Brujería
Matando Güeros

THE REVIEW

Ah, the good old days when, as fifteen-year-olds in full hormonal growth, we found ourselves five or six in the basement of the only guy who had the internet (yes, I live in a town, not a city). We cursed and offended people in Napster chat, played basketball in the courtyard, played any first-person shooter + Starcraft + Diablo, teased each other, and recorded any nonsense that crossed our minds. In particular, at that time, we were looking for the extreme.

And so it was that in the music realm, we discovered bands like Sepultura, Slayer, Pantera, and many others. The youthful enthusiasm of a teenage newbie. While browsing Napster, we found a song that made us smile: “Marijuana.” The song was an exaggerated parody of Macarena that praised weed and included, in the end, the inviting sound of a freshly lit bong. From that moment, it was clear that perhaps the band was interesting. I decided to ask a hyper-metalhead friend of mine for a CD of these guys. The Brujeria.

The album he gave me was “Matando Güeros.” The horrible cover (REAL photo) depicted the severed head of a probable rebel in the hands of a guy. I barely decided to try to listen to what these Brujeria were like. The utter disgust. At the time, it reminded me of a senseless form of nemesis of “Morbid Vision” by the early Sepultura. I remember barely being able to listen to it all. After some time, I stumbled upon a music site offering various reviews. Curious, I tried typing the name “Brujeria” (which means witchcraft) and, to my great surprise, saw that the members were from quite famous bands. Now, I don’t remember exactly who they were because I never wanted to delve too much, but there was a guy from Faith No More, another from Napalm Death, one from a band I can’t recall, Dino Cazares from Fear Factory, and a mysterious singer who many speculated might be none other than the legendary Phil Anselmo. Astounded and confused, I set out to find a valid reason to like this album or Brujeria in general, but there was no way.

Later, I decided to ask myself the reason for this side project of these talented artists. The mystery, after years, dissipated until I cared no more. Honestly, I thought it might be some kind of “collective therapy” to vent the anger or torment they had inside, but I couldn’t give myself a plausible explanation, because this torment (theirs, but also the listener’s) lasted the beauty of three albums!!! This is indeed one of the most useless bands in music history along with Anal Cunt (even though at least they did something cute, and also hold the record for the shortest song ever made if I’m not mistaken) and shocking. They are an extreme source of grindcore and brutal in hyper-extreme form. The noise of a jackhammer would sound much more soothing by comparison. The lyrics are utter crap, all hailing Satanism, foul language, black masses, and the vilest racism. The only thing I will remember about them is the back of an album where the various members appeared hooded. Now I know the reason. The reason was shame. How disgusting.

Honestly, I struggle to understand who could be the one who likes them. I repeat. How disgusting. Ps: they are (pretend to be?) Mexican. Also, to avoid displaying the uncensored version of the album, I will put the censored one.