Barcelona - "Pasión"
Barcelona - "Seguidores del Orden"

I don't really know anything about Barcelona. I've read books set there and seen movies filmed in in its streets. I've read articles about the grassroots anti-eviction movement and the indignado protests against EU austerity. But this doesn't count as true knowledge. I've never wandered the city's neighbourhoods, seen how the sun falls across the sidewalk at midday, or heard Catalan spoken at the marketplace. I can't tell you anything about the place known as Barcelona, but I can tell you a little about the punk band who take their name from the city: they destroy.

There's a brashness to naming your band after the city you live in, a kind of "we run this town" swagger. Barcelona are made up of members of the city's best punk bands and the seven songs on their debut EP epitomize the dense, meticulously-constructed HC sound that has emerged in the city over the past decade. The bass-heavy rhythm of "Pasión" echoes Una Bestia Incontrollable, and the air raid siren guitars of "Bomba" and "Seguidores del Orden" sound like sped-up Destino Final riffs. But they also bring something new to the table, a female singer spitting hellfire all over these tracks. Her enraged, emotionally-raw delivery is the beating heart of this band.

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