Labels: Bart
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Every now and again, somethings pops up for review that catches me unawares. This tape sat in the pile for ages, untouched. No-one requested it, and my car tape player was busted. So I got a new car. And I saw this in the pile and figured I’d give it a whirl on the way to work. Smart decision, a few minutes after I had cleared the windscreen of ice and pulled away from the curb I was caught up in the music. Bandera play the kind of emo jawns that just don’t get made in 2011, straight away I was hurled back into the dim and distant past and to the time I was discovering bands like the Last Crime and Republic of Freedom Fighters. Noisy, lo-fi emo bands that flail away wildly without hesitation, vocals yelled, screamed and sobbed over the top, whilst the guitars are left to congeal into a wonderful mess. Bandera have managed the always remarkable feat of combining the explosive with the trace melody that I need to latch on to, and whilst this thread is pursued, the band is simultaneously settling into tight, repetitious grooves that go on for plentiful amounts of time. They have pulled off this sound to perfection. It is without relent, and I am floored.
If you dig emo for the same reasons as me, then this will knock your socks off.