turning the whole Brujería thing into a very bad joke at this point, the danger projected in the early days is totally missing here,  and if you consider that bands like the ones forming the collective known as Black Twilight Circle, also from California, are doing miles better in creating a Mexico American mythology combining it with even darker subjects and a rawer sound, Pocho Aztlan is an unfortunately missed opportunity of making great music at the right time and causing great impact, Pocho Aztlan only manages to become a very bad joke, from a band that used to be truly scary, now Brujería won´t save us from Trump, I guess at this point they can´t even save themselves, “El Brujo” wasn’t so powerful after all.