The rising Los Angeles outfit Slaughterhouse and Mexico’s Flores Y Fuego come together for four incendiary tracks that appear here for the first time on vinyl and will be sure to satiate fans of hardcore and punk from any era.
The powerful and buzzing energy of Guadalajara’s Flores y Fuego begins with “Abraza el Fracaso,” where furious drumming via Eduardo and razor sharp guitars thanks to Rafael are met with the smooth yet fierce singing. “Manifesto Ruin” follows and trims the pace back with some post-punk flavor and subdued melody, as Fernando’s throbbing bass rumbles amid the swirling guitar and shouted moments from Melisa’s commanding pipes that are somehow still melodic.
Slaughterhouse start their side with the atmospheric and mysterious “Poison,” which doesn’t waste any time escalating into ’80s nods and death-rock moments thanks to Taylor Ramirez’s moody guitar and Eddie Cairn’s meticulous bass. “State Of Emergency” then gets scrappy, vocally more forceful via Meriel O’Connel’s inimitable pipes and packs Nick Aguilar’s hard-hitting drums into a distinct, droning and noisy version of punk.
Flores y Fuego might draw similarities to legends like Los Crudos, Turnstile, Amyl & The Sniffers, Tomar Control or Huasipungo, while Slaughterhouse have already shared the stage with Bad Religion, Pennywise, Social Distortion and Alkaline Trio. Their respective formulas really do complement each other well, and serve as a fine introduction for the first time listener.
An excellent package of some of the best modern punk you’ll find today, this record is housed in eye-catching artwork (both bands contributed their own individual art), a colorful, informative lyric sheet and it even comes on oxblood colored wax. There were only 1,000 pressed, so I wouldn’t waste too much time dilly-dallying on this one.
