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ESKAPO=KALAYAAN
by Eskapo

review by Rachel Swan
12.12.04

The best aspect of hardcore is the rage it embodies—even if rage shouldn't necessarily be the pinnacle of response. While that sometimes manifests in a lot of stupid drunk guys banging beer cans against their heads, the medium also provides a space for hard-hitting social commentary. In fact, the better, angrier hardcore bands are characterized by their brittle, sometimes intensely personal diatribes. Little wonder, then, that this scene became a haven for 1st and 2nd generation immigrant bands, whose songs often center on the contradiction of desiring a lost homeland, while seeking rootedness in a country that reviles them as "alien." Among them are Mexican-American groups such as La Plebe and Los Dryheavers, the Chinese-American group Say Bok Gwai, and Pinoi bands like the bilingual Bay Area-based outfit, Eskapo.

"The brand of hardcore we play," says one band member's description, "is not typical generic jock-core or re-hashed mediocrity but a mixture of old school, thrash, street punk, humor and political topics screamed in both Tagalog, a dialect of the Philippines, and English."

Often described as a proper analogue for the east coast straight-edge band, Minor Threat, Eskapo sounds like one long primal, sandpapery growl set to a driving rock beat. Not surprisingly, the band's live show is a thousand times more exciting than its recorded sound, mostly because it's impossible to package the schizoid energy and infectious personality of frontman Rupert Estanislao. Performing live, Rupert bounces off the stage like a five-foot cherub on some kind of crack-related drug, as Loi Fajardo's guitar grinds jagged, feedback-addled riffs over Max Fajardo's machine gun drumming. Although the band sounds a lot cleaner on disc, Rupert's voice gets flattened into one ominous, amorphous growl.

Still, Eskapo's sound is strong enough to convert the uninitiated, because the band members convey a tangible sense of anger and sadness through their scabrous, death-rock tones. Their emotions are most beautiful, and cruel, in songs like "Illegal Alien" and "Manila Sunrise", which combine Tagalog and English lyrics to loop the band members' desire for home with their tenuous status as immigrants. In the end, Eskapo's spiritual darkness gives the album tonal coherence, and forms the contours on which they build their sound.

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