For more than a decade, the Los Angeles band Xibalba -- named after the Mayan-mythology version of the underworld -- have been making brutal, crushing metal-influenced hardcore, singing in both English and Spanish. Their music is vengeful on an epic, apocalyptic scale; it would work beautifully as a soundtrack for interplanetary war. It's been too long since Xibalba released 2015's Tierra Y Libertad, their last album. So I am delighted to report that Xibalba are about to return with the a new LP, their fourth.
Xibalba's new album is called Años En Infierno -- Spanish for Years In Hell. They recorded it with Power Trip/Pissed Jeans producer Arthur Rizk, a guy who knows how to make DIY hardcore bands sound both raw and titanic. Today, they've shared the first single "En La Oscuridad" -- Spanish for "In The Dark" -- and it's a monster.
"En La Oscuridad," like plenty of past Xibalba songs, sounds just as close to death metal as to any version of hardcore. Frontman Nate Rebolledo delivers his lyrics in a guttural demon-burp voice, and the band behind him locks into monstrous, ugly riffage. When Xibalba play fast, it's more a metal type of fast than a hardcore type. It's not chaos. They're always in control, and they're always punishing the world around them. Listen below.
Años En Infierno is out 5/29 n Southern Lord.
