Spammerheads‘ new album, The Mire Chronicles, was born from the tragic events that struck the Valencian community last year due to a flooding. On October 29th, a DANA (Isolated Depression at High Altitudes, a potent weather event where a pocket of cold air detaches from the polar jet stream and settles over warmer Mediterranean air), caused massive damage to towns near Valencia: that same day I was putting my mother on a train heading to the Turia capital—no matricidal intentions, of course, I only mention this to show the lack of information and precaution of that day. The Valencian duo was affected by the floods and lost part of their gear, and some copies of their previous album they had for sale were damaged, forcing them to make new covers by hand. They certainly came out of the experience stronger, and since then they’ve opened for Nitzer Ebb to great success and now present some of their best tracks on this mini-LP released by our friends at Banshees Records. The record contains six tracks and two digital bonuses, but as usual at El Garaje, we’ll only talk about the LP tracks. On the technical side, we have a couple of friends: Rubén Montesco on mastering and Cristina del Barco contributing with photos.
We first discovered Spammerheads with Tar Blood/Cement Skin, their debut album released by Soil Records in 2022, and just a few months later a friend brought them to play in Madrid. Before that, they had self-released a couple of digital works, and both Soil and HC Records had released their music on cassettes. After Tar Blood/Cement Skin, it was again Soil the label that released the next EP, entitled Disclaimer, where we could continue following the duo’s evolution. But anyway, what we’re here to talk about is this magnificent The Mire Chronicles, which opens with the spectacular “Aftermath,” where the pair reflects on what happened. A perfect opening with David singing with raw fury and the synths sounding sharper than ever. The tempo drops but the intensity remains on “Quicksand” as we relive the worst moments of the flood. With pulsating synths, “Shocking Days” captures the feeling of those horrible days and features great production. “One word mission statement” is their most punk track, even lyrically, with industrial sounds and, once again, impressive production. “Amazing Disgrace,” on the other hand, is one of their best compositions, with a killer chorus and a sound that’s distinctly EBM with local roots. The album ends (just the vinyl, as there are two more downloadable tracks) with “Song for the mudlarks,” a tension-filled instrumental with industrial touches.
