Let’s get right to it: this band fucking rocks. Like a go go dancer let loose on a drunken ketamine spree at the Museum of Modern Art, these guys do not give a shit, or at the very least, conceal their shit-giving through a beloved careful mix of beautiful loud schlock punk.
Of course, No Doubt is the first band I think of in comparison to them, but that wouldn’t be a fair assessment considering the fact Skin On Flesh would never write a diss track in response to Courtney Love’s fear of growing old. They would tear her limb from limb, applying lipstick and expired kerosene in the process (just to be thorough) than ever allow a bitch to holler back at them. Unless of course they are willing to pick up their bar tab.
We recorded this EP in Coyoacán, Ciudad de Mexico while we were visiting, we prepared four songs for Terrible and Sad in total, three of them will be released by ourselves. The other one (El Tiempo) will be featured in the new expansion of the video game: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.
Take a listen to “Terrible and Sad” and tell us if you think it is as destructive and beautiful as we do.
Like The Ramones before them, these guys make quick, sharp, biting, to-the-point rock ‘n’ roll, in a way that says so much with the small amount of time these songs contain. The guitar lines don’t change tone and are STILL perfectly crisp… and the drumming behind it all is fact-paced and expertly crafted. These two elements alone make Skin On Flesh better than half the groups I have heard so far this year.
But the real highlight, it isn’t the killer bass riffs, or how every part of this band blends together better than a fresh Mexican margarita, it is the princess of punk aversions herself, Laura Jiménez. In just three songs, she has completely won me over the way Debbie Harry did Christgau or even his beloved Madonna. With Stefani swagger and on-point vocals, she takes Skin On Flesh to levels of Dawson’s Creek season two soundtrack perfect plot-driven background music I would have never believed a band could reach in 2023.
It is mind-blowing that this band has made a project as succinct as this, with the grace and precise vision one might equate to Rick Rubin consoling the Beastie Boys just after explaining how they can evolve even further than Cookie Puss and Fudgie the Whale parody. For my money, they are on their way to their masterpiece.
Berlin based and headed all over the world soon, Skin On Flesh are the best band I have heard in awhile. And in just three short tracks, each one as good as the last, I’ve become a fan. Replay after replay, the songs get better and better. Even the long one, “Se Perdió Mi Corazón,” sticks out like a sore thumb in all the best ways, with a long ass breakdown from the music, making it all the better once they start up playing again.
Here’s to their next album being three times as long and four times as successful. These beautiful bastards deserve it.
