I don’t know much about this band or this label. I know that Finger put out that awful Broken Bottles EP and I know that El Nada has a split with Electric Frankenstein. I also know that I haven’t heard a good hardcore punk band in a while. El Nada is billed as playing old school hardcore punk, so I was looking forward to checking out this album. These guys are pissed off, they even sound angry when they’re singing more light hearted songs.

Fast, fast, fast, this album rarely lets up. I like it that way though, when I first started listening to punk music when I was younger, I only liked bands that played fast. Really, if I didn’t know any better I would think this band came out of the 80’s. It’s not rehashed though, as they do add their own Spanish style to the music every now and then. It’s nice to see a band imitating the past without blatantly ripping it off. There’s nothing intricate about this music, it’s actually kind of sloppy, but it wouldn’t work out any other way. With all the happy, over produced pop punk with screaming at random intervals that some are trying to call hardcore, a little sloppiness is definitely welcome.

I don’t know exactly who to compare this to, I suppose they remind me of JFA a little. I know if I didn’t stop skateboarding a long time ago, this song would be the soundtrack to me performing some sweet tricks (including the legendary frontside fall on my ass). I can’t tell you a whole lot about the lyrics since there were no lyrics in the booklet. I can tell you that although the band isn’t overly serious, they do take time to address serious issues from time to time, such as gang violence in the song “45”. They also have a song simply titled “Fuck”. I’m sure you’ll all be shocked to find out that this song contains the word fuck over and over. This song will certainly earn you some bewildered looks from passersby.

This is a solid release from a solid band. There is nothing flashy or pretty about this CD, but it does have some catchy moments. Let’s put it this way, it was good enough to make me nostalgic for a time I don’t even remember. This won’t find its way into my top ten of the year by any means, but I did enjoy it.