La Armada is a hardcore punk and metal band formed in Santo Domingo in 2001 and based in Chicago since 2008, which mixes its music with traditional Dominican and Caribbean rhythms and sings in Spanish and English.

Santo Domingo

The band began in the capital with the bassist Alberto “Mani” Marte, the drummer Luis Martínez, the guitarists Paúl Rivera and Jonathan Salazar and the singer Javier Fernández. The punk and metal scene of the country was small, so they booked bands and organized shows wherever they could find a space, in abandoned buildings and backyards.

Chicago

To find more opportunities as a hardcore band, La Armada relocated to the United States: Marte moved to Florida in 2004 and the rest of the band joined him. In 2006 the band opened for Los Crudos at a Latino punk festival in Chicago, and by 2008 it was based in the city. There it released a self-titled album on Fat Sandwich Records in 2012, the EP «Crisis» in 2014 and «Anti-Colonial Vol. 1» on Creep Records in 2018. Its lyrics deal with colonialism, capitalism, immigration and racism, and the band calls its style “Latino Hardcore Fury”.

Recent years

The band had to cancel a European tour because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Javier Fernández left in 2019 and was replaced by the singer Casper Torres, who debuted on the EP «Songs of the Exiled I: Chicago» (2020); the series was dropped and the band released the EP «Opías» in 2021, and in 2022 the album «Anti-Colonial Vol. 2», on Lockjaw Records, Thousand Islands Records and Mal De Ojo Records. Eric Urrea became its drummer, and in September 2024 the single «500 años» introduced Enrique “Quique” Vargas as lead singer. The band has toured with Propagandhi, Iron Chic, Sick of It All and Death by Stereo.

Legacy

La Armada is one of the Dominican hardcore bands that built a career abroad, in the punk circuit of Chicago, while keeping its Dominican identity in its language, its themes and its rhythms.