‘Si no hay salida, no hay posibilidad, Si no hay lucha, no hay igualdad, Si no hay empatia, no hay esperanzas, Si no hay respiro, no hay Libertad’ (Retén) / ‘If there is no way out, there is no possibility, If there is no struggle, there is no equality, If there is no empathy, there is no hope, If there is no respite, there is no freedom’ (Lock)

Quiet Fear are born of Los Angeles’ Mexican diaspora.  A community that has long been locked into a cycle of economic exploitation, that now faces the threat of marauding immigration paramilitaries, and whose resistance is still sometimes hidebound by the traditions of often compromised cultural institutions.  La Tierra Arriba / El Abismo Abajo (The Earth Above / The Abyss Below) is the story of this fight for survival.

This is the band’s second full-length and follows on from their 2024 collaboration with Massa Nera, Quatro Vientos // Cinco Soles (Four Winds // Five Suns).  It sees them continue to hone a sound that calls on the desperate urgency of 1990s’ screamo and the velocity of more contemporary hardcore with equal relish.  This tautly writhing potency is, perhaps, most vividly captured by the frenetic intensity of Retén, the dramatic ebbs and flows of Sophistry, and the raucously defiant Sombras (Shadow).

Clean toned guitars flare with sombre melody as the propulsive, surging rhythm section locks in.  Meanwhile, the raw, impassioned vocals, which readily alternate between Spanish and English, resolutely evoke the positive power of place and community in combating the forces of alienation and division.