Review / 200 Words Or Less
La Armada
Anti-Colonial Vol. 1

I usually lean more melodic than heavy in my daily listening. But there’s a time and place for everything, and La Armada definitely hit that craving for pure vitriolic aggression. The Chicago by way of Dominican Republic band play metal-tinged hardcore that’s blunt, brutal and angry. While there are metallic influences in the guitar, the songs are always under 3-minutes each, using metallic flourishes for nuance while favoring chords over flash and spitting some seriously pissed off bilingual political lyrics that are thoughtful, yet pointed. Anti-Colonial Vol. 1 is defined by breakdowns and driving rhythmic force, not by solos or digressions.

“Unquenchable” says so much in so little, and it’s possibly my go-to political song of the year for being so meaningful yet so blunt. Sometimes there’s no need to go any deeper. Generally speaking, hardcore is a primal genre anyway, one that hits at core emotions. A treatise isn’t really the point. The band pulls no punches, with lyrics like “We are by far the worst monsters of this planet,” in “The Balance of Terror” and “We get the leaders we deserve” in “Fire.”

Yep, Anti-Colonial Vol. 1 is a real pick-me-up. Seriously, though, it is. It gets the blood pumping and channels political frustration that’s been boiling for the past few years. It’s not a soundtrack, but a call to action.