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You would believe that the name X2000 refers to some sort of antique 80’s game console or some other nerdy shit but you’d be wrong it is actually a high-speed Swedish train. That’s Trivia for you.
X2000 are indeed from Sweden although the person responsible for the snottiness is actually from Colombia hence the lyrics in Spanish and that distinctive vocal pattern. This album may not sound as macabre as the EP, but it is more direct, aggressive and appears to be not unlike a punk detector. If you have real love for punk music it will certainly make you want to jump around and do a silly pogo dance or, if you are too old and have a bad back, get the feet tapping faster than usual. The music is rooted in old-school Latino punk, especially Mexican bands from the mid and late 80’s, with that typical tupa tupa punk beat and straight-forward songwriting that has made a glorious comeback in our circles in the past years. However if it is reminiscent of HEREJIA, SECTA SUICIDA 20 or MELI, the primitive rabioso sonido is filtered through a chorus-drenched guitar sound and some weirdo punk transitions that goes well with the snotty punk songwriting, gives the listener the impression that s/he is actually on shrooms and conveys an atmosphere of dementia. Get the studs, the glue bag and the straightjacket, it’s time to punk out.
Our take: France’s Symphony of Destruction brings us the debut full-length from this Swedish hardcore band fronted by a Colombian… a real international cooperative effort. Like so many other recent hardcore bands featuring Colombians (both resident and expatriate), X2000 seems to have a direct line to levels of passion and intensity that elude most bands. The snarling vocals and bruising tupa-tupa drumbeats will grab your leather jacket by the lapels and toss you right into the pit, but for me the intricately melodic lead guitar is the star of the show. The guitarist’s sound is bathed in chorus and has a strong death rock flavor, but it’s not so much the sound as the way the guitarist plays, weaving webs of sinewy melody through the rhythm section’s blunt attack. I love moments like the breakdown in “El Linaje” and the intro for “Fragmentar El Futuro” where the lead guitar really shines, but it’s not the only trick in the X2000’s playbook. “Casa Tomada” finds the band bringing down their intensity just a hair to spotlight the vocals, which reach a crescendo of demonic slather on this track. Gótico Tropical has it all… a great, original sound, powerful songwriting, and a fierce and punk as fuck performance.