Country: Mexico (Aguascalientes)
Genre: Technical Death / Progressive Death Metal (with Aztec Folk elements)
Release: May 2, 2025 (Independent)
For fans of: Impureza, Allegaeon, Psycroptic, Gorod, Soreption.
Forget the Vikings and the pirates for a moment. History is full of peoples with a dark and utterly metal aesthetic, and the Aztecs, with their human sacrifices to the God of Sun and War (Huitzilopochtli), sit at the top of the list. That bloody, ritualistic heritage is brought to life by Mexico’s Kalaveraztekah on their second album, “Nikan Axkan”. The band from Aguascalientes marries Technical Death Metal with traditional pre-Columbian instruments, such as the ocarina, flutes, shells, huehuetl drums and the chilling “death whistle” (ehecachichtli), creating an aggressive yet deeply mystical result.
Tracklist :
- Nikan Axkan (El Aquí y El Ahora)
- Tonalli Nawalli (La Esencia y El Espíritu)
- Xiuhtekuhtli Weweteotl (El Fuego Ancestral)
- Yowaltekuhtli (Un Sueño En La Oscuridad)
- Tlazolteotl (La Devoradora De Inmundicia)
- Wewekoyotl (El Coyote Viejo)
- Xolotl Axolotl (La Negación Del Sacrificio)
- Illwikatl Meztli (Entre El Cielo y El Tiempo)
- Xiuhmolpilli (El Amanecer del Nuevo Sol)
REVIEW : The big gamble when you mix traditional instruments with extreme metal is not sounding like a cheap trick. And here Kalaveraztekah win it resoundingly. Óscar Dávila handles the Aztec percussion and wind instruments with mastery, setting up, together with Julio C. Rivera’s death metal drums, a polyrhythmic, ritualistic backdrop that haunts you. The death whistles and flutes don’t overpower the music, but build a threatening atmosphere behind the brutal vocals and the riffs.
Where the band stumbles, however, is in the purely metallic part of the record. While the concept is tremendous (and brings to mind the similarly great work of Impureza), their death metal sounds somewhat flat. They rely mainly on a mid-tempo groove that matches the percussion, but they lack the catchy, sharp riffs. Although they have two guitarists, their sound is fairly standardised, with lead guitarist Luigi V. Ponce limited to somewhat predictable arpeggios, while René Alpízar’s bass is buried under the overly loud drums. The production does the project a disservice, making it sound one-dimensional, when it should highlight the richness of the orchestration.
The album’s highlight is by far “Yowaltekuhtli – Un Sueño en la Oscuridad”, where the band bares its teeth: excellent arpeggios, a beautiful clean solo reminiscent of Stortregn, and a theatrical, chilling female narration. If the whole album had that spark, we’d be talking about a masterpiece. For now, it’s a very ambitious and interesting piece of work that lays the foundations for a formidable Aztec Death Metal, but it needs improvement in its purely metallic compositions. (Rating: 6/10)
