Bandcamp recommendations September 2025
Summer is fading slowly on the Mediterranean coast, a beautiful time of the year that will get even better next month when we finally can use leather jackets and long pants. I love to wear clothes that cover my whole body; there's a feeling of protection or being constantly wrapped up in your little heat container that makes me so happy. As you can imagine, I hate the warmest and driest months of the year. Sometimes I think that maybe I was born in the wrong place!
In Barcelona we make fests in each neighborhood once per year. They are popular festivities that involve lots of folklore, music, neighbors getting together to eat, decorating streets, etc. August is the month that has more emblematic fests, the most well-known ones happening in the districts of Gràcia and Sants. I forgot to tell you in my previous column that each year, around the 15th of August, there used to be this show called Caos A Gràcia. That was one of the things that made me want to live in Barcelona so badly, and it was my favorite date of the year for many years. So many people would get together "in the same place of each year", a quiet street in the heart of Gràcia, to jump, drink, and celebrate punk, anarchy and friendship while the bands would discharge all their energy there. The fest was an annual homage to Rugé, a young punk murdered by two neo-Nazis in 2004 around the same dates and area.
Since the person organizing it is not living in Barcelona anymore, Caos A Gràcia is not happening, and this August has been a dry season of punk shows. During this month many people get time off of work and travel somewhere. If someone stays in the city, then the heat makes them not want to go anywhere, and on top of that, most of the squats and venues stop their activity during this month, so there's not much to do. I also get a bit antisocial with this heat, AND we have adopted a little dog that covers all my needs of going out every day. I'm even starting to go to run a few days per week! But my lame physical condition and my attempts to improve it will be covered in another post. All this made me miss also the few things that happened in the city, so no punk for me this August, just a sore body from running.
One of these shows that I missed was in a squat not too far from here (I don't even know what the excuse is for me to not have attended that show) where, among others, a local band played: Ayucaba. They just released an album, and with one of the members being in the Fediverse, I thought it was a MUST to write a little review of this amazing new LP from the Barcelona punk scene. Even if I did miss them on this show, I think I have seen them at least ten or fifteen times, so maybe I even knew the songs before they recorded them!
AYUCABA - Operación Masacre
I still need to get this piece of plastic, but it makes me so happy to see how this group of people got together, in this city, and worked so hard on such a great album. After a demo only released as a tape and not available online on purpose, I thought the LP would also be an obscure punk gem that only "the chosen ones" would be able to listen to, but it seems it has been released everywhere1, which makes me very happy.
"Operación Masacre" is not the fastest album, but it also doesn't rely on these mid-tempo fashions that we see all over the punk planet. The general vibe is a big love for Japanese hardcore punk; from the vocals to the instrumental melodies, there's an epic vibe normally associated with "burning spirits" bands, while many other riffs are like super fast NWOBHM riffs, in what resembles the style of THE EXECUTE. The guitars are fantastically put together: they did a big step up here from the past, coordinating perfectly the two six-string axe swords with solos, little harmonics here and there, and a beautiful production that also helps a lot on this. When the vocals are not on top, the guitars take the space, and perfect drums and bass fill the whole space.
In my opinion, drums are especially good on these ten tracks, delivering the needed violent feeling for this type of music, but with such a good taste. There's tons of technical stuff, but then there are parts that are more classic fitting perfectly in these songs. On the other hand, the bass is a bit behind the whole mix. You can spot it the whole time, but on a personal level, it would be great to feel it a bit louder or more consistent.
Overall a very good album reflecting the state of punk in Barcelona, where we have amazing bands releasing extreme music.
LAME - Lo Que Extrañas Ya No Existe
"What You Miss Does Not Exist Anymore," such a powerful statement is the title of an amazing album by the London - Mallorca - Berlin band that destroys your ears with the new twist of the "Sonido Balear" and the "Extremo Nihilismo". The vocals are an evident distinctive feature of this band, where Sally throws dozens of words per second in a game of symbolic meanings and double intentions that collapses your mind. Wise statements are put in the exact position to trigger different feelings, making you think and ruminate about all the sentences thrown at you.
The performance of words and meanings is improved by the repetitive riffs that are long enough to sound chaotic with constant little variations. Both create a unique atmosphere that is something I haven't listened to before. Every instrument holds an important value in this record, along with the production, but I would like to say the drums are superb. Of course I can't stop thinking about the second LP of ORDEN MUNDIAL (an album I listened to a million times) when listening to this LAME album, but there are some details refined, making the sound of drums unique here.
