Chile has been on fire in the last couple decades with its revival of the rotten and macabre style of blackened death metal brought to the world by bands like Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, Autopsy and Atomic Aggessor. This band emerged in 2009 in the far southern city of Castro which is practically as far as you can drive down the coast of Chile before the sparse settlements give way to the vastness of the Patagonian wilderness. This trio started out as a quartet with the early lineup of Alonso Gomez (guitar), Walter Guinel (bass), Carlos Miranda (drums) and Boris Vivar (vocals, 2009-11) with this debut REUNIÓN DE BRUJOS (Meeting Of The Warlocks) the only to feature growler Boris Vivar.

The band has released three albums since its inception with this debut coming out in 2011 on the Pacto label. A rather short collection of six tracks at just under 33 minutes in that murky gray area where you ask if it’s an EP or a bonafide album but nevertheless BUTAMACHO cranks up the volume and distortion up to maximum decibelage on this debut with a veritable mix of old school death metal in the vein of old Incantation along with moments of doom metal mixed in for good measure. The band blurs the line between the ugly nasty blackened world of war metal with the more no nonsense old school variety of death metal but with a lo-fi downtuned approach the band’s evil as fuck sound delivery is a nice nasty treat of filthy raw and unpolished death metal from the Chilean underground. Fans of early Incantation will love this one.

Graced with distinct tracks that feature varying grooves, rhythms and melodic touches underlying the grimy exterior, BUTAMACHO’s debut showcases a mix of crafty death metal that alternates speedier blastbeat infused outbursts with more reserved groovier parts that trade in the heavy pummelation for a series of cymbal majesty. The riffing is both set to quickened monstrous assault speed to more doomy slower oozing effects. Vivar’s vocals are permanently set to low guttural growls keeping the brutal below Hades effect the primary mode of action here. The band’s morbid cover art will evoke a sense of nostalgia for the old school death metal crowds who miss the days of horror, gore and display of skeletons that still carried a shock value back in the day. The band eschews any technical or progressive tendencies leaving those modernizations up to bands like Inanna who are carrying the nation into the next phase of death metal splendor.

While i wouldn’t consider BUTAMACHO’s approach here revolutionary or even a significant deviation from what has been done a million times before, the band does deliver a somewhat unique mix of percussive drive and riffing action that when taken as a whole is quite a pleasing presentation of filthy festering death metal from the abyss. Some say this is the only true death metal. While i wouldn’t quite agree i do concur that there is nothing like this old school variety that allows the cover art imagery and somewhat streamlined songwriting simplicity to not get in the way of a distortion infused noisefest. The band appears to still be active and continues to haunt southern Chile delivering enough high octane energy to melt Patagonian glaciers. A nice mix of elements that is pretty much unknown outside the confines of the Chilean homeland. Remote bands from bumfuck regions of the world have made quite a splash in recent years. BUTAMACHO is just one of many in the Chilean underground causing quite a stir

Perhaps the most southern based death metal band on the entire planet, INFERNAL DOOM emerged from the extreme southern Patagonian city of Punta Arenas, Chile in 1999 and has been keeping warm in its proximity to Antarctica by unleashing its own brand of melodic technically infused death metal. The band has released four albums in its quarter of a century existence with this debut JUST THE BEGINNING debuting in 2005. Initially released only as a CD-R, the band has since found supporting labels and the album was reissued in 2015 in a more appropriate CD and digital format.

With an ever changing lineup over the decades this earliest offering features Jaime Bustamante (vocals, guitar), Marcelo Oyarzo (guitar), Marco Alvarez (bass) and Vladimir Vukovic (drums). While labeled generally as death metal, this debut is a strange sounding album that sounds a bit like melo-death with doses of technicalities only the vocals aren’t of the guttural growl variety but rather a raspy scream from the abyss effect. The band releases its albums in the English language thus projecting an international intent of marketing.

The album of nine tracks and about 47 minutes of playing time comes across more like a progressive metal album with death metal crossover over aspects somewhat akin to a weaker style of Death, Cynic or even Atheist. In fact the band considers itself progressive death metal. The music while not incompetent doesn’t quite measure up to the ambitions though with lazy drumming (most of the time) and rather monotonous guitar riffing (for the most part). The tempos often drop down to such slow speeds that it completely escapes being death metal altogether especially when the clean vocals are thrown in. The overall effect is a little too polished to sound threatening and yet not competent enough to sound like a compelling progressive metal album either.

