Brujeria – “Mutandos Gueros” MP3/download [i'm not sure if this is legit]
Brujeria's "El Patron" 7-inch, in all its glory ...
BruJERIA, how I fancy thy fantasy-violence themes — if you could even call them themes; one 7-inch cover featured a decapitated head — and thy fantasy-violence-driven death metal, not so much black-ish in mood color but brown; that’s the color of … my god, isn’t that the color of persian heroin?
There’s an out-of-control drug trade that’s taken control of Mexico’s heart (thus the decapitated heads, etc.), and that’s what Brujeria sing about — if you couldn’t tell by the picture of effing Escobar on the cover, just listen to the vocals; you’ll hear random drug words (“Marijuaaaana,” “Co-Caine-aahhh” and so forth) and glean a disposition from the band members akin to the worst Mexican drug gang.
I first heard Brujeria on Metal X, a late-night radio show that used to play on Saturday nights in Denver back when death metal was all the rage (it’s still “here and now,” but it’s not quite Here and NOW anymore). They frightened me for many reasons, the heaviness of the music tantamount to my biggest concern in life: That I would one day worship the Devil if I continued to listen to “devil” music.
Brujeria were the heaviest band I’d heard post-Cannibal Corpse, or at least their first few 7-inches and albums were (there seems to be a ton of lackluster, possibly bootlegged recordings of Brujeria out there that I can’t even connect to the sound I like on those first few records), and as I sunk into Morbid Angel, Can. Corpse, Sepultura and others at a young age I believe, in retrospect, that I was actually trying to find something that frightened me as much as the Friday the 13th movies were supPOSed to.
And I think I did, and with each successive album came the realization that I was slipping further and further away from society. Would this turn out to be a bad thing, I thought?
I think it was a GREAT thing because weird-to-the-extreme things always interested me. Hell, I find myself face to face with a record full of Mexicans who spit sacrilegious, inflammatory lyrics and put severed heads on their album covers, by god, I’m gonna be interested as possible. LAY IT ON ME MAN, I’m just gettin’ warmmmed up!
And, as it turns out, of all the metal I listened to growing up, it’s the weirder stuff that’s stayed with me, while others disappear completely. Morbid Angel and Sepultura are in my heart but not my vinyl collection and are getting some serious neglect from my side of the bed. I find that even Pantera are only an occasional fling, albeit one I find worthwhile ever time I do choose to go that way.
So you see where I’m going here: I realized that I wasn’t dumb enough to be satanic, and started looking to music to cure my bored-with-life ills. And like I was saying before, bands like Brujeria, Pungent Stench, Morgoth and Cathedral have always stayed with me while other random favorites might come and go a few times but’ll always end up at the trading block.
Brujeria are brutal, or at least the earlier songs, where the production is deeper, murkier, and one can imagine a gang of drug-thugs jumping through every window of the house, raping all inside and moving on to random violence/destruction/more raping.
I’m sick of getting up and putting the record on then sitting down and trying to write and then getting up and flipping the record and then sitting down and trying to write. It doesn’t leave any room for rhythm. But I gotta do it to finish this thing so HOLD ON …
“Hernandez Mendoza” is one of my favorite Brujeria songs. It has that old, unscrubbed sound to it and the drummer — possibly the guy from Fear Factory? — even delves into some blast-beating. Not what I think Brujeria do best, but passable enough to keep the legend going in my mind.
Then you have “El Patron,” a non-tune with good guitar guts-in-hand gusto but yelled vocals that don’t bode as well as the guttural dragon-blast the singer normally comes with. Kind of a wash of a track, really. Not heavy enough, after the first 15 seconds anyway, and definitely not extreme like the best Brujeria head-crush-/decapitate-/explode-ers …
I guess I’m glad I wrote this long post about an unremarkable 7-inch anyway, because Brujeria are just fun if you’re into death metal that will chase any female you know out of the room. So, you know, be careful when you play it, is what I’m sayin’.
PEACE, WEOUTTAHEYA!!!
