Terror y Miseria – Destruyendo y Sembrando

Artist: Terror y Miseria

Title: Destruyendo y Sembrando

Release: LP / Digital

Year: 2023

Label: DIY Kontraatak, Soroll, Rekord-Ando, Arts I Oficis Vallkarka, El Lokal, Les Nains Aussi, Bs. As. Desorden, Malditos Vinilos, Irrintzi Diskak, Tvmbalavalla Discos, Tranzophobia, Little Jan’s Hammer

I was first introduced to this band some 15 years ago through a record review on the pages of Profane Existence magazine. Formed in the late 1990s in Buenos Aires, Terror y Miseria play a raging blend of political punk in Spanish, with nods to bands like Sin Dios, Resist and Exist, and especially other Latin American bands of the early 2000s such as Los Dolares, Autonomia, Fallas Del Sistema, etc. People like to call this style anarcho-punk, not because it sounds like Crass and other British bands of the 1980s, but because all the members of the band are active in the anarchist movement and use their music as a vehicle to spread radical political ideas.

Released in 2023 on vinyl by a dozen DIY record labels scattered across Europe and Latin America and recorded in Barcelona, Mendoza and Córdoba, Destruyendo y Sembrando features 11 new tracks that prove that punk and politics still go hand in hand.

The album begins with a very long and rather obsolete instrumental intro, before moving into the substantial part of the record, which is characterized by fast punk beats, rebellious lyrics, which are spat out by the two singers in different singing and shouting styles, spoken word interludes, anthemic choruses and angry yet melodic pieces, culminating in the closing track, which even steps into reggae and dub territory. The record doesn’t surprise with anything, but it’s the lyrics and the message that are the most important for the band. Some of the topics they deal with on this record are the manipulation of mass media, state violence and repression, freedom of movement and immigration, local politics, colonialism, and a homage to the Argentine poet and anarchist Sergio “Urubú” Terenzi, who was killed by the police in 1996. On the aforementioned closing track, “19 Y 20 De Diciembre Del 2001”, the band also recalls the brutal clashes between rioters and police in December 2001, following the total collapse of the banking system in Argentina. Five demonstrators were killed in the Plaza de Mayo on December 20, and as the violence spread, president Fernando De la Rúa called a state of emergency and tried to impose censorship on all news from Buenos Aires. Unable to stop the riots, De la Rúa resigned the same day, retiring from politics and facing legal proceedings for much of the rest of his life, until his death in 2019.

The record isn’t groundbreaking even by punk standards, but it captures the rebellious spirit of Latin America and offers a glimpse into the punk scene as a culture of resistance. Members of the band have been involved in various social and political movements, zines, bands and projects, and we still have a lot to learn from punk in their part of the world.

Source: diyconspiracy.net