Disclaimer: this text was written and sent in late January 2024. We were asked for a report of the crust, grind and noise scene in Spain but we decided to focus in Galicia. The article was written for the Human Atrocity #1 zine -released in June 2025- where some non sent pictures were added and it was translated to Polish. Here's the full original article with the attached pictures:
An incomplete report on the current
crust, grind and noise scene in Galicia
Absorbed, Unnatural, Machetazo, Nashgul, Ekkaia, Ictus, Madame Germen, Xerión, Balmog, Tenue... are some of the best-known names when it comes to Galicia, located in the north of Portugal and in the north-western corner of Spain. If you look at the map, you will see that 2/4 of our territory is surrounded by the Cantabrian Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. There's no way to get beyond that unless you take a real ship or a plane. This also has a lot of influence on bands being able to come and play in this area, as it often acts as a benchmark for Spanish tours going to Portugal or the east. We are cut off from Europe and the orography gets tricky here. Forget about Mediterranean weather, as in many other places in the north of Spain it is Atlantic.
The following article is "incomplete" not out of malice, but due to ignorance or forgetfulness, plus the fact that it is impossible to be aware of everything. When we say “current”, we refer to bands, zines and labels that have released stuff from 2020 to the present day, or that are still playing live. On the other hand, we say "scene" in the sense that we don't think there is such a thing as a Norwegian black metal scene or a Finnish or Swedish death metal scene. We believe that a lot of people do their own thing and try to play while some either form collectives, don't fit in, don't like it, their attitude sucks or they grab more attention abroad.
Bands
Due to the difficulty of narrowing down some of them or the people involved - not to mention the fact that some of their members are scattered all over the place - the following is the order in which they are listed:
Crust/Grind
Figure 1: Amhra. Photo by Khalipse (ira_miserorum)
To follow in Machetazo’s footsteps, RUINAS (death metal-grind duo) was formed by the guitarist who played there. // You can also quote OVAKNER (Death Metal/Crust), where he also plays guitar. // AMHRA gathers ex-Ursus members along with some new blood in their ranks; they play metallic black crust with political/pagan ties and they sound much better live than on record. // SACROSANTA DECADENCIA OCCIDENTAL (crust-stenchcore) This band features the same guy -Edu, who also makes really nice poster designs for many shows - from the previous band on guitar along with a female vocal frontman, another enthralling one to see live. // PNEURA (experimental death crust), as they call themselves. // Who hasn't heard of NASHGUL (grind) after tree LPS and a lot of split releases? The designer of most of their releases, LUIS SENDÓN, is part of their line-up too // Their drummer also plays in the mighty HONGO, who have always worked slowly, but theirs is a really neat sludge/crust and, what is more, their concerts are way better than their records; a band that never disappoints and one of my favourites. // BLACK PANDA (D-beat rock'n'roll) // If you're looking for a real frontman and a band that mixes crust-punk, hardcore or screamo, then HERR CONTAINER is for you, a terrific, talented band that doesn’t play the same guitar riffs ad nauseam. // TAIGA DUKHA (metallic crust punk) // Venturing into science fiction dystopia and political lyrics, inspired by Discordance Axis, Full of Hell, Cryptopsy or Wormrot, you have MONDO PODRE // who also shares some members with LA HIJA DEL CARROÑERO (death grind), Machetazo being one of their biggest inspirations. // There was a pub in Vigo, Frenopátiko, where many bands played back in the day. Its owner still plays in some grindcore bands: ESQUIZOFRENIA PARANOIDE - where the vocalist sings about his problems and issues with schizophrenia and depression-, and M.U.G.R.E., a one-man project with programmed drums and samplers, while Txomy plays the guitar and vocals. // Even though I am not a big fan of screamo, you can also mention TENUE (screamo, neocrust), who are really inspired by the Spanish band Ictus musically or conceptually, as you can see on their LP Territorios (2021) with a single thirty-minute track.
Figure 2: Ancient Emblem/Hongo Split (2015). Artwork by Brookesia Studio.
