Brujeria

Brujeria made their undoubtedly colorful debut with Matando Güeros, one of the more curious grindcore albums of its era. This band of Latin American narco-satanists could be the most deadly group out there, at least judging by sonic assaults like "Molestando Niños Muertos" and "Narcos-Satánicos" -- or they could just be a bunch of death metal professionals reveling in a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek side project. Either way, Matando Güeros makes for a fun listen, assuming you're into exploitative stuff like this. The music? Well, it's nothing to really get overly excited about, but it is well-performed Napalm Death-style grindcore and sounds pretty damn intense, for sure, especially given the Spanish growling. And it's indeed that whole Latin American narco-satanist angle that's by far the most interesting aspect of this debut, which spawned quite a few similarly deadpan follow-ups. [Roadrunner also released a clean version of Matando Güeros under the fairly reasonable presumption that not all retailers would want to carry an album with a half-decayed, decapitated head on the cover, not to mention everything else potentially off-putting about the album.] ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide