Verónica Rodríguez de la Luz del Topo is about to make a new vlog post. The makeup is applied, the script is ready, the camera is on. As soon as she starts, a dementor (yes, that hideous creature from the Harry Potter series) bursts in and squeezes the few bright memories that remained inside La Elvira’s mind. And while this atrocity happens, the cheesy emo song playing for the video turns into A Season In Hell’s opening song “Strangle You.”
If my attempt in contemporary fiction throws you off, let me apologize. But for me, it’s the easiest way I could find to start describing Mentira Mentira’s sophomore album. This one-man band formed by Tijuanense musician Gabriel Rey was born with a true punk attitude, but now it’s traveled onto something more somber. Fueled by anger, noise, extraterrestrial influences, and presumably a lot of weed, each of the nine songs that form A Season In Hell are rooted post-rock. Just look at the “Visions” video to start off properly on MM’s vibe.
As Gabriel stated on an interview, part of his composition process consists on muting a movie and improvising riffs over it. This approach gives a cinematic feel to some tunes such as “From Outer Space,” “And There Was Nothing,” “Abduction,” and “Heaven’s Gate.” On the other hand, songs like “Baby” or “Sandclocks” are shorter and less melodious than the majority of their post-rock counterparts, somehow staying true to their punk origins. This makes for an interesting blend that ultimately puts Mentira Mentira on the spot for people seeking an adequate soundtrack for hating the world without having to listen to death metal.
We can’t all be “darks,” as La Elvira says. But hell, at least we can try going down some real, no-bullshit dark listening paths any given night.