El Lobo en Tu Puerta Stream Santana Bendita in Full
Spanish three-piece El Lobo en Tu Puerta — do you need the translation? — release their fourth album, Santana Bendita, on Oct. 20 through Spinda Records. It starts with a punch, follows with a kick, and before you know it, the melee is on as the Chiclana-based outfit comprised of vocalist/noisemaker Julio, guitarist/drummer/vocalist Búho and drummer/guitarist/vocalist Tanín unleash an uptempo heavy rock barrage dizzying enough that by the time they get around to the wicky-wicky record scratches on the penultimate and particularly furious “Hong-Kong II” — it’s been a while since I heard those in the context of a rock song — the bruises have already begun to show up. Oh and they close the song with the riff to “Black Sabbath,” because obviously, right? Peppered throughout with organ and other key work from Koe Casas of Atavismo, the eight-song/35-minute offering brings little by way of relent and much by way of groove, and even when the assault isn’t all-out at every second, as on the verses of “La Llamaban Nadie,” the verse carries so much swagger that you just know the next shove isn’t far off. Like in the chorus, for example.
Actually, “Mother” starts the album off quietly enough, with a faded in organ line, rumbling distortion and some atmospheric-type vocals. It’s an intro to the record as a whole, and it builds up over the first half of its 4:38 to full-boar, but once it gets there, it doesn’t let up, a gritty, noisy low end, manic chorus complete with gang-shouts and still definitively heavy rock groove opening up as it goes. “Niño Salvaje” brings vocal antics and a more desert-hued fuzz, what might be some theremin from Julio or other effects, but underlying whatever particular moves these wolves 
at the door are making is a forward momentum that carries not just through the opening salvo that continues into the grungey and careening riffs of “Müllenbach F.S.” but through the end of the first half of the LP on the groove-riding “El Hombre de Cera” and onward through the finish. El Lobo en Tu Puerta, who made their debut in 2014, are obviously well in control of their sound — as much as they want to be — but they benefit from a madcap sensibility that extends to the shifts in vocals whereby the whole affair seems to be teetering on the edge and about to come off the rails. Santana Bendita resides right there, right in that moment just before the crash.
Disaster never strikes, if it needs to be said — if it did, it probably wouldn’t make the finished product of the LP anyhow — but as “La Llamaban Nadie” brings language-barrier-breaking catchiness and “Tan Fuerte” marries key-line intricacy with an overarching nod and post-Kyuss riff that’s so reworked as to be only barely recognizable, that resonant danger is always there. And for sure as El Lobo en Tu Puerta play to the unexpected, “Hong-Kong II” and seven-minute closer “Pensylvania” (sic) meet the challenge head-on, the former with the already-noted scratches and the latter by shifting into a massive lumbering progression, more Sleep-style march than the speedy Truckfighters-throwing-elbows vitality unleashed up to that point. Does it last? No. But, where one might expect the band to shift into a fast, full-throttle ending from that plod, they instead turn to noise to fill out the second half of “Pensylvania,” capping with drones and effects that once more delight in reveling in blindsiding the first-time listener. Or perhaps suckerpunching is a more apt image. Either way, part of the fun of Santana Bendita is its rough-and-tumble mindset, so to have them close by going completely in the other direction feels like a wonderfully sneaky move.
Maybe that’s the crash and they decided to leave it in after all. Go figure.
Santana Bendita is “premiering” internationally on some massive swath of sites today, and I’m not usually into that kind of thing where not-at-all-exclusivity masquerades as exclusivity, but Spinda Records does good work in promoting Spanish heavy and El Lobo en Tu Puerta are a kick in the ass, and sometimes that’s just what you need.
If that’s you, dig in below, and by all means, enjoy:
‘Santana Bendita’ is a place full of lonely hearts. ‘Santana Bendita’ is the refuge for lost chances, where memories of black smoke and melancholy get trapped. We all live in ‘Santana Bendita’ – it’s everywhere but you still don’t know.
Three years after El Lobo En Tu Puerta’s last full-length ‘Bestias del Sur salvaje’ and two years after the EP ‘Guantánamo’, the Spanish power trio is back with ‘Santana Bendita’, a new album which is a huge step in the career of the band, leaving aside for the first time their particular vision of heavy blues and getting completely involved by the sounds of the 90s. But does ‘Santana Bendita’ sound more stoner… more grunge… more sludge… heavier? It might be… but however it sounds they always are the very own and unique El Lobo En Tu Puerta – and you’ll love it!
For this new album, Julio (vocals, theremin, effects), Búho (vocals, guitars, drums) and Tanín (vocals, drums, guitars) worked with additional musicians Koe Casas (Atavismo, The Agapornis) on the keyboards and Jesús Trivinho on the turntables. ‘Santana Bendita’ was recorded, mixed and mastered by Javier Rondán at Audiorama Estudio (Spain) in July 2020. The band also signs up with Spanish indie label Spinda Records (Viaje a 800, Moura, Acid Mess, Grajo, Rosy Finch, Habitar La Mar, Híbrido…) for its release, with an artwork and photography of Pitu García.
‘Santana Bendita’ is set to be released on 20th October 2020 on digital, streaming and in a triple edition on 12″ vinyl limited to 500 hand numbered copies, including download code. But before, video-singles “Pennsylvania” and “Hong Kong II” were 1st September and 8th October respectively. Both videos were directed, recorded and edited by Spanish visual artist Pitu García, responsible also for the album artwork.
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Tags: Chiclana, El Lobo en Tu Puerta, El Lobo en Tu Puerta Santana Bendita, Santana Bendita, Spain, Spinda Records
