Review: Hocico – 'Ofensor'

HOCICO

‘Ofensor’

OUT OF LINE

Pour the blood of Andy LaPlegua, the bones of Chris L and some HCl into a cauldron. This would be my culinary interpretation of Mexico’s contribution to the alternative music scene. Hocico has been a needle of electronica on the nerve of agile rage for many years, since its birth in the 90s. The cousins between themselves have places in side projects of the lighter industrial ‘Rabia Sorda’ & the industrial dance-hungry ‘Kriminal Minds’. This year has been met with EP releases of ‘In The Name Of Violence’ & ‘Forgotten Tears’, both two harsh opposing contrasts of each other.

The introduction prepares you for the smiles of Mexican horror to come, and ‘Relentless’ begins telling you that the nightmare is not coming from the Tequila. The thumping of the second track is indeed the time whereby the bass is keeping you far from reality, and you are not about to wake up any time soon.

However; maybe that rage from the Tequila is just making you ‘Sex Sick’? You can taste the flesh under the synthesiser; as the electro throws your eardrums harshly against the wall of decibels.  As the velour of harsh electronic copulation wears off, the body takes a dropkick to the jaw with ‘Bienvenido A La Maldad’ as the fun is not over yet. The composition brings muscles to a tense vibration, unleashing a sudden burst of tequila rage in the form of electro body music.

The falling of ‘El Destello En El Cristal’ visualises the metabolic failure under an intense previous two tracks. Thus with ‘Heart Attack’ you are about to have some reality touch your pretty head and show the mess you made. If the last two songs were the reality caving in; the composition of ‘Mind Circus’ would be the run from reality, and back to the heinous adrenaline.  Smiles in the background are in the 5^th circle, as that taste of metal cannot be numbed by the evil in your neck.

Hocico put the sex back into evil, the detachments of reality are made quite clear, in this section of the Mexican group’s timeline. An injection of venom burns into the back of the neck, as those muscles tingle to the mental skipping in dance of ‘Auf Der Flucht’ rage that is absolute. ‘In The Name Of Violence’ from its positioning in the album marks the end of the album for me. Why? Try keeping that endurance from the beginning to the end of this album and the last track is irrelevant.

If we look at the mechanics of what ERK Aicrag and Rasco Agroyam engineered, we find the addictive rhythm seen from trance music, brought to an 8 Ball nightmare due to the addition of aggrotech and industrial. It is as it is, if you are looking to get lost in anger, rage and the feel the pain; however be brought to disregard it, Hocico is the right choice for you.

For I the reviewer, an accomplishment like this is brought in parallel with the 2008 'Memorias Atras' album. A creation that made a great impact in what anger could achieve when harnessed. But more importantly; 'Ofensor' has the same well-coordinated increase and decrease in speed; that makes tracks on the album become absorbed more easily, thus much more enticing. 

Reviewed by Dominic Lynch aka DJ LX-E

Posted in: DJ LX-E,Hocico,industrial,music,out of line