KALEIDOSCOPE – CITIES OF FEAR / DESTRUXION AMERIKA – GRITOS NOREÑO
This is not a review of a split – it's a split review! Two records, one review! Contributed by D. Alexander Holmes
DESTRUXION AMERIKA is originally the brainchild of “Eskorbeto” the nom de plume for the vocalist of everyone’s favorite warp-speed Texas hardcore punk contemporary legends NOSFERATU. This release pairs them with the three core members of local NYC heroes TOWER 7 (everyone’s fav [sic] thrashy crust outfit from NYC’s post-pandemic years) and KALEIDOSCOPE (review imminently pending) ((yes D4MT, yes STRAW MAN ARMY, yes HUNGER, yes D4MT Labs who have recorded so many great albums)).
Primarily midtempo punk, (a sharp veer away from the project’s only other release aside from a live demo Tierra Hospitalaria, their split with PERROTIN DE PRENDA, which is more reminiscent of NOSFERATU’s brand of hc punk) some songs invoke TOWER 7’s demo Entrance To A Living Thing, while some are a little more moody, maybe more closely relatable to 80s Italo hardcore punk/postpunk sounds (atmospherically). The vocals possess the malaise one would expect from anyone awake in 2025, though I know most of this music has been around for the last four years and the sentiment expressed remains. Sometimes detached, and sometimes engaged/enraged, they add humanity to Joe’s (vox TOWER 7, bass KALEIDOSCOPE) catchy, scruffy guitar textures and Owen’s (drums/vox STRAW MAN ARMY, drums KALEIDOSCOPE, drums TOWER 7) punchy and forward bass backbone. Shiva (guitar TOWER 7, guitar/vox KALEIDOSCOPE) keeps everything on lock without being bombastic on the drums. Annotated band affiliations aside, the whole thing is truly very good, it has been growing on me with each listen.
KALEIDOSCOPE also comes through with another ambitious take on their particular nook of hardcore punk. I always appreciate music from a band that gets to work together on several projects over the period of a decade+. I am in fact an older head. With time comes taste I dare say! I appreciate especially those who have contributed so greatly to many subgenres of punk through the years.
After The Futures, their last LP was an underrated masterpiece in my opinion, so coming into this I had a very high set of expectations. And Cities Of Fear delivers. It’s dynamic, full of fantastic hooks, searing guitar textures, and surprise valleys and peaks of unforeseen changes paired with evocations of the beauty and pain of it all expressed sonically by instrumental segues and moments of harmonic bliss. Catchy yell-along moments expressing our angst in this moment, the fear, the anger, the defeat, the disdain for the illogical nature of it all, and the desperate hope for a better tomorrow. Tay’s (vox: TEMPORARY AUTONOMOUS ZONE/TAZ) appearance on the song "Utopia" also made me smile and cry too. Whatever.
Both albums are A+ and very excited to keep hearing music from these punk behemoths!
Listen to Gritos Norteño here: https://d4mtlabsinc.bandcamp.com/album/gritos-norte-o
LP released on Unlawful Assembly
D4MT Labs inc.
Listen to Cities of Fear here: https://d4mtlabsinc.bandcamp.com/album/cities-of-fear
LP released on Sorry State and La Vida Es Un Mus
D4MT Labs inc.