Bogotá’s UNIDAD IDEOLÓGICA sound is pure high intensity hardcore. The eight songs on their debut 12” clock in below 15 minutes and not a single second is wasted. Their sound is very bass and drum driven, full of breakneck, pummelling relentless beats which do not rest for a second, setting a claustrophobic atmosphere for the noise to grow. Feedback ladden guitars at times verge on BM, which brings RAW POWER, EXECUTE, GISM and DISARM to mind, creating the perfect background for a raging vocalist full of venom to sing about fear, control, technology, and the rampant neoliberalism destroying their land and literally killing as we speak.

UNIDAD IDEOLÓGICA was conceived at Bogotá’s Rat Trap, then recorded at Epia Estudios by Santiago Gonzalez during Colombia’s strict lockdown and curfews earlier this year. Finally it was mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.The design was undertaken by Darcy Cabrera with the photographic help of Isabel O’Toole.


Our take: Bogotá, Colombia’s Unidad Ideológica is the latest band to emerge from the hardcore hotbed that brought us Muro, Uzi, and Systema. Like those bands, Unidad Ideológica has a magical talent for capturing energy on record, with these eight tracks leaping from the speakers like they’re breaking loose from a high-pressure container. While the sound is visceral and immediate, it’s also layered and dynamic, encompassing everything from black metal-style melodic tremolo picking (“Metadata”), Broken Bones-esque metallic d-beat “Tercer Hito Del Desarollo” and full-on Discharge worship (the “A Look at Tomorrow”-ish “Vidas Controlidas”). Unidad Ideológica’s ability to work these elements into such a seamless and distinctive style reminds me of those people who look stylish no matter what they’re wearing, whether it’s a sweatsuit or head-to-toe lycra. With eight tracks in only 14 minutes, there isn’t room for anything that doesn’t pierce straight to the heart, and by the end my heart is pounding and I’m itching to hear it again. A certified ripper.