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Tozcos started in 2013 in Orange County, California and this is their second LP.
"Infernal" was based around perception. Perception of ourselves and the world around us. The idea that hell is not so much a place of demons and burning flames but more so a reflection of our shame and insecurities. How a lot of our torment is connected to the perception we have of ourselves. Justified or not. A lot of these feelings come from our background of families being Mexican immigrants in the US.
Musically, our influences are simple for the most part. We really love punk from the area that we are from, like Adolescents and TSOL, and we carry that stuff in our blood no matter what band we are in. This is mixed in with our love of Spanish-speaking punk, and other international hardcore punk such as Eskorbuto, GBH, Toreros After Olé, Svart Framtid and Qloaqa Letal. We tend to funnel everything we do through our own creative ideas to end up with something that to us, has personality and can stand out but still feel familiar in the world of punk and hardcore.
Our take: I have to start by saying how much I love this record. I’ve been listening to it non-stop since it dropped in late November; it’s now mid-January and I’m still listening to it daily. Santa Ana, California’s Tozcos hadn’t put out a record since 2018, so I imagine Infernal took a lot of people by surprise. I kinda knew it was coming, though. Last summer Thrasher magazine flew Tozcos out to North Carolina to play, and by then I had heard through the grapevine their next LP would be on Toxic State. This felt particularly special and exciting because Tozcos would be the first band on Toxic State not from New York. So I had an inkling that Tozcos had something special in the cooker, and they confirmed that at the Thrasher gig, where their new songs blew me away. I feel like I had the riff from “El Vacio” stuck in my head for the entire three months between that set and when I finally got to listen to Infernal. When I sat down with the record, it was all I’d hoped it would be and more. Tozcos’ style is unique, their rhythm section rooted in UK82-style punk with its grooving, driving beats and hooky bass lines, but with harsher, more hardcore-style vocals, and while the guitarist can lock into the rhythm section’s groove, he also has these great-sounding lead parts that provide many of Tozcos’ most memorable hooks. While it’s not an obvious reference point for Tozcos’ sound, the guitar-playing reminds me of John Haggerty from Naked Raygun… huge-sounding, but with a leanness to it and a knack for crafting earworm lead lines. And while Infernal feels inspired, it also feels crafted, its exquisite production balancing power and immediacy, the songs intricate without feeling over-worked, and the packaging and presentation thought through in every detail (a meticulousness you can also see in the video for “Presos”). Honestly, though, just listen to it. Infernal is, as its cover hints, an electrifying record that will grab you from the first note and not let you go until the last.
- Label: Toxic State Records
- Format Type: 12"
- Media Condition: Mint (M)
- Sleeve Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)
- Genre: hardcore
- Genre Style: hardcore
- Year: 2023