Iberia sumergida

About the song

«Iberia sumergida» («Submerged Iberia») is a song by the Spanish rock band Héroes del Silencio. It is the fourth track of «Avalancha», the band's fourth and last studio album, released by EMI on 18 September 1995, and it was chosen as the first single of that record, sent to radio stations a few weeks before the album reached the shops. The words are by the singer, Enrique Bunbury, while the music of the album is credited to the whole group. The studio version lasts a little over five minutes.

Héroes del Silencio was born in Zaragoza in 1984, first under the name Zumo de Vidrio, and took its final name a year later. Its classic line-up was Enrique Bunbury on vocals, Juan Valdivia on guitar, Joaquín Cardiel on bass and Pedro Andreu on drums. With albums such as «El mar no cesa» (1988), «Senderos de traición» (1990) and «El espíritu del vino» (1993) the band became one of the most successful Spanish rock groups of its time, and one of the very few that also filled concert halls in Germany, Switzerland, Portugal and across Latin America while singing only in Spanish.

For «Avalancha» the band changed its way of working. The first demos were prepared in a retreat in the Pyrenees, at Benasque, and in March 1995 the group travelled to Los Angeles to record at Soundcastle Studios with the Canadian producer Bob Ezrin, famous for his work with Pink Floyd, Kiss and Alice Cooper. The guitarist Alan Boguslavsky officially joined the band for this record. The result was a heavier and rougher sound than on the earlier albums, with powerful riffs and a clear influence of the grunge bands of the early nineties. «Iberia sumergida» is one of the most polished tracks of that session, with the guitars in front and a classic rock feeling, and it is easy to recognise from its very first seconds thanks to the harmonica intro, played by Bunbury himself.

The title needs some explanation. Iberia is the old name of the peninsula shared by Spain and Portugal, and here it stands for Spain. According to the Spanish-language Wikipedia, Bunbury wrote the song at a time when corruption scandals filled the Spanish news, and he explained that «sumergida» («submerged», «sunk») described the chaotic situation of the country. It is one of the few songs in which his message is so direct. The singer starts the day angry, with his fists clenched and the rebellious energy of a young man. He says that being naive excuses people when they get things wrong, asks everybody to give what they know, and calls revenge a useless piece of junk. In the chorus he claims the country as his own place and, at the same time, as a thorn that hurts him, a land that lives on secret rumours. Later he speaks to someone who asks questions that already contain the answer, rejects the opinions of the majority and their possessive hugs, and ends with a person who cannot sleep and would like to die during a nap. The song speaks about conformism and about political and economic corruption without naming any person.