Based out of Hialeah, a working class town on the outskirts of Miami, Guajiro – which means “War Hero” – has got a pretty diverse background. The band consists of members from Cuba and Puerto Rica and a Boston born Irishman completes the line-up. The band makes late ‘70’s Oi with much Latin influences. They mostly use English verses combined with Spanish choruses and their lyrics are about political and social struggles. 

After a Spanish intro song, which also could have been the first track of a Santana CD, Guajiro starts with their first single – ‘Santa Fe’. The song is a nice punk rock song, which is easy to sing-along (also the Spanish parts). The frustrating thing here is the fact it sounds really familiar, but I can’t remember why. Unfortunately ‘Santa Fe’ isn’t the only song which sounds familiar. Their punk rock is fresh and energetic, but the songwriting part isn’t that special. 

If it weren’t for their Latin influences I would have given this album a much lower score, because this music has been done a million times already. The Spanish parts in the music are the only parts which surpasses the mediocrity. The production of Material Subversivo is great, but even that can’t prevent the listener from being easily distracted.