Local Review: Macana — Life of Pain

Macana
Life of Pain
Self-Released
Street: 09.14.2025
Macana = Los Crudos + Mocosos

Generational rage caused by injustices and oppression has given birth to many genres of music and is one of the reasons that the hardcore punk scene fights for a voice to be heard, for change and a better future. Macana is one of the many bands in Salt Lake keeping the scene alive and vengeful by weaponizing the language of fervor, violence and wrath, immersing themselves in their music. 

Macana’s first EP, Life of Pain, is an eight-track album that blends Salvadoran roots from guitarist and vocalist Mauricio Lopez, entwining Spanish in their lyrics to emphasize the fact that music has no bounds. You can feel the fury behind Macana’s words whether you know the language or not.

If you love a good guitar chug, “Liar” won’t disappoint, with its catchy lyricism and expeditious riffs. Macana owns their breakdowns with aggressive and non-forgiving drumming that carries that same rage and palpable taste for blood. 

Similar to “Basta Ya” (“That’s Enough”), “Mozote” has speed, ferocity and so much madness. Both songs are full of passion and grit; not only is their meaning brutal and real, but they present that in their playing. Lopez’s emotions deliver a reality of the true evil injustices in many people’s stories. 

“Venganza,” meaning “vengeance,” stands out with its fast-picking guitar riffs and high-energy force, as Lopez guides us through a chant of revenge and taking our rights and lives back from the hands of our oppressors. Halfway through the tempo slows down, leading us to what we believe is the end of the song until Preston Clarke and Nika Bennett fuse their instruments of guttural bass and ascending percussion, edging on the need for more high energy, while the tempo is picked up once more and lyrics like “We erase their name / Revenge is served” give listeners the insatiable thirst for more. Macana knows how to own a shanty song, and while exploring their music full of anti-authoritarian themes, I couldn’t help but chant to them myself. So many realities and spoken truths in their music are far beyond the average person’s grasp. I truly felt an impression of unity and hope listening to Life of Pain: a feeling I have not had in quite some time.  —Litzi Estrada

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