Artist: Vieja Guardia, La
Release: 2008
Duration: 14:47
Rating: 2.5/5
La Vieja Guardia (“old defender,” if I’m even in the ballpark?) are a quartet playing the old-school hardcore you’d know from the early nineties. Stylistically, they lean on the legacy of bands like Burn, Judge, Leeway or Warzone.
The guys, who came out of Guajiro, picked up experience before La Vieja Guardia in some better-known outfits too, including Slapshot, Ignite and The Vandals. What makes this hardcore special is that the guys “bawl” – scream, that is, in the street Cuban Spanish of a juicy vocabulary. La Vieja Guardia are part of the Cuban minority living in Miami, after all.
Their EP doesn’t bring anything to the scene that you haven’t heard before. Live, raw production, chopped off at three-four, gang shouts added on top of the screaming, avalanche-like punkish riffs leaning on a cannon of a rhythm line that holds the whole thing together. The relentless thrashing and fire-spitting in the rage of the barking vocals is shocking, sure, and makes every hair, scalp included, stand on end, but it’s still not enough to convince us that the band has the talent for a recognizable sound of its own that would stick out from the average. The combination of hardcore lumberjacking with Hispanic mischief grabs the most attention, out of the five tracks, in Moyugba Ache.
Lineup
Frank – vocals
Dave – guitar
Harold – guitar
Will – bass
Dougla’ – drums
Production
La Vieja Guardia & John Nunez
Tracklist
1. Pa’La Calle
2. Entr Hermanos
3. Moyugba Ache
4. Hieleah Deathstomps
5. Descarga Violenta
