Fakie

There’s something about two-piece bands that just ooze energy, perhaps it’s the 200% effort they give to make up for the missing members, maybe it’s just the raw passion of owning the spotlight, that every moment is given greater authority. Whatever that spirit is, duos are appearing in increasing numbers, making it less of a niche thing, however, none of them hurl as many screams, thrash as many riffs, thump as much destruction, or serge as much adrenaline as Cardiel. These guys are gonna do their best to fuck you up!

Based in Valencia, Mexico City, the punk-dub-stoner-metal-psychedelic pairing of Samantha Ambrosio (drums, vocals) and Miguel Fraino (guitar, vocals) is as ferocious as much as it is euphoric. Based around an underlying love of skateboarding, the duo have crafted a record which throws you around the room by the neck from a thousand miles an-hour with their breakneck speed thrashing, to grinding to a dub-step-reggae halt with droned out grooves. Local Solo is as unsettling as it is exhilarating.

Whether you’re racing down the highway on a board or not, the sheer youthful aggressive riffs that Cardiel thrash out are staggering in their depth, pace, and time scale. If you knew where tracks such as ‘Tabla’ or ‘STYG’ were heading then you’d be a liar as their sheer power keeps you gripped and desperate to hear every last frenetic riff and venomous spat vocal. When you think you’ve got an idea of what the band are about, they throw you into three minutes of dub reggae at the end of ‘Preveral en el Coping’, or slap you across the face with gut-busting atomic riffs on ‘Sheriff Hernandez’.

What must not be lost amongst all of the riffs and thunderous drumming is the musical prowess of these two. Such dramatic turns of pace, changes of not just time signatures, but crossings of genres, feeding off of each others’ baited breath, to craft songs of coherence alone would be impressive, never mind the sheer beauty of their youthful destruction.

Cardiel cannot be held down and pigeonholed into fitting into genres or categories, they are a bomb in mid explosion, filling every space with their raw and brutal energy, and often devastating musical ability. For an album to give your day a severe kick to the head, Local Solo is a must.