Puya
Union

THE REVIEW

As of today, "Union" remains the last work produced by that post-modern tribe known as Puya, and it is a real shame for the music world that it has been so long (since 2001) without hearing a brand new full-length from these artists, given the band's freshness, originality, and great ability to compose catchy songs.

Formed in the early '90s, Puya hails from Puerto Rico and possesses an extraordinary quality, which is daring, daring a lot, ranging, blending, mixing the most disparate genres. Of course, it's nothing new, many other bands do it too, but not with their same skill, in my humble opinion. Their mastery in smoothly shifting from Sepultura-style metal riffs and hardcore breakdowns to rap verses with a salsa backdrop, punk funk, and Santana-like Latin rock is, if not unique, at least very rare.

"Union" picks up the baton from the previous "Fundamental," which had launched the group alongside the rise of nu-metal bands in the mid-'90s to early 2000s and is a mixture of great songs, offering a wide range of ways to interpret alternative and crossover music, from the initial dry and muted riff of "Ride" (which immediately gives way to Latin recipe rap phrasing) to the catchy choruses of "People" and "Socialize", the hardcore-metal of "Erizo" and the concluding title-track (one of the hardest tracks), the tribalism of "Bridge" (which bears a heavy reggae influence), "Ahorake", and "Si Aja", salsa, punk, and world music for "No Interference" and "Numbed", a small floating interlude for "Semilla", and a true anthem representing the entire album, "Pa'ti Pa'mi", certainly the best that encapsulates all the characteristic elements of Puya's sound.

Among metal, nu, and hardcore guitars, percussion, rap, jazz trumpets, tribalism of all kinds, Puya crafts thirteen complete, fun, and delightful tracks and proves to be one of the most original and significant acts in the crossover wave.

It seems they are about to return with a new album titled "Areyto", previews of which can be heard on their official website. Let's hope it matches the quality of their old albums like this "Union" or the previous "Fundamental" (but even their self-titled debut was a great piece of their offering) because we really need more of Puya.

Much like I did with Skindread, I recommend this album to all who love breaking the musical molds that want bands tied to categories and musical genres. Puya breaks the barriers, positioning themselves in no man's land, which at the same time is everyone's land—theirs, ours who listen to them, satisfied.