El Buzzard - Tranquilizanté Del Elefanté (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

El Buzzard

Tranquilizanté Del Elefanté (2004)

Electric Human Project


Hardcore of the messy, semi-arty variety, El Buzzard screams dissonant, distorted words over hollow, sloppy-collaborated musical sense; and it almost works well. Think a much harder version of True North's The Sounds Of Breaking Glass demo tape, or a blistering capitalization on the borderline No Idea/hardcore sound, with some sludgy bits of Planes Mistaken For Stars definitely thrown in there. It's raw as hell and never fully just art, but it never resorts to modern-day metal theatrics or abrupt breakdown methodology - the whole thing is definitely rooted in punk more than anything. The fuzzy production gives it an industrial-like quality, and the constant sound bites preceding the tracks provide smooth transitions.

There's a whole lot of potential here, but the only problem is its enjoyability it exudes. The squealing guitars and throaty wailing in "Fatal Blast" make the track a midtempo blast of sonic chaos contained in a small ball of fire. Its follower, "I Got Shot," breaks down screaming "burn it down!" over the again 4-track styled guitars. "I Like It" is a bit more uptempo, venturing with lifting screams and punishingly underproduced percussion.

This is definitely something worth checking out, as it's something I didn't find myself taking even a passing interest in, but the potential shown here proves the later stuff could definitely make strides within the aforementioned No Idea-loyal community, as there's definite bits of PMFS influence and the sludgy, basically-hardcore sound that would interest a lot of ears. This EP isn't the proof just yet.