Time Signature Pogrometal...

Genre: death metal

The Chilean underground just keeps spewing out one filty extreme metal band after another. It seems that there it is the black and deat metal genre, and crossovers between these, that dominates this wave of Chilean extreme metal. Chilean death metallers Istengoat released their debt EP last year, and it was recently reissued in vinyl format via Blood Harvest.

The three tracks on the EP are straight up death metal attacks. While Istengoat's image is considerably blackened, theirs is probably among the less filthy death metal from their scene. Rather than opting for a totally lo-fi production, they have adopted a more brutal sound on their EP, and this supports the music very well which is quite complex in terms of song structure, with each track being a flurry of riffs and passages, changes and turns. This is not to say that Istengoat is a technical or progressive death metal band, and there are definitely some blackened elements in the three tracks, which is most obviously reflected in the closing track 'Shiqus Shomem'.

When it comes to the art of death metal, these Chileans are good songsmiths, and there are several strong riffs throughout the EP. My only beef with "MMXII" are the vocals, which fall somewhere between barking and burping. Sadly, I think that the vocals do not match the brutality and darkness of the music itself. But that's just my opinion.

Overall, i was very positively surprised by this EP, and I really look forward to hearing more output from this Chilean death metal outfit.