Eldopa
The Complete Recordings
7.6
This was my first time listening to El Dopa, but honestly…they felt like long lost friends. I am sure these guys got labeled “working class” a number of times throughout their career because A) they fucking rip and B) they don’t experiment with unnecessary theatrics.
If you like punk and metal chances are you will like this Oakland foursome. Impassioned shouting, chugging riffs, and a few beautifully clean notes really define their sound, and it’s the cleaner passages that amazed me. It’s that contrast that makes them unique. I can only imagine how fun this shit would be to hear live after a few pints. From the depressing, doom-like notes in “The Burning” to the frantic, boot stomping number “Dormant,” this is a collection of extremes and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Hell, they’re even accessible on “Clawing at the Walls”. If you’re ever angry as hell and want El Dopa to channel your pain, play that sucker and I challenge you not to scream your blackened little emo lungs out.
El Dopa is not punk by numbers. They have a clear agenda. This only happens every once in a great while so it’s unfortunate that a similarly named, albeit much worse band issued a lame cease and desist order on them. From what I read, that was the nail in the coffin. There aren’t many bands out there that embody the punk aesthetic as purely as El Dopa did, and the fact that they were a flower in a field of shit makes their demise all the more disappointing. Buy The Complete Recordings to honor a band that cared enough to craft their own sound and strive through the bullshit to channel a collective anger and produce something positive. More importantly, buy it because it’s corrosive punk that will pucker the angry asshole in you.
