‘Arnasa hartu ezin ta egunerokuan itota, Erlojuaren aurka bizi biharra’ (Erlojuaren Aurka) / ‘I can’t breathe and the everyday routine is choking me, Condemned to live against the clock’ (Against The Clock)

Gure Gerra (Our War) is the debut album from Basque punks Bellum (War).  It is an intriguing treat, fusing melodic punk with an upbeat pop sensibility that draws on their home region’s rich musical heritage, while also fashioning an interpreation that is very distinctively their own.

The chunky basslines and crisp snap of the drums lock-in a healthy swing to complement the sharply bright guitar that carries with it just a frisson of jangle.  The result is infectiously breezy, with enough grit to keep things honest, and the apparent off-the-cuff looseness can’t disguise the tightly crafted songwriting.

The strident vocals are shaded in a bleak melodicism, Bellum’s buoyant energies belying themes of anxiety and self-doubt.  This threading of shimmering sonic positivity with lyrical frustrations of the everyday is vividly captured by the fizzing Keroseno (Kerosene) and the contagiously impassioned escalation of Erlojuaren Aurka (Against The Clock).