Some gigs stay with you because of the bands on the bill. Others stay with you because the entire room feels like it is one bad decision away from descending into absolute chaos.
New Dead Metalfest at Fowlers Live in Adelaide in October 2017 gave me both.
Napalm Death, Lock Up and Brujeria came through one after another that night, and I was there with my camera in hand capturing as much of the madness as I could. It was loud, filthy, unpredictable and everything an extreme metal show should be.
It was also the last time Australian audiences witnessed Brujeria on our shores.
I still remember meeting Juan Brujo after that Adelaide show. For somebody surrounded by such a notorious mythology, he had this genuine light about him. He stayed around talking with the fans, sharing laughs and giving his time freely to the people who had come to see the band.
That memory means even more now.
Nine years later, Brujeria are finally returning to Australia alongside Carcass for the Putrefying Down Under tour. The Adelaide show will even bring them back into the same building, with Fowlers Live now known as Lion Arts Factory.
This time, however, Brujeria return carrying the immense loss of both Pinche Peach and Juan Brujo, who passed away within two months of each other in 2024.
Ahead of the tour, I caught up with El Criminal to talk about those losses, the decision to carry Brujeria forward, the continuing importance of Juan Brujo’s vision and the new music already beginning to take shape.
Carrying the Chaos Forward
There was never going to be an easy answer to what Brujeria should do after losing two people so central to its identity.
The death of Pinche Peach was devastating enough. Losing Juan Brujo only two months later left the surviving members facing a decision far greater than simply whether they should book another tour.
Could Brujeria continue without the man who created and led its mythology?
El Criminal explained that Juan Brujo’s son, who was playing drums with the band at the time, was instrumental in making that decision.
He wanted Brujeria to continue.
For El Criminal and the other surviving members, carrying on became a way of honouring Juan and Peach rather than attempting to replace them. Every show now carries their memory into another room, city and country.
Brujeria have recently taken that music into places the band had never reached before, including South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Everywhere they go, El Criminal says the passion surrounding Brujeria remains alive.
The faces onstage may have changed, but the chaos, or dismadre, continues spreading into every corner of the world.
A Viral Myth Before Viral Existed
I was around fifteen when I first came across Raza Odiada. This was before the internet gave us immediate access to every band member, interview and piece of history.
Back then, Brujeria felt genuinely dangerous.
There were masks, aliases and stories suggesting the musicians might be cartel members, wanted criminals or some very familiar figures from the extreme metal underground. You could never be completely sure where the truth ended and the mythology began.
It was more than a promotional gimmick. Juan Brujo understood how mystery could make people lean closer.
“I think Juan Brujo was a visionary. He was a genius,” El Criminal told me. “He kept it mysterious, floated rumours around of who was in the band, was it really cartel members, or was it really famous metal musicians? That had a tremendous promo, like a viral effect before viral was even a word, because there was no internet.”
Juan created a mythology that travelled around the world without social media, algorithms or carefully managed campaigns. People heard the music, passed around the albums and repeated the stories.
Brujeria became viral before most of us had any reason to use the word.
Speaking for the Raza
Behind the masks, violence and dark humour, Brujeria have always represented something deeper.
Juan Brujo used extreme music to speak for the Raza and tell stories rooted in Latino and Mexican experiences. Those stories covered borders, immigration, survival, prejudice and the desperation that drives somebody to risk everything in search of a safer life for themselves and their family.
Those experiences are not limited to one country or culture.
As El Criminal explained, people from many different backgrounds can understand the struggle of crossing a border and leaving one life behind in the hope of building something better.
That message feels especially relevant during what El Criminal described as strange and chaotic times. While politicians and public figures continue feeding hatred and bigotry, Brujeria will keep denouncing it in the way they always have: with anger, brutal music, dark satire and laughter aimed directly at those responsible.
The world has somehow become even more extreme, and Brujeria remain a fitting soundtrack for it.
Juan Brujo and Pinche Peach Beyond the Masks
When I asked El Criminal to choose a favourite memory of Juan Brujo and Pinche Peach, he could not narrow nearly a decade of chaos down to one story.
