At the Drive-In
Alfaro Vive, Carajo!

THE REVIEW

¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!

At The Drive-In returns to the scene with their second release, a four-track EP with the barely hinted title that shares the same name as a clandestine leftist Ecuadorian movement from the early '80s. We are in June 1995.

They arrive after a good but still too raw "Hell Paso" and with a lineup change: Davy Simmons replaces Bernie Rancun on drums, while on vocals we have the legendary Cedric Bixler-Zavala, on guitars Jarrett Wrenn and fellow longtime member Jim Ward, on bass Kenny Hopper.
A lineup that seemed stable but later Wrenn and Hopper would leave to form the instrumental Math Rock band Crime In Choir; new members will then join for what will be their first full-length "Acrobatic Tenement", including Omar Rodríguez-López.

The Texans from El Paso are boys with a lot of adolescent anger circulating, all more or less around their 20s and they show a strong search for "self" as individual members but especially as a musical collective. You can see it and, in particular, you hear it.

They immediately start off with "high-speed" tracks: if "Bradley Smith" presents itself with a strong Emocore influence, with "Instigate The Role" the tones become harder and more Post-Hardcore. In the latter track, there is a significant improvement in arrangements, starting with what happens behind the drums of newcomer Davy Simmons; quite articulated compared to the opener, with Bixler-Zavala ready to engage in other vocal techniques, screams for example, although still of mediocre quality.
The dissonant sonic violence of "Ludvico Drive-In" continues in the same vein, greatly characterized by the female choruses of Laura Beard and Sarah Reiser, friends of Bixler-Zavala tragically deceased two years later in a car accident. An episode he will talk about in "Napoleon Solo", among the key tracks of "In/Casino/Out".
The turning point comes in the last track "Circuit Scene": the tones initially soften, are sweet and melancholic, accompanied by male choirs of Jim Ward this time... then everything explodes, the drums sound the insane charge, multiple voices start yelling, bass and guitars cease to be minimal and it starts a true At The Drive-In style fair. The true gem of this release.

They are coming... or rather, they were about to arrive!