Decentes Revive Latin Pop-Punk with Debut Album ‘Alegoría Conceptual’
Born out of the lineup of punk-rock veterans D-Cent Jerks, Decentes is a Latin pop-punk quartet from the island of Puerto Rico. What initially was intended as another D-Cent Jerks album, this time in Spanish (a first for the band), eventually morphed into a new project that took the line up in a new direction, and Decentes was born.
The first release by Decentes, Alegoría Conceptual (2017) features ten tracks of pure catchy pop-punk. Exploring a subgenre of Latin pop-rock that few have successfully done, the sound resembles that of Mexico’s Allison and Colombia’s Don Tetto but with hints of post-Dookie Green Day and a tone that reminds me of the Suicide Machines self-titled album (2000) (I’m probably the minority here, but I love that album).
Despite the similarities to other bands in the genre, Alegoría Conceptual manages to differentiate itself from the bunch. With the poppy and raspy vocals of Mike Mulet and the melodic fills of trombonist Dano Melendez, the album sounds familiar yet fresh. The band incorporates elements of ska-punk… without the ska and just one trombone instead of a full-fledged horn section. After listening to the album for a week, I can’t get the catchy tunes out of my head, with my current favorites being “En El Ayer,” “Frente a La Tormenta,” “Imaginacion Perdida” and “1938.”
Decentes is an atypical band trying something new, and they highly succeed at this attempt. Topped with a great production and a great amount of love and attention to detail that come across with every track, Alegoría Conceptual is easily one of my favorite Latin pop-punk albums of the last ten years.
Alegoría Conceptual is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Deezer and in physical copy CD.
The band is scheduled to perform at Ramas Festival on 17-18 March at Maria Beach in Rincon, Puerto Rico.
