‘La IA avanza sin control, Sarah Connor lo advirtió, No confíes en un robot, Llegas tarde, ya eres otro…’ (Esclavos De Internet) / ‘AI is advancing unchecked, Sarah Connor warned us, Don’t trust a robot, You’re too late, you’re already someone else…’ (Slaves To The Internet)

Esclavos De Internet is the debut full-length from Ficción (Fiction), who hail from Algeciras in southern Spain.  Despite its futuristic sheen, this is something of a throwback to an earlier time in its carefree eclecticism.

Ficción forge an atmospheric blend of garage punk energy and more languid, darkly melodic post-punk restraint, which they then shroud in an understated 1980’s new wave sensibility.  The defining force throughout though is, perhaps, the keyboards as they inject a barrelling, Snuff-like hammond organ vitality that binds everything together with gusto.

Meanwhile, rather belying the album’s essential playfulness, the nasal Spanish vocals consider the growing threats to society, ranging from AI to corrupt legal systems, and ever escalating militarisation and fanaticism.  The brooding intensity of Pacto (Convenant), the mournful melodicism of the title track, and the rather more languorous closer Mujeres Armadas (Armed Women) capture the mood particularly vibrantly.