The Bilbao-based band Alkuperä are joining us today with a special premiere of their new video for “Ataraxia/Aponía”, marking the final visual chapter of their debut LP “Sendero Desesperanza”, released in 2025. The clip was recorded, mixed, and produced by DIYsaster Mike in December 2025, and it arrives a few months after the record itself, deliberately positioned as a closing statement rather than a launch tool.
“We wanted to present the project with the music video for this song, since it perfectly reflects the distinctive features of the album, both musically and lyrically,” the band explain.
“That kind of dark atmosphere we create, with quite pessimistic and existentialist lyrics.” The choice of “Ataraxia/Aponía” is practical rather than symbolic: it condenses the record’s tension, restraint, and unease into under three minutes, without trying to summarize anything beyond what is already there.
View this post on Instagram
“Sendero Desesperanza” is an eight-track LP recorded live over a single weekend in late January 2025 at Gaua Estudios in Fruiz, Basque Country, with Asier Zubelzu handling sound engineering.
The album was later mixed and mastered by Role Echolotse at Tonmeisterei in Oldenburg, Germany, in March 2025. The record was released on July 1, 2025, as a 12” vinyl edition of 300 copies, pressed on yellow vinyl, alongside digital formats. Artwork and visual identity were handled by Yes Oui Bai.
The album’s structure is concise and deliberate: “El origen (Intro)”, “Sombras en ruinas”, “Ataraxia/Aponía”, “A la deriva”, “Deseando un cielo virgen”, “Enfrentándose a la verdad”, “Mar de nihilismo”, and “El teatro de las ilusiones”. Vocals are handled by Caba, with Iker on bass, Óscar on guitar, and Alberto on drums.
It was released through a network of DIY labels across Europe and the U.S., including Muerte Matar, Inmyheart empire, La agonía de vivir, Pifia Records, New Knee Records, Dingleberry, Zilp Zalp, Shove Recs, and Seaside Suicide, with Japanese distribution via LongLegsLongArms and a limited tape edition released by Slowdown in Norway.
Musically, the band situate themselves in a lineage shaped by late ’90s and early 2000s screamo and post-hardcore, filtered through their own local context. Alkuperä describe themselves as playing “some kind of dark post hardcore screamo,” a definition that stays intentionally vague. The record was tracked live, without studio polish, which keeps the sound tight but unsettled.
View this post on Instagram
The band formed in Bilbao in 2024, but the project is anything but new. All four members have been active in the local DIY underground for over 25 years, playing in projects spanning crust, hardcore punk, doom, post-hardcore, and post-metal.
“The truth is that the four of us had never been together in a screamo band before, even though we are huge fans of the genre,” they note. The band came together after the split of Drei affen, which included Óscar and Caba, who then joined forces with Iker and Alberto. Three of the four members had previously played together in the post-hardcore band Diana Lagarto.
Despite their long individual histories, Alkuperä came together quickly. “This band has worked really well from the very beginning,” they say. “We’ve understood each other perfectly, connected very naturally, and everything flows easily.” That ease doesn’t translate into comfort. The record leans into tension, repetition, and restraint, shaped as much by shared ethics as by sound.
View this post on Instagram
In their day-to-day lives, the band openly align themselves with DIY practices, vegetarianism, and veganism.
Lyrically, “Sendero Desesperanza” reflects what they describe as “a rather pessimistic view of humanity in general,” while “first and foremost pointing the finger at ourselves.” The tone is confrontational without being theatrical, grounded more in exhaustion than outrage.
View this post on Instagram
They are explicit about their position within the screamo landscape. “Above all, we want to reclaim political screamo,” they state, drawing a clear line between their approach and what they see in parts of the current scene.
“Many modern bands emerging in the genre — with all due respect — tend to fall into more contemporary and sentimental clichés in their lyrics.” Their reference point lies with earlier, openly political screamo bands, and the intention here is not revivalism, but continuity.
View this post on Instagram
The video for “Ataraxia/Aponía” is meant to close the album cycle rather than extend it. “A few months after the release of our album ‘Sendero Desesperanza’, we wanted to make this second music video to properly close this album cycle,” the band explain.
At the same time, they are already moving forward. They are currently immersed in writing material for their second record, which they plan to record in the coming months. According to the band, it will “represent an evolution in the band’s sound, always staying faithful to and respecting our musical and stylistic identity.”
For now, “Ataraxia/Aponía” stands as a final frame: a contained piece that reflects what Alkuperä have been doing since their formation — working within the limits they set for themselves, keeping the process collective, and letting the weight of the material speak without decoration.
It’s so good to welcome another European band moving within a language shaped by the screamo underground – a sound carried forward without nostalgia, and still uncomfortably close to what we care about most.
