The massacre has been unleashed
The first album of the Mexican band Inquisidor sounds like a very long demo of an aggressive, insane band with a lot of potential. Demo? Yes, that's how it sounds like. The quality of the mix is so poor that it's difficult to correctly identify Felipe Chacón's drums, the microphones capture the reverberation of the room more than the instrument itself. Likewise, Baudelio Ayala's guitar has so much distortion that many times you have to imagine the notes he is playing in the low notes, something that will delight a fan of the raw sound of hardcore punk and that will drive away those who don't like them anything but well-made productions. We can't talk about the bass either because he is more buried than the drums most of the time.
If this doesn't bury the album as a waste, it's precisely thanks to what it lays underneath all that noise. A first or second listen won't be enough to decipher all what happens between that tides of fuzz, reverb and distortion, but eventually the magic appears. Again, it's not a task for everyone and it is perfectly understandable if you decide not to continue listening after the first 60 seconds; however, for those who are used to listening to productions this precarious, they know that sometimes you find gold among demos that sound much worse.
Precisely, as wer're talking about content that takes time (and effort) to discover (and describe), you can highlight the difficulty of finding its structure. And it's because the verse + chorus + verse structure is almost never used in the tracks, it gives the feeling that you are listening to an infernal and evil rhapsody inside a torture chamber, which sometimes turns into an almost-theatrical proposal. Also, the name of the band fits like a glove, at times it seems that you are listening to a dungeon in times of the Inquisition.
What really stands out is Martín Huerta's vocal performance, which is one of the most authentic, uncompromising and totally dedicated to make the band sound like an act that you can't take lightly nor mess with. You just have to listen to it all in 'Descansa en Paz' or 'Führer' to realize that you are not listening to a group that plays just as a hobby. These songs, along with the rest of the second half of the album, show everything these guys were capable of since then.
Aside, there are the lyrics, full of rhetoric and a criticism not only towards religious institutions, but also towards society, that takes as a framework the references of religious imaginary; something much more mature than what at first glance you would think when hearing such howls and growls. They are a jewel that you will have to get to using the pamphlet as if you were using a map, because without it, you will understand little or nothing.
Certainly this is material that is not far from sounding like another demo for the band (really). But many think that the reason for records to exist is to sell tickets to concerts, without a doubt, it is something that this album achieved. It gives you some kind of expectation of what a live Inquisidor performance will be like and precisely, without recreating ourselves in the terrible production, you can guarantee that the band sounds much better in front of the crowd. It's hard to believe that an act like this has not only managed to record this material, that it has been commercialized and that the band was still active for many years afterwards; but also they continued to release more productions, luckily, better than this eventful debut.
Is this for you? We have already broken down the main reason why it might not be, but if you like the fierceness with which Paul Baloff delivered himself with each performance in Bonded by Blood, or if you like to revisit the obscurities of Morbid Visions de Sepultura or In The Sign of Evil from Sodom; we would recommend that you take a look at the Inquisitor, because underneath all that noise, there are jewels that have lasted to this day. Now, if you wish, you can also listen to some of the songs re-recorded with a better production although with the voice of Baudelio Ayala (who would take the reins of the voice since 1991) in their Antología 1.3 of 2014.
Personnel
Martín Huerta - voz
Baudelio Ayala - guitarra
Felipe J. Chacón - batería
Ever Cázares - bajo
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