The capacity inside famed club the Echo is 350 souls and while I normally have no business being anywhere near Echo Park I made the trek to see LA gods Despise You on the first night of two sold out shows in April of 2023. To sweeten the deal they enlisted support from Phoenix crushers Sex Prisoner and Tijuana MX’s VIOLENCIA (featuring former members of several Tijuana greats including DFMK, Calafia Puta, and Bio Crisis) whom I was excited to see again after previously catching them dropping people’s jaws one excruciatingly hot and muggy evening at a stacked Long Beach gig a year earlier. Upon entering I noticed that the band was mid-song and grew a little perturbed at myself for stopping at the Gold Room (local dive) to loosen up because my anxiety is a motherfucker. Lucky for me it must have only been their first or second song because I spent more than enough time getting my ass kicked (figuratively) by their onslaught of pit-inducing hardcore.
Let’s be clear; VIOLENCIA is a hardcore band with powerviolence tendencies and not the other way around. Decades ago it was considered fucking corny to call yourself “powerviolence”. Today the words have lost all meaning. I suppose some people forget that hardcore bands have always played fast and that blast beats are just a progression of that. Hair splitting aside, Viviendo en Tiempos Aún Más Oscuros is a hardcore record that will satiate the needs of those who like shit fast, slow, and bleak. The opener “Introduccion a Una Serie de Relatos Distopicos” is a sludgy, depressingly heavy instrumental that is followed by “Mundo Polarizado” which abruptly sets the pace for the majority of the album. Twelve tracks of palpable insanity by way of blindingly fast blasts, bone crushing breakdowns, and vocalist Gobi’s otherworldly shrieking. The lyrics paint several portraits of profound frustration, anger, and disillusionment but you’ll have to learn how to speak Spanish first.
I bought a VIOLENCIA t-shirt at that show. I literally have hundreds of band t-shirts but I always want to rep a band who I can get behind. I actually didn’t notice the print on the back until the next day when I fished it out of the back seat of my car. It’s a sick ass live shot with a caption that reads “Esto no es powerviolence, esto es hardcore Tijuanense radical” which translates to “This isn’t powerviolence, this is radical hardcore from Tijuana”. No argument here.
VIOLENCIA is Gobi on vocals, Marco on guitar, Anibal on bass, and David on drums. Buy them a beer, smoke them out, or show them your favorite taco spot if they come through your town. –Juan Espinosa
For fans of: Dropdead, Siege, Infest, Dystopia
Anibal – Bass • David – Drums • Gobi – Vocals • Marco – Guitar
DISCOGRAPHY
Physical releases
2018: VIOLENCIA “El Odio Me Hizo Hacerlo” – CS | Speed Cramer Cassettes (USA)
2021: VIOLENCIA “El Odio Me Hizo Hacerlo” – 7″ | Human Future Records (USA)
2019: VIOLENCIA/DEPRAVED – 7″ | Kill Your Heroes Records
2022: VIOLENCIA/DOUBLE ME – 7″ | No Time Records
2023: VIOLENCIA “Viviendo Tiempos Aún Más Oscuros” – 7″ | To Live A Lie Records
2025: VIOLENCIA “Viviendo Tiempos Aun Mas Oscuros” – CD | Knives Out Records (Fr)
2025: VIOLENCIA “El Odio Me Hizo Hacerlo” – Vinyl, CD | Knives Out Records (Fr)
