REVIEW: Mariachi El Bronx - Mariachi El Brox II

Mariachi El Bronx
Mariachi El Bronx (II)
(out of 5)

Credit where credit is due; when The Bronx alluded to the fact they wanted to become a mariachi band, they went out and did it. They did it with gusto, their first release a surprisingly fun album.

For many, that was where the ‘joke’ should have ended. The joke is on everyone who assumed Mariachi El Bronx was just a novelty band. Mariachi El Bronx (or II, fitting with the bands regular output of self-titled albums) once again shows the earnest love the hardcore group have for music south of the border.

It’s all implicitly well constructed, with vocalist Matt Caughthran eerily as at home crooning as he is barking in full hardcore mode. The problem is that the album wears thin halfway through. Perhaps that’s a generalisation of mariachi music, but you get the ‘idea’ (read: formula) of the whole album by the time you reach fifth track ‘Norteno Lights’.

The welcome respite comes immediately afterwards in ‘Mariachi El Bronx’, an instrumental track that shifts dynamic throughout the song. The Bronx don’t need to wear their hearts on their sleeves but the second installment shows how much they enjoy a different musical direction.

It is a lot of fun, but might still perhaps bear all the hallmarks of a novelty act.

Mariachi El Bronx - 48 Roses


By Benjii Jackson