What the *^&%*? For all the adventurous rock fans, this is Boikot. A Spanish quartet who play a mix of punk rock, overall rock, a touch of ska, classic metal and a lot more. Boikot have been around for a while. Started in 1987, a lot of line up changes, 8 studio albums (1 live), 2 full-length videos and a biography. With the album De Espaldas El Mundo (which means Backs to the world) Boikot is trying win some ground in other countries and spread their message worldwide. Every one of the 14 songs is sung in Spanish. The message is political to the bone, making this somewhat of a frustrating album. If you’re someone who always reads the lyrics and you don’t know a thing about the Spanish language…..well, tough luck. Music crosses boundaries so the, at times very good punk rock does make sense, even if you don’t understand the lyrics. The vocals unfortunately are boring and not convincing at all. This is however well compensated by the music.

Nice guitar riffing and lead work; very good rhythm parts. There are even a few old-fashioned guitar harmonies on the album (hence the classic metal comparison). On ‘La Vieja Excuela’ you can listen to an accordion. The song ‘Ines’ is partially sung by a child, which gives it something of a traditional atmosphere. To tell you the truth, I have nothing at hand to compare this album with. Perhaps a little Union 13 or Pennywise, especially in the up-tempo parts. But the flirting with traditional music and instruments, childrens` voices and of course the Spanish lyrics give the album a certain originality. If only they had a singer who could put some dynamics and attitude into the sound and a few more distinctive hooks; this could have been an pretty good album. Without that it’s a just a punk rock album that chose a different road to travel on. Nothing more, nothing less.