The second instrumental “Without Scape” sounds more akin to the melodic heavy metal instrumentals delivered by 80s bands such as Iron Maiden however it’s a bit more energetic and based in extreme metal with heavier drumming and more distorted guitar riffing. The closing “Beginning Of The End” is the longest track and most progressive track at just over 11 minutes long and starts out with some demented chanting before bursting into a heavy metal attack. The track features varying tempos and some slide guitar moments as well as what sounds like fretless bass. It’s also probably the most competent track on the album however even so it’s mostly an extended jamming type of track with a receptive riffing cycle and a bunch of guitar squeals and antics. Nice noisy as fuck ending though! Decent but nothing mind blowing either.

Granted this was a primeval debut that found a band in one of the remotest regions of the planet finding its way onto a much larger world’s stage. To my ears this sounds a bit amateurish even with the short electronic instrumental “Butterfly Effect” which is more of an ambient clean guitar intermission. It’s a decent album with nothing inherently wrong but sounds like it suffers from an identity crisis as if it doesn’t know if it wants to be prog, prog metal or death metal and in the end doesn’t really sound like any of the above. Basically what drags this album down is the samey songwriting approach. This is my first exposure to INFERNAL DOOM so most likely their newer albums are much more competent. This one however is just a bit too underwhelming for my liking however not offensively so in any way. Just average.

Extreme underground black metal from Chile. HADOTOR comes from the northern coastal city of Iquique and is somewhat unique in that it doesn’t deliver the typical anti-Christian rhetoric that many hateful black metal bands crank out but rather attacks pre-Christian Judaism which when taken logically delivered the roots of Christianity so why not just nip it in the bud before it ever gets to maturity! This band formed in 1997 and even though technically still active has only released a full length and this EP titled EXTREMISMO A ZION which obviously delivers a hatred for the current state of Zionism and how it has infiltrate the entire planet.

This EP of only about sixteen minutes features vocalist Johnny Magallanes, Patricio Magallanes, guitarist Óscar Pinto and drummer Vitas Constandinis. The tracks are short with only two over three minutes and the album is like a cross between second wave Darkthrone black metal and crust punk. The band exercises extreme bombast with super fast tempos, buzzsaw guitars and the old school second wave black metal characteristics such as blastbeats and a vile hatred for just about anything that moves it sounds like! Comparable to some of the fastest second wave black metal bands like Dissection, Satyricon or Taake, HADOTOR imbues itself in a kvlt black metal purity that will appeal to those who loathe the hybridization effect that black metal has ventured into in the ensuing decades.

It’s a competent release with all the musicians on fire delivering a machine gun percussive drive, the blurred distinction between buzzsaw guitars and bass bombast and a frenetically raspy screaming typical of the old school second wave playbook. Nothing new or original here in the least and the unintelligible lyrics are presented in the Spanish language. The EP ends as quickly as it begins and delivers a rampaging set of six tracks that pretty much hit like a lightning bolt and then shoulder off into who knows where. Overall a nice delivery of energetic black metal but about as generic as it gets in term of originality. Probably one of those bands that’s shocking to see live especially if hateful diatribe is inserted between tracks in a live performance. Why hate one religion when you can hate em all i always say. It’s about time Judaism got as much hatred in black metal as Christianity. Oy vey!

La Serena, the second oldest city in Chile which hosts a metropolitan population of around 200,000 very well may be the black metal capital of all of Chile with a huge number of bands emerging from this northern coastal city. Bands like Perverse, Nergal, Doomhall, Sakrogoat, SuizidKult, Undertaker Of The Damned and Uggae Command amongst a slew of others all call this small city home. Add to that list the masterful BLACK LIGHT BRINGER that formed in 2010 and four years later released its critically acclaimed debut THORNS IN THE FLESH which delivered a thunderous display of competent second wave black metal that featured nine tracks with a near 40-minute playing time.

Sounding like a very pissed off rampaging Marduk, this debut from BLACK LIGHT BRINGER only featured two credited musicians: drummer Defiler and vocalist / guitarist Regicider and like typical second wave black metal on steroids blurs the distinction of guitar and bass with a hazy cascade of buzzsaw guitar action descended into distortion hell. This is a no nonsense type of black metal album looking back to the purity of the 1990s second wave scene and untainted by any homegrown influences, synthesized atmospheric effects or folk hybridization. This is unhinged energetic black metal in its most ferocious form delivering a series of stampeding pissed off musical deliveries that feature a ferocious drumming attack and not just set to blastbeats but rather competent technically infused drumming effects.

