‘Regurgita en desgracia, Bastiones de cemento gris, Arquitecta de desgracia, PILAR de miseria’ (Desgracia) / ‘Regurgitating in disgrace, Bastions of grey cement, Architect of misfortune, PILAR of misery’ (Disgrace)

Esta Oscuridad No Es Mia (This Darkness Is Not Mine) is the debut album from Costa Rica’s Eskupa.  Theirs is a sound firmly rooted in the traditions of Latin American raw punk and then immersed in a noise drenched aesthetic that evokes a deep-seated sense of bleak anguish. Deft effect pedal work imbues the guitar with an unsettling, anxious texture.  At the same time, the rabid Spanish vocals seethe with a sense of hopelessness born of a society rotting from within as they lock in with the cymbal awash, relentless tupa tupa rhythms.

The first side draws its six tracks from the band’s 2025 demo, Ya No Queda Nada (There Is Nothing Left Now), while the flipside introduces four brand new cuts.  The band’s love of marrying rapid-fire discordance with bruising stomp remains a constant throughout.  However, an increased assurance in allowing their more experimental urges a little more room to breathe begins to emerge on the newer material.  The bass fuelled eruption of Mentí (I Lied), the utterly venomous Tiniebia (Darkness), and the unbridled contempt of Desgracia capture the album’s bristling sense of unease particularly vividly.  The deal is sealed by the very natty screenprinted cover art.