Noise Fuckers
ÆTHEREAL ARTHROPOD (noise, glitch and experimental electronics) // SÓRDIDA NOX (black, doom, noise) and VRK (noise), where the guy from the black metal/folk band Xerión is doing some experimentation// BRAIS REMESEIRO PORTELA is one of those reclusive individuals who takes pictures of bands and their shows, promotes them, makes collages or whatever he's into at the moment. As the label who contacted us for this project are into some gore stuff, he has held an exhibition of his autopsy portraits hanging on a wall along with some noise/power electronic releases. CIRCUIT CORRUPTER is his latest harsh noise effort. // MIGUEL SOUTO has played in a grind band (Bodybag, with Dopi from Machetazo), produced some grindcore albums (Mondo Podre LP) and been in black metal bands, but, as for other stuff, you have VESAKH (noise) and his collaboration with BLACK EARTH (Galician-Basque experimental black-ambient/black-noise) or other experimental releases or drone tributes to La Monte Young under his own name // Another one of the many projects of this cat is LACRIMI SI SFINTI (together with Alejandro Durán, who also plays in Black Earth), who recently released a split with MISA TRIDENTE (dark ambient-noise-experimental) and Inselberg // MATEO MENA is the outsider DIY luthier, a freak of nature with self-built instruments who also deserves to be included here by virtue of his Ivpiter Fvlgvr instrument, which captures the electromagnetic storms in Jupiter and turns them into noise/music. He also built wireless synthesizers called Hypercubes and devised more experimental stuff for you to delve into if you want to get off the beaten track.
Figure 3: Mateo Mena's playing Ivpiter Fvlgvr. Sent by the artist.
Venues
There was a strong squat scene –waving the Galician crust flag- touring around Europe and so on. However, as seems to be the case in many places in Europe, evictions have made these places infertile. Despite this, some of the practices, attitudes and knowledge have led to some social/cultural centres or the ambition to work like some of the existing places. Galicia has four provinces – regions, so to speak - so we divided it consequently:
A Coruña
There are some pubs/venues in its city, but as it happens with many places in Galicia, you can encounter many rock/metal oriented venues where some crust, grind show can happen. Some of the names are: Mardigrás, Sala Malavida or the Acéfala (I don't have any information on this one).
However, if you are looking for the link with the squatter/crust scene, you should travel way up north and go to O Pazo dos Lobos (Asatrú venue) in Ortigueira; built of stone, with lots of animal skulls, bones, wood... Even a fireplace and some candles and pagan decorations and runes can be found there. It's in the middle of nowhere, you can see the stars in the night sky and it has the best vibes out there. This is the door to Utopia. There are also some hidden shows near the city of A Coruña, stay tuned.
Figure 4: Sala Asatrù, Pazo dos Lobos. Photo by Ars Erinyos.
Lugo
Buril (Sarria): I can only speak because there was a punk/benefit festival there and there were a lot of drug addicts. Really nice venue and place, but the atmosphere was a turn-off because of the people. They also play metal shows in there, so my review may be biased 😉.
Pontevedra
The Liceo Mutante (Pontevedra) was a strong and important collective that brought together experimental and diverse musicians and projects. Although it is now closed due to problems with its location, the collective is currently raising money to rebuild it in the same city, but in a different place. // Tronko Bar (Pontevedra) a regular pub during the week, but all the space is left for weekend shows. Some punk concerts - even festivals: Repunante, Hardvalentín, Catastrofest. The food is really good and cheap and they take things seriously. It's run by a bunch of punks and they've had a full agenda for a year onward. Plenty of parking and "isolated" from the rest of the city, which always changes the vibe. It is also one of the best places for concerts in Galicia. // There are also places where you can catch some metal and crust shows in pubs such as Kominsky or Transylvania Metal Pub (both in Vigo) // O Fuscalho (A Guarda) is a very political place where they organise assemblies, political and cultural meetings or just some parties around the time of carnival festivities. Some of the people from Tenue work there and organise concerts and stuff - the place is always open for people to bring in some ideas and events that fit in with the ethos of the place - so you can get some real stuff. // Ecos a Cabana (Tomiño) This is probably the newest one on the list. A small stone hut with an anarchist/squatter vibe, almost surrounded by trees, where you can eat some peanuts while having a drink and enjoying a proper concert. Stars in the sky? Lots of them, and there's a big fire outside where you can sit and rest. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope it lasts for a long, long time.
