When Brujeria arrived on the death metal scene in 1990, they announced their existence with the 7” “¡Demoniaco!.” Its cover was a cheap punk collage of extremely graphic crime photos probably culled from ¡ALARMA!, the infamously gory Mexican tabloid (accordingly graphic content at that link). The band was comprised of members of Faith No More, Fear Factory, and Napalm Death, but they hid their identities, pretending to be actual Mexican drug lords who hid their identities to keep law enforcement at bay. I’m not sure how many people bought into that preposterous conceit (though I know one person who did, JIM), but they kept the music and the gory artwork coming, releasing the classic “¡Machetazos!” single on Alternative Tentacles in 1992, then the 1993 full-length Matando Güeros, which instantly became notorious for sporting their nastiest cover yet—a hand from out-of-frame displaying a decomposing severed head.
 

 
Once the cat was out of the bag about the band’s true identities, it turned out that for the most part its members really were Latino—which made their “Macarena” parody “Marijuana” all the more potent and hilarious a stab, IMO—and the band has continually existed to this day, albeit with a massively revolving lineup. And as would seem sensible for a band partly comprised of Mexican-Americans, they really do not like Donald Trump, and to register their displeasure, they’ve released a t-shirt that swaps in the Donald’s shitlousy fucking head for the decaying head from Matando Güeros, complete with the necrotic skin on the nose. Do I need to warn you that graphic images of severed heads are graphic? I don’t, right?
 

 

 
Compounding the extremely dark humor in this is the fact that the shirt is being made available through Walmart. (I include a link to Walmart for illustrative purposes only, and I would encourage you, if you want one of these, to buy one elsewhere. They’re way less expensive on Amazon, and of course buying one from the band’s label is a more directly supportive option.) I understand this, actually—there are significant pockets of death metal fans in areas where Wallyworld is the only retail outlet, but are these shirts actually in stores? I would tend to doubt it, since far less graphic record covers have been banned from the chain. And on the political end of the discussion, while Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, famously served on Walmart’s board from 1986 to 1992—at a time when she was married to the governor of Arkansas, where that chain is headquartered—it’s hard to imagine that company would officially or even privately support her candidacy over the virulently anti-ACA, anti-immigrant, anti-corporate tax, pro-wage depression Trump. On the other hand, Trump has talked about a 45% tariff on Chinese imports, which couldn’t possibly make Walmart very happy.

Brujeria’s new album Pocho Aztlan will be released on Friday.

Check out the lead-off single “Bruja” (and more) after the jump…