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SLEVY is a one man project from Irún, Basque Country. This Vol. 1 is part of a two LP series containing the artist's complete discography. Vol. 1 has his first two EPs, compilation tracks and unreleased songs, all recorded around 2005. SLEVY seems to really be someone who loves all aspects of music within the punk umbrella. Ranging from darker, melancholic heavy tracks to catchy garage rock, and also some punk and hardcore influences in the songs, SLEVY does it all without it sounding like a novelty. But he basically took all the influences from Eastern European punk bands of the 80s. A real dark gold gem now collected on one LP.
Our take: Slevy is a one-man project from Basque Country and Vol. 1 collects a bunch of recordings made around 2005. According to the liner notes, most of these tracks were released across two EPs and a few compilations, but when I search the names of those EPs and compilations nothing comes up… have they been scrubbed from history or did they exist in the first place? Who knows? I’m not doubtful that the tracks on Vol. 1 come from different sources and sessions, though, as the recording and songwriting styles change from track to track. The quality is uneven, but fucking hell some of these songs are scorchers! While the label’s description references Eastern European punk as a key influence on Slevy, I hear a lot of classic Spanish punk in the sound. Perhaps it’s a side effect of the lyrics being in Spanish, but I hear some of the trademark Clash-isms of early Spanish punk in Slevy’s sound, albeit with many other influences mixed in. “Hadas En El Infierno,” creeps along at a menacing Q: Are We Not Men? tempo before erupting into one of those anthemic, Clash-y choruses. “Pesaje a Utramar,” on the other hand, has a bigger, Buzzcocks-influenced sound. With over 40 minutes of music spread across these fourteen tracks, there’s the feeling that you’re sifting through a lot, but the highs here are undeniably high, and the last handful of tracks where they really lean on the pop melody are worth sticking around for. If Slevy buckles down and puts out a wall-to-wall banger a la Blood Visions, I could see Vol. 1 becoming a very desirable record. For now, though, it’s one of those great little secrets we lovers of international punk can’t get enough of.