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Throughout one in all our many conversations for this Corridor of Fame entry, the good Shane Embury, Napalm Demise chief and the person of a thousand different bands—together with Brujeria, after all, the place he is called Hongo—says this: “The great thing about Brujo is the chaos. It’s important to let it go. He comes from completely different angles than most of us, which I admire an increasing number of. Lots of people have a sure construction, a sure itinerary, however Brujo doesn’t have any of that. He’s chaos, and while you let go and tag alongside, it’s fairly stunning.”
Shane is clearly referring to his bandmate, Brujeria frontman, lyricist, chief and founding member John Lepe, a.ok.a. Juan Brujo, however as Brujeria have confirmed to be very a lot an expression of Brujo’s creative m.o. (he’s the one member to by no means have been in one other band), the identical could possibly be stated concerning the band itself. Extra particularly, about their legendary debut Matando Güeros. It could possibly be argued that its follow-up, Raza Odiada, is a “higher” album, with improved songs, superior-sounding and extra structured, however there’s a wild streak to Matando Güeros that’s completely unequalled by any album, Brujeria’s or in any other case.
Lyrically, it conjures up a few of the most grotesque and excessive photos ever, regardless of in what language, whereas musically, it does sound prefer it was recorded by a bunch of Satanic drug sellers in a distant barn someplace close to the border. Let’s not overlook the aspect of hazard this album introduced with it in 1993. With no web, Brujeria had been one of many final bands to ever really feel really harmful. Nameless from the start—and with out dwell exhibits—they actually had us fooled there for some time, getting a complete era to imagine this was the work of actual criminals, the individuals able to committing the type of violence the legendary—and instantly censored—unique album cowl steered.
Nonetheless, there’s extra to Matando Güeros than its sensational aspect. A product of a burgeoning scene on the time that lacked virtually any type of illustration, Brujeria grew to become the reply that hundreds of grind-obsessed Latino youngsters had been in search of within the late ’80s/early ’90s.
Latino-led Terrorizer had been early grind kings, however even they by no means took the step of singing in Spanish or addressing probably the most severe points youngsters and their households had been dealing with. Although typically tongue-in-cheek—and generally simply outright silly—buried beneath that exterior exists actual social critique. There’s a violent response towards racism, inequalities and bigotry; an unflinching take a look at the actual points, taking direct inspiration from a few of the hardest tales within the information on the time. Is Brujeria chaos? For positive, however so is the truth on which its allegorical world is constructed.
Even when the recording didn’t happen in a barn populated with Satanic drug sellers, it was sufficient of a wild and messy social gathering for nobody to be utterly positive of who did what to today, so Matando Güeros’ full lineup could be misplaced endlessly. We settled on the consensual six who wrote and recorded the majority of it, particularly John “Juan Brujo” Lepe, Dino “Asesino” Cazares, Pat “Fantasma” Hoed, Shane “Hongo” Embury, Billy “Güero Sin Fe” Gould and Raymond “Greñudo” Herrera. Welcome to the Corridor of Fame, banditos.
Want extra basic Brujeria? To learn all the seven-page story, that includes interviews with the members who carried out on Matando Güeros, buy the print subject from our retailer, or digitally by way of our app for iPhone/iPad or Android.
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