Running a highly successful punk blog praised for quality writing, cultural relevance and avant-garde critical thinking for 14 years is no walk in the park, I can tell you that. Every week I receive dozens of parcels from random bands begging me to review their mediocre latest offering, sometimes even willing to pay for some of my outstanding words, and it breaks my heart to have to decline (after I take the money of course). Fortunately for me my personal assistant takes care of all the admin and all the denied bands do get their own personalised letter and even a signed picture of yours truly for consolation. I'm not a monster. But sometimes acquaintances or friends physically gives you the record, literally putting it in your hands, taking for granted that because you actually know them I will be more than grateful to spend a couple of hours applauding their band and I would be too cowardly to say no anyway. That's the reason why when I spot a mate looking for me with his band's records in his hands I immediately rush to the toilets.
This Raza Odiada cassette landed in my lap pretty much against my will because a good friend of mine is a renowned specialist of the aforementioned technique. To be fair it was not his own band's but friends of his' and he gave me a couple of other tapes on the same day because he likes to share and because he doesn't really give you a choice anyway. Some of them did not really hit the mark but this one definitely did. I had never listened to Raza Odiada prior to this poisonous punk gift but had heard the name and was aware that they were based in Barcelona and made up of Latino punks who had fairly recently moved there. The 2010's and 2020's saw a significant rise of often rather young punks from South America or Asia - as well as from so-called Eastern Europe but this specific punk migration started well before - moving to Western Europe creating in the process the renewed notion of "migrant punk" with what it entails in terms of life struggle, discrimination and hardships. They shed light on the practical experience of migrating as a punk and, in many cases, for punk.
There could be many different reasons for such a trend (that was not completely new either, after all Los Dolares relocated from Caracas to Spain in the 00's) and I do think one should not generalise and each personal situation is specific but I would argue that the internet culture did play a positive role in that sense, making it easier to build connections between continents and easing the process of moving as a solidary community. Where there's a punk gig, you're never exactly alone, right? Punk was always an internationalist movement so it was only a matter of time before Third World punks were finally able to land in Europe's hottest punk spots like Barcelona, London or Berlin, clearly the places that I would associate the most with the phenomenon. Inevitably this breath of fresh hair in scenes that sometimes tended to grow older led to bands being formed and asses being kicked and Raza Odiada should be seen in the light of this wider development.
For once, Paris was not late to the party and we even had our own Colombian hardcore punk band in the mid 2010's aptly called Sinnaciön (and later on Ansiax) but as mentioned a cooler town like Barcelona certainly takes the cake especially when it comes to Latino punks making noise (it's not BETOE's playground for nothing). Enter Raza Odiada, a boisterous hardcore punk band made up of members from Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil some of whom previously played in Muerte Cotidiana and Final Slum War. Raza Odiada immediately caught my precious attention because of the spontaneity of the music. There is no pretense, it's direct, they are not trying to be your fancy d-beat or raw punk bands with pedal boards as long as an anaconda, no, their purpose is to play crudo metallic d-beat thrash with angry political lyrics about poverty, violence and migration (they did not pick a Brujeria song as a moniker for nothing) spat out by a singer that could have sung in some 90's Chicano hardcore bands. The production is raw and I love the sound of the drums, simple but very energetic and crushing. You can tell the guitar player cherishes his old-school metallic tone very reminiscent of Armagedom. Actually Raza Odiada could be described as a d-beat version of the aforementioned Brazilian thrash punk legends (which they'd eventually cover) and Lobotomia and I would add some Crude SS and Bathory, all blended in the pure DIY chaos punk tradition.
Salta la Hijueputa Frontera stands as a very enjoyable recording that sounds authentic and punker than most, far from all the Insta nonsense and online cosplaying. The band released a full album in 2021 which I would also recommend but I like this tape better and I believe the length is perfect for their style. If this had come out on a fancier label...
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