Los Angeles brutalists Xibalba have been making an absolutely hellacious strain of metallic hardcore for over a decade, and their crushing, apocalyptic music has only been sounding more and more appropriate in the world around it. Five years after they released the awesome LP Tierra Y Libertad, Xibalba have finally followed it up with a new one called Años En Infierno — Spanish for Years In Hell. It’s a heavy one!
Años En Infierno finds Xibalba in straight-up metal mode as often as not. The band recorded their newest album with producer Arthur Rizk, the War Hungry member who has worked with bands like Power Trip and Code Orange on making some absolutely head-splitting records. Frontman Nathan Rebolledo delivers his lyrics in both English and Spanish, and he’s got a deep demon-burp roar to rival the deadliest death metal vocalist. The band’s guttural crunch is slow and unrelenting, and even the quiet bits — there are a few — foretell unspeakable doom. A couple of songs come close to seven minutes, which would seem to say that Xibalba are now more a metal band than a hardcore one. Either way, the album is an absolute face-breaker.
Look: It’s the cheapest thing in the world to talk about how angry music sounds better in angering times. But the fucking news today is an absolute bucket of shit, and if you want some music that sounds like a visceral reaction to that, this one does the motherfucking trick. We’ve already posted “En La Obscuridad” and the title track, but now you could, and should, stream the whole thing below.
Años En Infierno is out 5/29 on Southern Lord.
