Fea - The Nerve

San Antonio's Fea have never been interested in polite punk. Formed by bassist Jenn Alva and drummer Phanie Diaz after the end of Girl in a Coma, the all-woman Chicana band built its reputation on fast, unvarnished songwriting that sounds pulled straight from the genre's late-seventies heyday. The Nerve is their third full-length and their first new music in four years, and it arrives with a very clear thesis: stop being quiet.

The nine songs here move quickly and hit hard. Opener "Careful" sets the tone with a warning about watching what you say, and the album spends the rest of its running time refusing to take that advice. "Paco" is a Spanish-language track written in memory of vocalist Letty Martinez's cousin, and it sits alongside songs that take aim at gender-based violence, restricted autonomy, and the gap between the American dream and who actually gets to live in it. The band describes the record as a reflection on survival, truth, and growth, drawn from personal experience and pointed outward.

Fea arrived in 2015 with a self-titled debut co-produced by Alice Bag, Laura Jane Grace, and Lori Barbero, followed it with No Novelties in 2019 and the covers EP Take Cover in 2023. The Nerve is their first record for Cosmica Artists, a move the band made to widen their reach, and it plays like a group that spent four years sharpening every edge.

Pressed on vinyl by Cosmica Artists. A loud, unsentimental record from one of Texas punk's most vital bands.