‘Balas que rompen, El silencio estrellado, Veo a una madre triste, Siento du dolor y lamento, En la ciudad de los vientos’ (Ecos De Chicago) / ‘Bullets that break, The starry silence, I see a sad mother, I feel her pain and lament, In the windy city’ (Echoes Of Chicago)

Fuerza Bruta (Brute Force) return with a new four-track, 10-inch EP, and follow-up to 2023’s full-length, Contra. The Chicago band, who include members of the Brazilian and Mexican diaspora, have been active for the past decade.  Their origins lie in that city’s Oi! punk scene but they refuse to be bound too tightly by the strictures that this might imply.  Ecos De Chicago is, perhaps, best understood as driving, darkly melodic punk, underpinned by a satisfying hardcore rhythmic grit, and a keen eye for a robust group chorus.

The gruff Spanish vocals speak to the devastating consequences of gun violence in their home city and the systematic, state sanctioned violence being executed on the US border with Mexico, before turning to wider tales of living on Chicago’s South Side.  The title track hits home with a particularly bruising vigour, while the closer Lado A Lado (Side By Side) sees fiercely jousting guitars culminate in a burly chant that elicits thoughts of the rather menacing bloke on the front cover, returning home after a particularly gruelling day of plunder and pillage.