The guitar riffing is above average as well and not just your usual power chord grunge-a-thon. Likewise the vocals are of the highest caliber of raspy beneath-the-din extravagance making this some of the most frenetically delivered black metal that offers a sinister thrash metal infused style of competence without sacrificing any characteristic of the classic black metal purity. Comparisons range from Marduk to Immortal and Taake to the more competent technical prowess of the Swedish giants Dissection. While a bit on the generic side of the black metal equation without offering any significant contributions to the classic sounds laid down in the early Norwegian church burning days, BLACK LIGHT BRINGER nevertheless offers an extremely competent performance and one of the best black metal bands i’ve experienced from all of South America at this point.

Virtually unknown outside of its Chilean homeland, nevertheless BLACK LIGHT BRINGER delivers its lyrics in the English language with the aim of capturing some international intention but given that the competition is fierce with the entire world competing and the more competent bands latching onto this same exact sound, it’s unlikely the band will succeed in doing so unless it finds some unique shtick to distinguish itself. While falling silent for almost a decade the band finally released a followup EP in the form of “Among Us” in 2023. For those who can’t get enough of the most energetic second wave black metal that sounds like it came straight from the vaults of 1993 then you can’t go wrong with BLACK LIGHT BRINGER as the musicianship is off the charts phenomenal but if you seek some sort of creative distinction then you are SOL as this band is about as generic as it gets in that department. A worthy exploration of the greater black metal universe but not exactly the cream of the crop either.

ULKAN NEWEN is a Chilean folk metal band that got its start in the small town of Curarrehue which is situated near the Villarica volcano from which the band derives its name only from the indigenous Mapudungun language translation of the volcano. The band formed in 2008 and after going through many lineup changes relocated to the larger city of Temuco. The band describes its music as “Global Folk Metal” which incorporates folk music not necessarily indigenous to South America but literally adopts folk musical ideas from all over the globe and mixes them with heavy metal music.

The band has found a bit of success and popularity for its unusual approach and has appeared at international festivals such as the PaganFest II where they played with better known bands like Eluveitie and others. So far the band has released only a single album titled LA FUERZA DEL CANTO which translates into “The Force Of Song.” The album is fairly short as far as folk metal albums are concerned with many in the genre sprawling over an hour’s playing time. LA FUERZA DEL CANO features only six tracks that add up to 35 1/2 minutes of playing time. Without a label the band so far has only released its album independently.

The band really does incorporate a lot of various folk styles into its mix ranging from traditional Latin folk flavors to Irish jigs and gypsy swing. The band features two guitarists, a bassist, drummer, keyboardist, violinist and flute player. While folk metal can range from the primarily black metal dominated sounds of Moonsorrow infused with folk flavors to bands that are more folk music oriented than metal, ULKAN NEWEN adds more emphasis to the global folk side of the equation with the metal only serving as a somewhat secondary element usually in the form of hefty guitar riffing and the occasional growly vocals otherwise the band is more like a speed folk type of act.

I can see why this gets overall negative reviews as it does come off as a little cheesy. It’s very melodic and the symphonic keyboards and violins add more non-metal elements than the guitar, bass and drums can often overpower however a few tracks like “Invoca El Poder” adopt a virtuosic Symphony X type of approach with crazy keyboard soloing and neoclassical guitar sweeps along with galloping guitar riffs and fast tempos. The band is just as likely to escape metal altogether and engage in a festive folk dance style that makes you feel like you’ve entered a fiddling contest where the Irish jigs are in competition with the gypsy swing and Latin American influences.

It’s a very instantly endearing album if you like highly melodic folk-infused hooks with lots of violin and flute. While the metal is not as prevalent as many would like, the band certainly has the chops to deliver the goods when the metal is unleashed into a furious uproar but on the non-metal segments the band sounds like a typical global fusion type of band which is a style of music i actually love a lot so this is actually a type of music that appeals to me. I’m personally OK with not thinking of this as a metal band per se and that it’s a band that simply incorporates metal into a larger recipe. The most impressive track on the album is the closing “Bagual” which delivers beautiful folk music and adds enough metal to make it a very interesting track especially with all the twists and turns.

Overall the band does a fairly decent job of mixing metal with the varying folk styles and although i do wish the metal was a more important ingredient to this folk-infused potpourri, i can’t say i’m displeased with the results of what’s presented. A very nice album even if not reaching any kind of classic status. Given the large amount of instrumentation i have to say that the production and mixing is actually pretty decent considering this is an indie band. The band has a very professional looking website and knows how to promote itself. For emerging from such a remote area and having only a limited exposure to the world market, ULKAN NEWEN delivered a fairly impressive debut. The question is though will a new album ever come to light? The potential for becoming a world class band is definitely there.