La Armada

Self-Titled

Fat Sandwich 

Street: 07.31.12

La Armada = Bad Brains + Los Crudos 

Cynical Spanish punk with ice water in its veins and acid on its breath. Gringo friendly translations showcase some compelling ideas here ("in the man-vomiting society/the most severe scarcity is/ the inevitable counterpart of being devoured by the machine") even if the "todo es caca" sentiment is age-old. The real meat here is the riffs and anger—a transnational commodity palpable anyone with earbuds—axe work reminiscent of Vinny Stigma’s on the United Blood EP gets a "commendable" from me. Perhaps a victim of "too much all at once" syndrome, as it’s not nearly potent enough to stand with the greats it so freely pilfers from, La Armada better than the lion’s share of dopey Maximum Rock n’Roll-approved hispano-thrash saturating the market. If we’ve got one thing to thank Martin Sorrondeguy for, it’s that chicano-punk is a bona fide "thing" these days…and "Escalivtud Organica" is a banger, even if it’s a fucking punk song about organic produce. –Dylan Chadwick