Picking up in the divide between funderground wargrinding and melodic but insipid mainstream black metal, Xibalba take the style they unleashed on their “Demo 2010” and push it further with racing primitive riffs overlaid with melodic lead rhythm guitar.
7 CommentsTags: Black Metal, xibalba
Both late comebacks of metal bands and revivals of metal sub-genres are offering familiar yet much more streamlined, simplified and somewhat more populist version of themselves. In various ways it stands true for albums like Beherit’s Engram or Asphyx’s Death…The Brutal Way and now also Xibalba’s Ah Tza Xibalba Itzaes. While such sensation remains a continuous distraction when listening to those albums, it isn’t impossible to find even in their shallower and derivative structures signs of renewed passion and intent.
5 CommentsTags: ah dzam pop ek, Ah Tza Xibalba Itzaes, Black Metal, Mexican, xibalba
Xibalba, the best ever Mexican black metal band, are touring the East Coast of the United States this fall.
12 CommentsTags: Black Metal, Mexican Black Metal, news, sacrificial massacre, tour, tour dates, upcoming tour, US tour, xibalba, xibalba itzaes
Mexican black metal legends Xibalba (Xibalba Itzaes sometimes) are headlining the Wings of Metal pre Festival show in Montreal, Canada on September 7th.
1 CommentTags: Black Metal, canada, festivals, Mexican Black Metal, montreal, news, Occult Burial, quebec, upcoming shows, xibalba, xibalba itzaes
The post-Christmas malaise has set in worldwide, but there’s still time for the occasional pre-2016 release and/or news story.
After what was apparently a pretty good performance at Black Flames of Blasphemy, the Mexican black metal band Xibalba is releasing a short three song EP. Entitled Ah Tza!, its first track is already available through Bandcamp due to the services of the band’s current record label (Nuclear War Now! Productions). The other two will be available on December 31st. As of yet, there’s not really enough information to figure out what this shortalbum will sound like, but the first song at least conforms to the musical language of black metal; not that such is exactly difficult.
No CommentsTags: 2015, ah tza, Black Metal, Mexican Black Metal, xibalba
Protest deathcore band Xibalba have released a new video for their song “Guerrilla”. Playing an easy-to-understand style of heavy music for the masses, Xibalba find a strong audience among the disenfranchised members of the lower echelons of society looking for validation and a call to revolution by catering to their mental needs in their gang-themed revolution lyrics.
2 Comments
Darling writers and poor researchers at L.A. Weekly have discovered Eduardo Ramirez, composer for post-black metal band Volahn, and his use of Mayan imagery:
A large shipment of a new heavy metal album to Germany, home to one of the genre’s most rabid fan bases, isn’t exactly breaking news. But when the subject matter isn’t the typical black metal tropes of Satanism and misanthropy, but instead pays tribute to Mayan civilizations and cultures of centuries past, it’s a testament to how well Ramirez is spreading his unique vision.
While his quest is surely a good one, he’s far from the first to do this.
Black metal included nationalism among its ideals, which meant singing in your native language about your native culture, whether that was Nordic or Mayan.
Several bands, most notably Xibalba with their classic Ah Dzam Poop Ek, have written about Mayan topics. Add to that list Xolotl from Mexico. In Austin, ex-Masochism guitarist Juan Torres created Ayasoltec, an Aztec-themed metal band, almost a decade ago.
It’s great to see bands endorsing their native culture, language, religion and folkways. However, it’s not something new; it’s a part of black metal, which the mainstream media like L.A. Weekly has spent years denying exists.
4 CommentsTags: ayasoltec, Black Metal, maya, volahn, xibalba
