Pija

Not much more than a year after the band's second full-length, "Hijo de puta", Asspera decided to release this 4-song EP with new drummer Nicolás Polo, after Gerónimo Pastore died after losing his battle to cancer (which had a huge impact in the band and its fanbase). Even though this EP has 3 original songs and a stupid, unnecessary cover, it's one of the releases I like the most from this band of the date of me reviewing it, although it has his flaws. Let me explain:

There isn't too much difference between this EP's songs and those from the band's previous release, but there's definitely something about the amount of tracks it has; maybe I don't get as tired of the vocalist's raspy, annoying voice, or maybe because there are no recurring jokes that get old extremely fast, and there are no weird and dumb fillers between songs that are failed attempts at bizarre comedy. This EP pretty much compresses and entire Asspera album in 4 songs and removes the stuff that make their full-lengths flawed pretty much.

The guitar is solid, not too different from "Hijo de puta", the riffs aren't too amazing, but they're catchy and simple, but in a good way I guess, I'd go ahead and say they are good, especially Pogo al corazón's main riff. Some parts of these songs are catchy, melodic, and they do sound great (like Pija's pre-chorus, or Directo al tacho's chorus). There isn't much originality in all of this to be honest, the guitar work is considerably generic but it's done well I guess, and it gets me headbanging sometimes, so I can't bash it too hard.

Bass is clearly audible in most songs, which is a nice thing, and the bassist gets to play some interesting stuff here and there, and for that I sort of praise this EP, because there was an actual attempt to make bass something else than a 4-stringed guitar tuned an entire octave lower. The drums are good, and even if it sounds sort of cynical, I do believe Polo is a better drummer than Pastore.

The lyrics, sung by the ever-present, annoying raspy vocals of Rodrigo Santamaria, talk about society and politics, except for Pogo al corazón, which is a tribute to Pastore and its lyrics are humorously emotive. Now, it amazes me that not even in a tribute song to a deceased friend and band member the vocalist can't use any other, more, ummmh, "decent" voice, or the band won't let the stupid jokes in the background or idiotic lyrics out for once; maybe it's just their style, maybe Gerónimo would have liked it because that's what the band did and all, but in my opinion it's just annoying; whenever the band has an opportunity to do something different they decide against it. Don't get me wrong, the song is good, but it's not what it should be.

Lastly, the cover song present in this release, and which is apparently obligatory in any Asspera album, is Me voy a hacer pipí, which is a cheesy children song that I totally hate, and this cover is just the worst thing ever. The band throws some fast riffs, and during the verses they go half-tempo; they try to make it sound brutal and all but it's just not good, especially given the song is in a major scale. Another thing that makes me hate this thing so much is the fact that it's the 3rd track in the EP; before you get to the last song, you need to listen to this cover; sure, you can skip it, but you shouldn't have to. They could have either put it last (in Spotify it is last anyway), or maybe they could have made AN OWN SONG instead of a stupid cover which only works to get the band some attention from the mainstream public.

Still, this EP is decent, I kinda like it, and I can sit through it without wanting to pause it after the 4th track, because there are no more tracks to listen to, unlike the rest of Asspera's releases. It's somewhat short and it can get you headbanging; probably listen to it if you feel like, or maybe not, you won't be missing anything at all.