by Álvaro Molina (@alvaromolinare)
Manual de Combate (Spanish for “combat manual”) is a four-piece anarcho-punk ensemble that crafts a unique sound blending noisy free jazz, harsh post-hardcore, and politically charged spoken word passages. Since 2015, they’ve been in the Chilean underground scene establishing themselves as an iconoclast, revolutionary band through cathartic live shows and a fierce musical output. Now, with the release of their new album Mapas Auténticos del Mundo Imaginario, Mapas Imaginarios del Mundo Real, punk gets unleashed into free-form jazzy performances.
It all started five years ago, when Gaspar Muñoz (bass) and Mario Vallecillo (drums) wanted to start a noise punk duo using strict DIY ethics. They self-produced and self-released several EPs that captured the essence of unrest in the Chilean streets. With a vibrant and rough-edged sound, Manual de Combate is straightforward when it comes to political issues. Some of their early works, such as the 16-minute epic Deus Ex Machina EP, tells bleak stories about inequality, discontent, and youthful rebellion. The band also relies heavily on samples of political speeches, a resource that reaffirms their conscious ideologies in their songs. As time progressed, they found a special niche in the Santiago hardcore scene. Their constant experimentation and torrent of releases led them to tour extensively through Latin America and Europe these last years, where they spread a message of resistance and strength through unity.
A turning point for them was the tracks "Antinomia," "Neolenguas," and "Panorama del Desarraigo," released between 2018 and 2019. In these songs, the band – now expanded to a four-piece outfit with Matías Pedreros on trumpet and Julio Cortés on tenor sax – added hectic streams of post-hardcore and free jazz to their sound. Fervently guided by a collaborative attitude - with their own label Imperecedero as a bastion of resistance – Manual de Combate has participated in significant underground events. One of them is the release of the international double compilation Aquí nos están matando (Here they are killing us) in 2019 to benefit the victims of state repression in Chile.
The amalgamation of on the road experiences and streetwise ethos reach new heights on the band’s abrasive new album. Mapas Auténticos del Mundo Imaginario, Mapas Imaginarios del Mundo Real opens with the intense “Deus Ex Machina II,” a two-part track that takes us through Manual de Combate’s social imagery of decadence and anarchy impregnated in these songs. It is a threatening imagination that yields a call for social uprising. The band unleashes a chaotic stream of free-form hardcore jazz that vividly incarnates the consciousness of a desperate society entrenched in agony. The fearless voices of collaborators Nahuel Martínez and Francisca Parada manifestly recite the conceptual principles that corrode the universe of the album. All of which is expressed in penetrating lyrics such as “la vida puede ser completamente distinta sin abstraernos del mundo” and “perdimos los lazos que nos hacen sentir en común”. Gaspar's impassioned and unique vocals unite the story and crystallize the feelings of rage, anguish, and exasperation.
The journey through this dreary soundscape continues with "Fiume,” a symphony of anarchy divided into three sections. In two of them, Manual de Combate ventures into caustic instrumental free jazz and goes deep into complex arrangements, bizarre movements, and a gloomy portrayal of feelings of strife. Much like punk jazz counterparts Naked City or Zu, these Chileans don’t shy away from creating a delicate balance between musical bedlam and structure.
The album culminates with the brilliant 13-minute epic “Aparcoa” which summarizes the soul and meaning of Mapas Auténticos… It is an ambitious prog-noise-punk extravaganza full of sharp dissonances and anarchic freedom. In it, Nahuel's voice continues to question the deepest connotations of social life. “Nuestros mapas actuales describen un mundo sobre el cual ningún ser humano ha puesto jamás un pie […] Estos mapas contienen tan poca información relevante para la vida humana que no es extraño que nos perdamos en ellos”.
On their third studio album, Manual de Combate manages to definitively settle into their underground trench, digging deep into the emotions and social anguish of postmodern society. Their message isn’t just ironic or witty. The lyrical and musical modalities of the band are an expression of conflict and contradiction, resistance, and exhortation, with a clear ideal that - until now - remains firm with a message of hope, strength, and resistance through unity.