Alegrame el día

This is Difenacum’s fifth album, but I’ve never heard of them before. They’ve apparently been around since the mid 90ies, but there’s nothing even slightly familiar with their name. Their music on the other hand, well that’s an entirely different matter altogether. This is the kind of old school grindcore you’ve heard thousands of times before.

I’m sorry to say, but I honestly don’t find this overly interesting. It lacks a bit of identity, which I suppose isn’t the easiest thing to establish in a straight forward genre and style such as this. Classic names like Napalm Death and Brutal Truth are easily identified as influences, but Alegrame el dia has a certain vibe that reminds me a whole lot of the Frenchies Blockheads as well. So there’s no real doubt as to what’s going on here, it’s old school grindcore pretty much all the way. They through in some crusty flavours on a couple of occasions, like for instance Sin dios ni ala, and for a track like Te voy a joder the similarities with Nasum become quite obvious. So there are a few moments where they stray from the typical old school sound. But overall it’s more or less straight forward with all the classic elements. The dual vocals (one growling, one screaming) works, but somehow lacks a bit of a kick, and don’t really grab your attention. I can’t say what it is; I just don’t feel it.

There are however some tracks that really kick ass. Todo bien? for instance is a short and burly outburst of the finest ol’ grind, and Mata fachas is truly intense. Some riffs here and there are killer, and they offer quite a lot of variation in both song structure and styles, and the songs range from five seconds to over four minutes long. But for some reason I can’t seem to take Difenacum to heart. A band doesn’t have to be unique to be good, and I’m all for a classic grindcore delivery, but there’s still some form of hook lacking. The album’s definitely too long in my book. This type of mangle should be enjoyed in smaller amounts and an album under 30 minutes suits me better than one over 42 minutes. But I guess that’s just a matter of taste, and that’s what it all comes down to in the end. For me this didn’t do it, but I’m sure it will for many others.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net