Mundo cripta

If Machetazo have a reputation it’s because they deserve it. I have followed them for nine years now, and as their career developed, my admiration to these underground anti-heroes grew with it. At this point, they are not going to invent anything, but they don’t need to. You don’t need to pretend when you are a true old school underground survivor. To date, my favourite releases from the A Coruña trio were the hate driven “Trono de Huesos” full length, the putrid “Horror Grind” EP, and the massive and distorted “Ultratumba” compilation. How could they do better than that? Well, Machetazo are not innovating, but as nonconformists, they are always looking forward. The last time I saw them live (September 2007), they were a complete blast. Then, they were at the first stages of the recording of this “Mundo Cripta” and drummer Dopi was promising an album which was going to reduce their previous work to mere demos… When I first listened to “Mundo Cripta”, almost a year later, I discovered Machetazo had succeeded again!

“Mundo Cripta” is a gravely sick descend to the depths of an underground hellish catacomb, with the massive production every death metal band is dying for. The sound engineer Gonso Pedrido (an old friend of the band since the noisecore demos era) has contributed to the creation of a wall of noise that sounds completely thick and professional, with special emphasis on vocals and guitars. Anyway, the plus point resides in the extreme musicianship of the trio: old school skilled blast beat drumming technique, piercing motherfucker guitar riffs, and an evil mixture of clean slapped with distorted bass. The vocals oscillate from the purulent growls of Carlos Cadaver to the insanely abrasive screams of Dopi (featuring lyrics for the first time in Machetazo’ career, although they are not printed in the booklet). Alonso Urbanos, responsible of the dark noise project Scumearth, provides some ominous and oppressive noise intros, which made the full album sound as a continuous blasphemy with horror-grind intensity.

“Mundo Cripta” features no filler tracks at all, only the true essence of a composition method based on negativity, darkness and anger, distilled into a decadent grindcore sense of horror. "Mundo Cripta" starts with the thrashy intro-track "Exorcismo", crowded with some genuine tortured screams. After that, the record gets ferocious, vicious and relentless to death: "Muerte Helada" and "Alucinaciones Blasfemas" are persistent speeded up tracks, and "Mortífero Ente Demoníaco", is a true galloping semi-crust grind epic. "Atormentado por bestias resucitadas" has the most repulsive and horrifying intro I have listened in years, and it's a track which persists in switching from galloping crust to demented grindcore, with the crushing ultra-depth vocals of Carlos Cadaver. Then it comes the obsessive guitar riffage of "Altares de lo macabro" which also features some depth growls and a killer double bass drum section. "El Wendigo" features a creepy grindcore messy guitar riff, the same as "Fiebres de la Peste", cropped with rhythm and section changes. In the tracks "Descenso al sótano de la morbosidad" and "Totem (de restos humanos)" Machetazo made their classical sludge-crust mid tempo thing, in the vein of their previous "Cripta" or "Catalepsia". So, while another current bands are ridiculous in their attempt of sounding extreme, Machetazo demonstrate how they can play the fastest and the slowest without loosing their tradition and personality.

"Éxtasis Nauseabundo" it's more galloping grind, with the contrast of the two vocalists. "Delirio en el Pozo de Excrementos" is a personal favourite of mine, and I am sure an unavoidable track on the new Machetazo live set list: madly intense, concentrated and powerful; Machetazo in their fucking best! Also, the intro/outro features an ambient track by Alonso Urbanos which really evocates some deep infernal bowel movements (I am not joking!). "Tu Piel Se Pudre y Cae" is pure horror grind with the typical Machetazo rapid morbid outlaw melodies. The album comes to its end with "Los Cuentos del Muñón Gangrenoso V (Credo In Extremis)" a noise-ambient track with a possessed’ monologue which is the huge last blaspheme in the album. All the aspects of "Mundo Cripta" work as a unit: the tracks, the sound, the intros/outros and the hellish graphic artwork of Nor Venagruesa, the Derek Riggs of Machetazo. I do not give them the maximum punctuation just because they have not featured the Eterno Muñon Gangrenoso monologue this time (the fuckers, hehe). Anyway, go and get this twisted and evil magnificent grindcore assault by Machetazo.