Qloaqa Letal
Nunca, Siempre
Recorded in 1983 in the city of Valladolid, Qloaqa Letal's mythical status made them one of the weirdest bands to come out of the second wave of Spanish punk. They never released anything on vinyl, but they appear on a bunch of foreign compilation tapes under a pseudonym (Ddeadly Sewer) which made the rumors about them grew wilder and wilder. We can only imagine how big they would have been had they released a vinyl record, but giving that they came from a rather un-punk city, only a tape it was. Said tape has ever since been circulated amongst punks all over in the form of dubbed tapes (and a terribly put together CD from 2001). You'll have to look really hard to find a Spanish punk which doesn't know them, yet they were mainly (and may we say criminally) unknown abroad. Their cult status was based around their frontman Rouky, a survivor of London 1977 which brought back the tricks learned in the big Smoke to Valladolid. Qloaqa Letal looked like a bunch of misfits with leather, face paint and clothes ripped to shreds being their aesthetic. Their sound was equally odd with many people claiming they used a drum machine to record their 'Nunca, Siempre' demo cassette. Their guitar sound was the crudest Spain had witnessed by 1983 and while clearly hardcore infuenced their sound was the perfect hybrid between both punk and hardcore. Their lyrics were something else. Nasty depraved anthems full of hate and strangely enough with a massive poetic edge. They even managed to turn an Espronceda poem into a killer punk song on 'Desesperacion.' Songs like 'Valladolid, Qloaqa Letal,' 'La Vida Me Escupe' or 'Ya Te Vale Policia' will forever be in the pantheon of Spanish punk anthems next to any Cicatriz or Eskorbuto songs. Finally re-released by Metadona Records the 'Nunca Siempre' reissue comes housed in a 325gsm reverse board sleeve including a 30x30 lyric insert with pictures of the band. If you had to only buy one reissue record this year (or this decade really) it will be this one.