"Stadium crust" is one of our all-time great subgenre names because it's such a contradiction in terms. If any crust-punk band were to appear within walking distance of a stadium concert, it would cease to be a crust-punk band. That's how it works. But the "stadium crust" term does useful work, since it describes the ambitious majesty that a truly transcendent crust band like Tragedy can capture. Ideally, stadium crust is intense, uncompromising DIY music that captures an oceanic feeling that goes beyond venue-size designations. All of this is to say that Tijuana's Habak might be the best active stadium crust band that we've got today.
Habak have been around for a decade, and their sound is a molten, crushing attack that's way more fully realized than anything you'd expect from a fully DIY entity like this. Habak songs can be long as hell, and they often build from ominous post-rock to raging black metal. At their best, they sound absolutely monumental. In the past few years, Habak have released split LPs with Tijuana's Fractal and LA's Lagrimas, and now they've announced Mil orquídeas en medio del desierto, their first non-split album since 2020's Ningún Muro Consiguió Jamás Contener la Primavera.
Thew title of the new Habak record translates to A thousand orchids in the middle of the desert, and they've shared the album-opening title track. The song is six minutes long, and it's all about attempting to find moments where you feel alive in a world that's increasingly built to prevent that from happening. I feel alive when I hear this track, a stirring slow-build onslaught that sounds more like Deafheaven than Discharge. Below, check out "Mil orquídeas en medio del desierto" and the new LP's tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Mil orquídeas en medio del desierto"
02 "Desarraigo"
03 "Manual de un naufragio"
04 "Alienación y delirio"
05 "Interludio - En la tempestad"
06 "Notas sobre el olvido"
07 "Hacia el abismo"
08 "Dejemos hablar al viento"
Mil orquídeas en medio del desierto is out 4/4 on Alerta Antifascista/Shove/Exabrupto/ Persistent Vision.