There were too many tours, flights, vans, backstage moments and ridiculous conversations. His time with the band had been one of the wildest rides of his life, filled with memories that could still make him laugh.
What stood out most was the connection Juan and Peach shared with the fans.
While some musicians finish their set and disappear into the dressing room, tour van or hotel, Juan and Peach wanted to be among the people. Fans would bring them handmade gifts, drawings and personal tributes, and both men understood what those gestures meant.
“They both loved the fans,” El Criminal said. “They just loved the contact with the fans. They had this super special connection with the crowd, and we want to keep that as well. We want to connect, and we want to show people that we are carrying on in the name and in the memory of Brujo and Pinche Peach.”
That description immediately took me back to Adelaide in 2017 and the Juan Brujo I briefly met after the show.
The mythology might have made Brujeria appear untouchable, but the people behind it understood the importance of being present with their audience.
Protecting that connection is now part of protecting their legacy.
Brujeria and Carcass: Two Different Kinds of Heavy
Brujeria’s Australian return alongside Carcass carries a natural sense of history.
The musicians behind the two bands have been friends for decades, Carcass have already taken Brujeria across Europe and the United States during the past couple of years, making Australia the next logical destination for the tour.
Although both bands are crushingly heavy, they arrive there by different roads.
El Criminal described Brujeria as the more chaotic and punk influenced force, while Carcass carry a stronger traditional heavy metal influence within their extremity. What connects them is not only friendship and musical history, but also a shared sense of self irony.
Neither band is frightened to aim some of the darkness and absurdity back at itself.
That combination makes Putrefying Down Under more than two legendary names sharing a poster. It brings together two bands that helped shape extreme metal while never allowing themselves to become trapped by its rules.
New Brujeria Music Is Already Being Written
The biggest revelation from our conversation was confirmation that the future of Brujeria will include new music.
The band have already started writing the follow up to Esto Es Brujeria, but there is no intention of rushing it simply to prove that Brujeria can still make another record.
“There’s gonna be new music. We’re working on it right now, but we’re taking it easy,” El Criminal revealed. “We don’t want to rush anything, because we want to make sure that it’s the best album since Raza Odiada, hopefully.”
That is a massive standard to set, but it also reveals how seriously the current members are approaching this next chapter.
They do not want to deliver something half arsed or create a lifeless copy of the records Brujeria have already made. They want to write something wild, exciting and worthy of the two men whose absence will be felt throughout its creation.
There is no release date yet, and there does not need to be.
For now, the important news is that Brujeria are writing again and allowing the music to develop naturally. If the early material is as wild and crazy as El Criminal suggests, the cartel still has plenty left to say.
Putrefying Down Under 2026
Carcass and Brujeria will hit five Australian cities this September:
- September 22: Magnet House, Perth https://www.oztix.com.au/
- September 24: Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide https://www.moshtix.com.au/
- September 25: Northcote Theatre, Melbourne https://www.moshtix.com.au/
- September 26: Liberty Hall, Sydney https://www.moshtix.com.au/
- September 29: Princess Theatre, Brisbane https://www.ticketmaster.com.au/
TOUR INFORMATION
https://swdpresents.com/
Carcass will continue to Townsville on September 30 and Auckland on October 2 without Brujeria.
I was there for the Adelaide chaos in 2017, and I cannot wait to have Brujeria back in the same room nine years later.
This will be a celebration, a memorial and one enormous outlaw party rolled into a single set. Most importantly, it will show that the spirit Juan Brujo and Pinche Peach created is still moving through Brujeria and the people who refuse to let it disappear.
El Criminal closed our conversation with the words that now define this chapter:
“Brujeria no murió. Aquí tengo su espíritu.”
Brujeria did not die. Its spirit remains.
Watch my complete conversation with El Criminal above, and get out to support Brujeria and Carcass when the Putrefying Down Under tour tears through Australia this September.
Viva Mexico. Viva Brujeria, cabrones.
