Chilean Black Metal horde XALPEN have collated cult status over the course of a few EP’s and demos. Now the time has come for their debut full length record. Out via Morbid Skull Records and Nigredo Records on September 15th.
Eerie ambience starts us off before a raw cascade of barraging drums and dissonant riff scold us alongside a vitriolic vocal attack. The nightmarish and ancient visions conjured by the music has a sense of melody to the darkened spearhead of volatile Black Metal that adds a haunting quality to the spectral destruction. Ferociously performed with the true raw spirit of Black Metal held firms in their grasp, Xalpen unleash an evil from a long forgotten time in musical form with uniquely destructive atmospherics that are as terrifyingly despairing as they are crushingly intense. Early on, the vortex of souls from another land is opened to use, there is no turning back.
Howling guitars and relentless drums continue their disconcerting, dancing soundscapes with fury emanating from the vocal performance in very suitable style. The melancholy in the riffs is contrasted by such a maniacally ruthless playing style, which alongside the blastbeats hits without remorse. Clearly the band have a strong link to their ancestral homelands, summoning long-lost spirits into their Black Metal conjurations, allowing the most dark and archaic spiritual touches to be enveloped in their sound. Grisly and ice cold, there is a sense of anguish in listening to this music that is genuinely tangible. There is something about each melody that is unfathomably daunting and yet gripping.
Doom fuelled slower sections add a more tribal, ritualistic sound to the record which not only counters the Black Metal assault but accentuates it brilliantly while not losing any of the ambience nor aggression. This is clearly an album that was a long time in the making, a worthwhile effort too that has hideously dark and truly mysterious charge behind every single moment of gruellingly harsh, scathing extremity. This monumental leviathan of total devastation will shake any listener to their core, while treating only the worthy will enlighten them with something inarguably special. The morbid ascension to greater strength for this band has clearly happened, with this album being a strong follow-up to the EP’s and demos.
This recording is more than an album, but an invocation of Chilean spirits in Black Metal form that delivers a tempest of soul-punishing excellence. Xalpen may not be to every Black Metal fans taste, but for the worthy few, this album is unforgettable. -8.5/10
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