Brujeria - Pomona, CA - 3/17/23
Brujeria is an American death metal/grindcore band from Los Angeles, California. Their name means "Witchcraft" in Spanish. The band has Spanish lyrics with topics such as Satanism, anti-Christianity, sex, immigration, narcotics smuggling and politics. During performances and in photos, the band is shown wearing bandanas as if hiding from law enforcement. The band announced a very special tour that would include the full performance of their debut album Matando Güeros ("Killing Whites") for its 30th anniversary. A "Güero" is a Mexican-Spanish slang term for a blonde or light skinned/haired person. This tour would be the only time that the album would be played in full. One of the last stops on the tour was The Glass House in Pomona, California.
The venue was packed and cheered with excitement when the lights went out. The intro track Pura de Venta ("Pure for Sale") played over the speakers as the members of Brujeria made their way to the stage. The intro track finished, and they jumped into the first song from the Matando Güeros album which is Leyes Narcos ("Narco Laws"). With how fast and heavy their music is, it was no surprise to see fans go wild with moshing and shoving. Hearing the debut album in full was a real treat and Brujeria played many classics from that album including Seis Seis Seis ("Six Six Six"), Cruza la Frontera ("Cross the Border"), Greñudos Locos ("Long-Haired Maniacs") and Chingo de Mecos ("Fuckload of Cum"). The only song that was not played was the title track Matando Güeros, but only because that's always their ending song. After the final song from the album was played, Brujeria left the stage and took a quick break. They came back out to play some more songs since the audience wasn't ready to go home just yet. The next song played was La Migra (Cruza la Frontera II) ("Immigration [Border Crossing II]"). Songs like this always bring the fans together in unison as they sing along and mosh together. Even though the music is aimed towards Hispanics, it's no surprise to see different races coming together to enjoy the music. More Brujeria classics were played including Brujerizmo ("witchcraft), Colas de Rata ("Rat Tails") and Hechando Chingasos (Greñudos Locos II) ("Throwing Punches [Long-Haired Maniacs II]"). To end the show, singer Juan Brujo asked what the audience wanted them to play next. After a bunch of garbled recommendations, Brujo announced Matando Güeros, the one song everyone had been waiting to hear. The crowd went wild and even crowd surfers made their way to the stage. The show came to an end and Brujeria was packing up to leave when the true final song started to play over the speakers. It was the song Marijuana, a death metal parody of the pop song Macarena. That's definitely a song to smoke to and sing along to. It was a great Friday night spent and everyone in the audience was all smiles.
Photos and review by Misael Ruiz
IG: tarantulamanmr
