The Black Heart Procession ‎– Amore Del Tropico

As a youngster exploring the fringes of the San Diego punk scene, my engagement with 'Amore del Tropico' was something of a step into a new world. The Black Heart Procession had been doing their thing for some time, and I was a fan of the members' other projects and a handful of tracks on the early records, but it was with this record that the band really asked me to step wholly through their looking glass, instead of just reaching through for song-lengths at a time. For me, it was a point of no return. What 'Amore del Tropico' achieved was a bit of a fluke in the time and space that it occupied (at least in my experience), as it reached out beyond the immediacy of punk catharsis for a more revelatory, cinematic experience that was meant to invite its listeners in, something that felt like it was a part of a bigger world beyond that of the style of the moment. For the first time, I saw that a record could truly encompass its own space, its own world of language and aesthetic centered on a concept that wore its pastiche on its sleeve like a road map of inspiration. If not for 'Amore del Tropico,' I believe it's fair to say that I wouldn't enjoy the kind of music, film, books, and other forms of art that I do. The composition and execution of the record are both unimpeachable, striking a perfect middle ground between dense, orchestral arrangements and a spartan sense of punk immediacy that reaches considerately through blues, lounge, latin, and much more to make something still entirely personal. Still hands-down one of the most affecting pieces of 'concept' music I can think of, 'Amore del Tropico' is a beckoning, bleakly romantic play of death fantasy that consumes its players and becomes a living creature of its own - an incomparable liquid fever dream of punk noir.