Angry De Mis Manos

Another high entry on the list of bands I really wouldn’t want to get into a fistfight with*, Downset were a great mid 90’s outfit and their first two LPs were unjustly overlooked.  I recently rebought their 1996 firework-in-your-exhaust-pipe Do We Speak A Dead Language? and it still kicks like a mule.

Not just like a mule, it kicks like a particularly ornery mule stung by a hornet, that has just had a really crap day at work and had a bit of a headache anyway. Like a particularly ornery mule stung by a hornet, that has just had a really crap day at work and had a bit of a headache anyway AND is really angry about the state of the world, to the point of lashing out indiscriminately. Like a particularly ornery mule stung by a hornet, that has just had a really crap day at work and had a bit of a headache anyway AND is really angry about the state of the world, to the point of lashing out indiscriminately, WHO has just received a parking ticket and is a bit cross at putting on a few pounds recently.

Downset are loud.  Downset are rocky, punky, rappy and very heavy indeed.  The band often get tarred with those most (rightly) reviled genres rap-metal and funk-metal but I cry ‘Bullshit!’.  Downset were a much heavier prospect, righteously and gloriously so.

Formed in LA as hardcore punk band Social Justice, they began to add heaviness and groove and mutated into Downset.  Still heavily political, one early song was written about the death of lead singer Rey Oropeza’s father at the hands of the LAPD, the Chicano-led band found themselves part of a burgeoning loud political revolution; guitarist Ares has also worked as Cypress Hill’s touring guitarist.

Sophomore LP Do We Speak A Dead Language? is a better written album than their debut, with more variation in the sound.  This is great as if allowed to pile up uninterrupted next to each other the heavier moments can feel a bit like being stuck next to a madman with a megaphone on public transport – you might well agree with every single word he is bellowing at you, but it just hurts after a certain point and the words stop gong in.

Downset go for the throat right from the starting gun, the mellow MLK intro leading gently into the righteous fury stomp of ‘Empower’**.  From there we rattle through the likes of ‘Keep On Breathing’, ‘Eyes Shut Tight’ right on up to the whiplash charms of ‘Fire’.  There’s lots of angry shouting and some truly excellent bass playing from James Morris which drives the band more than Ares’ riffs do.  Side closer ‘Touch’ features a trademark truly positive message about faith, hope and love being bellowed at you in a frightening manner in between some gentle guitar flourishes; something I don’t think there is enough of in rock.

I would also point out that Do We Speak A Dead Language? is a brilliantly produced album.  Roy Z does an absolutely bang-up job here, absolute clarity and depth on each and every sound, all

Do We Speak A Dead Language? rockets along in a similar fashion, furious songs about believing in God (Note to self: insert cross pun here), even angrier songs about the inequities and violence inherent in poverty and racism – all set to some quite titanic beats and grooves.  Unusually the LP’s best two tracks lurk in the middle of the second side.

First up is the graffiti-tastic ‘Pocket Full of Fatcaps’, a slower and groovier number, a far rockier than punkier tune.  I just find it so damned exciting and not just for the phrase ‘serious aerosolic expression’^, the tales of inner city peril and gang warfare obviously striking a chord with my little Welsh rural-bred arse.

Second up and my real favourite here^^ is the Spanish language ‘Sangre De Mis Manos’, which Mrs 1537 tells me translates as ‘blood on my hands’^*.  It’s freaking fantastic, just a real snarl of adrenalin and, you guessed it, anger; this time on a truly industrial scale.  Everything just comes together perfectly on this one track and the performance is off-the-scale, in-the-red, other-hyphenated-hyperbole hardcore perfection.  (See below for singalong-a-1537 version):

Downset just never broke on through, they had a reputation for being an absolutely crushing live band, supported all manner of miscreants on arena tours and headlined an Ozzfest stage, but never quite pushed it further.  There are a few similarities in sound and ‘tude with RATM but Downset were heavier again and lacked Rage’s facility for generalities and simplicity.

Do We Speak A Dead Language? stands as a mighty testament to the band at the very height of their ferocious powers, engines running hard, collision course fully locked in.

---

My copy is a 2017 reissue from Music On Vinyl on yellow vinyl, limited to 1000 copies and currently selling on Discogs for roughly £10 less than I pre-ordered mine for!  The pressing is absolutely superb, especially for coloured vinyl and the sound quality is deep and dynamic, so much better than my (spits) CD version.  It really could not be better made.

---

1011 Down(set).

*Suicidal Tendencies, Pantera and Black Flag being the top 3.  Nelson and the Cure charting a shade below.

**my electricity provides is a company called N-Power, this fuels my rage during this song as I channel all my ‘how much?!!’ anger into it.  True story.

^not to be confused with current president of that country just below Canada who continually indulges in ‘serious arseholic expression’.  It would be an easy mistake to make.

^^and third most played track in iTunes.

^*checking this just now via an exciting new development known as the internet, I was astonished to have a translation website offer up these conversational examples/phrases to me.  Very handy for the average traveller, one would imagine, particularly #5.