Bloodflower

As far as I can tell, this debut release is the only one made by Blue Hummingbird On The Left, a black metal band dedicated to Mexican nationalism. The EP was originally issued as a cassette in a limited run and some time later came out on vinyl. The band's name is a literal translation of Huitzilopochtli, the chief god of the Aztecs who presided over war, the daily journey of the sun and the human sacrifices needed to sustain the sun. Some of the lyrics on this EP reference the beliefs the Aztecs had about their patron god.

The three songs featured are so short they might be introductions to much longer songs. The style of music is highly martial raw black metal with a strong thrash metal influence and sometimes on these songs there is the impression of very dense showers of acid noise guitar falling and rivers of the stuff flowing down mountain-sides in thick green jungle. All tracks are fast with dense batteries of guitar, crisp drumming and raucous shouty vocals edged in reverb. The first and second songs "Cuauh Youalli / Eagle Nights" and "Southern Rules Supreme" feature some Mexican folk music instrumentation in the form of whistles and flute respectively: the shrill whistling is not really needed and is too high-pitched and thin for the strong music; the second track "Southern Rules Supreme"on the other hand has a sultry tropical atmosphere thanks to trilling flute and yodelling calls. The title track has a strong thrashy / death metal style.

There's not a great deal of variation within tracks and the found sound recordings and effects enable listeners to tell them apart. The lyrics are the most notable with "Bloodflower" based on the legend that warriors who die in the service of Huitzilopochtli will accompany him each day as he marches from the far horizons at sunrise to the summit of the firmament at noon. Eventually such privileged warriors return to earth as hummingbirds or butterflies. The lyrics of the first song are in Aztec.

With three short songs, I find it hard to tell whether BHOTL are interested in more than playing snappy thrash-influenced black metal songs in a punk aesthetic. The band's interest in mixing Mexican tropical forest ambience and folk music with their brand of BM and their drawing on Aztec mythology for lyrical inspiration suggest a willingess to experiment with their music. The guys are very good musicians with a solid rhythm attack although the drumming needs to be more upfront in the mix and to have a heavier sound. There is a lot of potential in BHOTL to carve out a unique niche of Aztec-inspired spiritual and nationalistic Mexican black metal.