There are times when listening to music is considered an escape from the problems of real life. We want to be transported to a place where the every day grind is dissipated and the ills of modern man don’t affect us. We also very rarely like to be faced with the injustices that have and continue to persist throughout the world. If we don’t see it or we’re not exposed to it, then it doesn’t exist and we can move on our way merrily. Unfortunately, that is not our true reality. Discomfort brings along change, sometimes slowly and sometimes in an instant. The importance of keeping an open mind and open heart is vital to the uplifting of all marginalized people. Invasive Species is one of those times that forces us to open our eyes and be presented with something we had never given a second thought to.
S.P.E.A.R. is a proud Guamanian quintet that purposely chooses to write music to vent generations of angst and frustration. In my (and most likely lots of others’) Americanized ignorance, I have never given a second thought of what the years of occupation of Guam could have wrought. Through short, catchy, and poignant songs, Invasive Species serves to illuminate the trials and tribulations of a native peoples from their lived experiences.
S.P.E.A.R. may live almost 8,000 miles from NYC, but it’s hard to not hear the influence of an Agnostic Front or Cro-Mags. Hell, lead singer, Machalek, sounds as if he’s distantly related to the one and only Paul Bearer. None of those comments are meant as a slight as S.P.E.A.R. masters the art of the style. The compactness of each song only further exemplifies the bitterness therein. There is no fluff, no distraction; just one-two fuck you and go.
There are two steps galore and more than a handful of stage dive worthy parts throughout. The mix is perfect and every instrument gets to shine. Lyrical themes range from declarations of cultural independence (“Omission”) to the introduction of Christianity to Guam and the pushback to that fact in current times (“Sign of the Cross”). While we all like to stay safe in our bubbles and echo chambers, we need to remember that it’s important to look beyond ourselves and see each other as real people. S.P.E.A.R. take that notion and put it right in front of our fucking faces.
I won’t go into my usual diatribe of breaking down each song so I’ve embedded the whole album in here for everyone to listen to. I urge you to read along to the lyrics while you do. This is far from virtue signaling (and even if it was: fuck off) on my part and more an acquiescence to my ignorance on the past and present issues of native Guamanians. What I am sure of is that Invasive Species is just the tip of the spear (sorry, had to) for this band and I am thoroughly looking forward to what the future holds for them.
- Fav song: “Sign of the Cross”
FFO: hardcore, NYHC, liberation, Chamorro, island life, two steps
Follow this fucking link to listen and while you’re there, fucking buy something from the band:
Windmills, Spinkicks, Headbangs, Push Pits 
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