Delivered by well-known musicians that have been in several acts like ORDEN MUNDIAL, POU, BARRERA, BARCELONA, GLAM, ANTÍDOTO, ENAMORADOS... LAME was a good band that has now turned into an excellent punk act with this album.
CHAIN RANK - The Grip Demo
If you weren't around in 2013, I'll tell you: Chain Rank was absolutely THE thing. They appeared in a moment when Boston had a big influence in punk, with bands like THE BOSTON STRANGLER and NO TOLERANCE being so well-known, plus new bands like SAVAGEHEADS were appearing on the Internet. At the same time, there was this YouTube channel, “attheboilerroom” (a compilation of videos of a small basement(?) where many shows happened), which was the meeting point for so many of us to discover the US hardcore/punk. I found out about dozens of bands there!
The Grip Demo was an amazing connection between early 80s USHC (Boston and NYHC mainly) and modern sounds, featuring a fast and aggressive sound, short songs, no gimmicks, solos or boring shit. Their intention was to scare your mom when you put this on the speakers of your room in Barcelona, and they were good at it!
The next album they released wasn't that good in my opinion (they re-recorded the demo songs and sounded a bit more tame but was still so good) and was way more celebrated. I think in the two-year span between both albums there was a huge boom of hardcore punk, probably because of the influence of YouTube and other social networks (but this was way before every band and label had an Instagram account!). Also because there were very good bands appearing at that time, and some big reunion shows of 80s bands were happening.
SLAYER - Hell Awaits
What? SLAYER?? Yes, I know, nobody was expecting Slayer here, but what can I do if they have been one of my favorite bands since I was a kid? What I normally miss in Bandcamp is being able to listen to the classics: MOTÖRHEAD, RAMONES, BLACK SABBATH… you know, the kind of bands you return to from time to time because they are the influence of all the music you like. Well, in this case I'm a bit lucky because some music of SLAYER is published on the platform, and, in the case of Hell Awaits, the price is quite good for a digital album. Not too long ago, also, I saw that MORBID ANGEL had their amazing Altar of Madness published, which is also great to know. :)
So… what can I say about such a revered album? Influenced all the good shit that came after it, perfect sound in my opinion, not that perfect (in a good way) as the following albums, sounds harsher (we like that!!), and has some cave-echo feeling on drums. Jeff Hanneman did the most incredible riffs in metal, and of course this album and Haunting The Chapel were a test for him to prove he was going to change the sound of that genre. Araya's vocals, in the style of a demon trying to get you to join their sect, do an astounding job. Actually, with this music they got a lot of people to join their sect, or the sect of metal.
Doing my job here, I went through the pages of Slayer magazine to find a… yes, Slayer interview. There's one, not very interesting to be honest, and I believe that it's the only one in this magazine. The interviewer starts to ask them about DARK ANGEL copying them (haha!) and other kinds of dumb stuff that it's kind of funny. Besides saying that “Kill Again” is a stupid song, they also say Metal Blade (their previous label) sucks and that's why they signed with Def Jam. “Metal Blade is not for major acts. They are for acts just starting out,” Jeff Hanneman. Now, I invite you to go to their Bandcamp and see their current label!
I feel like I can't say anything else about this album that hasn't been said before. I can just tell you I saw Slayer in 2012-2013 when I was already a young punk, and it was the first sonic experience that I truly found cathartic. Later others like Lebenden Toten at K-Town, Malimpliki in Tokyo, or Cress at Puntala would also make me feel something similar.
My personal take on this: Of course physical releases tend to be more appreciated because once you buy an album, you listen to at least one complete side. There's a chance that you will play it again, you appreciate more the art, the lyrics… there's a whole experience in listening a vinyl! But this still can happen if you release it in a digital format AND sell the vinyl. Then you allow so many people that do not have the resources (or that want to listen to your music outside home) to access it. Besides that, physical format is just a way to capitalize your project, which can be ok (nobody will get rich with this, and we need it to survive as a punk project), but it's important to have free access to punk. I understand that also putting them on a platform run by a big company can be so fucked up for so many punks. That's why we still need Fedicamp or something similar.↩