‘Camina la muerte entre el silencio, de cadáveres que la patria reclama, no hay funerales los muertos no entierran, y su libertad se tiñe de sangre’ (Silencio Sepulchral) ‘Death walks among the silence, of corpses that the homeland claims, there are no funerals, the dead are not buried, and their freedom is stained with blood’ (Deathly Silence)

Alambrada unleash another rampant slab of hardcore punk from Bogota.  Featuring members of Ataque Zero and Muro, Ríos De Sangre (Rivers Of Blood) is the band’s full-length debut and follow up to 2021’s Muerte Preventiva (Preventive Death) EP.  And it is one of absolute whirlwind intensity and an unhinged, fiercely off-kilter energy.

The constants are riffs that are unremittingly fast and Spanish vocals that are utterly feral, but otherwise this is an album that constantly writhes in unexpected directions through a battery of savage tempo changes and dense, unexpected rhythmic patterns.  The lead guitar throws in some particularly flamboyant flourishes, frantically inventive, vibrantly melodic, at times, almost jazz tinged.

The murderous legacy of the narcotics war and extrajudicial violence that continue to scar Colombia are the focal point for tracks, such as Marco Estado (Narco State), the title track, and Silencio Sepulcral (Deathly Silence).  The latter two are particular stand outs.  Meanwhile, the scapegoating of migrant communities and the consequences US foreign policy in Latin America are confronted on Primer Mondo (First World) and U.S. respectively.