Ourense
I have the feeling that this place is always isolated. El Pueblo Café Cultural is a small but nice place to catch a show from time to time.
Labels
Anoxia Records "Unique sound textures beyond genres or tags" is run by Miguel Souto and has released everything from noise to HNW (Damien de Coene) stuff.
Castrexo Punx Edicions: punk, hardcore, crust, powerviolence... DIY, you name it. Always into co-releases or solidarity compilations or even the MATRAK ATTAKK/GLOBAL HORROR split tape. Always carrying the distro, whatever the show is. Hats off!
Hombre Montaña has released stuff from crust bands like Buoi Muortu and other punk/hc stuff.
I Don't Give a Fuck co-released the first Mondo Podre LP and ventured into post-hc-jazz territory with Chile's Manual de Combate. Crust, grind, hip-hop, electronic, noise, jazz, free jazz... they are open to almost anything, as long as it is good enough for them.
Loita Underground: focused on grind and Txomy (MUGRE, Esquizofrenia Paranoide, Corteza Inhumana) releases.
Romantic Songs Records: This is one of the most active labels in Spain. It has more than one release every month. From crust, grind, punk, anarcho-punk to some death metal, doom metal, etc. You name it, they release it. From local to European bands, etc. He has even featured some from Asia - where he sometimes travels and gets to know some of the local people and bands personally. A real down to earth guy with a lot of stamina to make things happen.
Thoth Tapes is also run by Miguel Souto and has produced Black Metal, but his main focus is noise/experimental stuff like Scythe or Ab'bhau.
Zines
Although there are active black/death/heavy fanzines out there in our area, I have no further knowledge about crust/grind/noise than this:
Still active today? UHP Zine "fanzine of music and thought", edited by José of ROMANTIC SONGS RECORDINGS, which mixes the political part of anarchism and DIY with hardcore punk, grindcore and other aspects. At the same time, there is another fanzine called PUERCOSPIN, whose #7 is from (2023); they are much more incisive with texts related to anarchism, anti-speciesism and anti-authoritarianism, as well as some interviews and personal reflections on the underground movement, being short and direct.
ESTUFAILUM CHAUN CHAN!! although it doesn't come out as often as it used to, in it you could find from interviews to groups to other invented ones and you always finish reading it too fast. Done with a lot of disgust - reminiscent of that punk school of social vomit and total provocation - the best for me were the comic-style drawings with total acidity and criticism that he did himself and that were compiled in another fanzine.
I DON'T GIVE A FUCK. May we self-promote in here? The latest issue of 96 pages (2021) includes deep and quite long interviews and. There are English and Spanish versions. The focus goes from crust, grind, noise, noisecore to some brushstrokes linked to hip-hop, industrial music, reports with interviews about spaces, culture clash and existing political reality, music, freight train rides through Mexico and USA... all with a DIY and crust/zero-fucks-given attitude in the background, without sacrificing quality content. The next issue should be ready by the end of 2024.
NEGRO CÍRCULO MINHOTO "Folha de novas". This is a newsletter of no more than four A4 pages printed on A3. The first issue, to be published in 2021, will feature bands from the black/noise scene: SÓRDIDA NOX, XERIÓN and VRK, written in Galician-Portuguese. Issue #2 (2023) features AGATHOCLES, MUGRE and FATA INFERNA and each interview is in a different language: English, Spanish and Galician. Contact the Black Metal label NIGRA MORS to get your hands on it.
Other
If you are looking for other places to search for FURTHER INFORMATION, you can check out PROXECTO RIZOMA, which maps the current Galician underground, or ROUCO SON, a digital and physical newspaper focused on Galician bands. Both operate without musical genre boundaries. LA MUERTE TENÍA UN BLOG is also noteworthy; that blog focuses on music/book reviews and even some interviews that, in my opinion, encompasses the entirety of the underground scene on a global scale, insouciant about any stupid borders or trends.
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May you find something interesting here. |
Thanks to the zine for this space. |
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Feel free to contact or send us some death threats, |
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I Don't Give a Fuck. |
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(Translation and proofreading by Ars Erinyos). |
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