Monte Negro reviewed
Monte Negro
Cicatrix
(Feed The Hungry)
Bilingual Los Angelinos move more spiritedly away from Latino alt-rock into the broader, blander realm of mainstream American rock.
It’s a bold move for Monte Negro to name their album Cicatrix, because it could be turned on them. As the word for skin tissue that eventually forms a scar over a wound, it can be interpreted as Monte Negro think their more ethnic past was something of an injury to them and will always be there as a reminder — not without expensive laser surgery. Aside from singing little more than half the new album in Spanish, they clearly want little to do with the rock en español movement.
It wouldn’t be such a frustrating departure if it didn’t lead exactly nowhere. Cicatrix displays an expert rock band: tight as a fist, slick in the studio, and having a familiarity that borders on generic. While it can lead to some of the best-sounding big-rock around (“Mi Duele No Estar Junto A Ti,” “ECG (El Fuser)”) it’s mostly a traffic jam of tricks gleaned from Nirvana, My Chemical Romance, Foo Fighters, and, as if to prove they’ve been listening to KROQ in the wee hours, Nada Surf. Proof is in the album’s final quarter, where spry Mexican pop rock in “Lejos (Me Gusta)” and “The Part Of Me You’ve Thrown Away” surface as counterpoints, a chance to suck Jarritos through a straw after too many helpings of meat and potatoes.
— Steve Forstneger
