La edad del fierro

Some years ago, I was trying to get the CD of a Colombian death-metal band called Etnocidio, but I couldn’t, it was impossible to get that band (I’m still trying to get their CD called, “miseria”). I asked the manager for another death metal band worth of listening and he recommended me Occisor. I had heard something about this band, something about their demo called, “Llanto en silencio”; they played raw death metal in Spanish and they also performed a live cover of the legendary band Brujeria.
So far, that was all I knew from Occisor, but know I had in my hands their debut album called, “La edad del fierro”. I left the store with a certain feeling of had bought an excellent piece of metal. When I arrived home, I just put it in my CD player to see what I was going to face……


“La edad del fierro”, begins with an effect of a bunch of pigs, then, you are attacked by an endless drum beating of double pedal and power-like guitars that gives the green light for the guttural voices to appear. Occisor plays raw and direct death metal with Spanish lyrics. They are one of the pioneer bands in this genre in Colombia, along with other assaults like Masacre, Neurosis Inc and Etnocidio.
They are part of this musical genre, but they are also innovating the Colombian death metal scene. In this way, this band goes beyond the typical themes of death metal, such as death, torture, gore and superficial kinds of things; but Occisor transcends those topics and enters to a realm of social and human reflection.


Talking about the music that this band delivers, we can find that the intense drumming double-pedal attack is constant during the whole record; each song is marked by the strength and the speed of the drums. Then, we have to deal with some power-rhythmic like guitars that are not that fast, but are just accord to the rest of the musical structure. There are no complex or long guitar riffs, but the rhythm that the guitarist delivers is awesome.
Now let’s talk about the voices. The vocal part of this band follows a guttural pattern that is understandable for the native speakers of Spanish. Carlos (singer) has a really amazing and clear voice, taking into account that most of the death metal vocalist prefer to use unrecognizable vocal patterns. To conclude with the musical part, the bass lines are clear and strong but not totally outstanding.
One negative point that I found in this record was the hidden track at the end. I consider that to put a hidden track, which is twenty minutes long after the last song is kind of nonsense and absurd. The positive aspect is that the hidden track has nothing to do with metal! It is actually a sort of experimental and Jazzistic type of song, it is cool.


As you are digging deep into the musical concept of this album, you encounter very important messages into the lyrics. The idea of this CD is to transcend the gory and macabre side of death metal and touch a more reflective and critical approach. Most of the lyrics of “La edad del fierro” advocate for social reflection and change. For example, the song, “Mochacabezas”, which is one of the rawest and fastest, contains a lyric that reflect the social conflict of violence that we are living in our country nowadays and the killing of innocent peasants and the massacres that take place in the forgotten parts of our nation. The track called, “Agua muerta”, which is slow and dense, reflects the environmental degradation of our natural resources. The song “Muñeco dañavidas”, denounces the sexual abuses the some parents have done to their children.
Lyrically, this CD is a tool for social concern and critical thinking, something that most metal bands ignore or just don’t care about.


In conclusion, this is a very interesting and mandatory record to have in a death metal collection. Occisor delivers brutal and direct music with social lyrics that denounce the violence inflicted by society, militias, guerrillas, individuals (killers, assassins etc.), and the Colombian state. I consider that they are an outstanding Colombian death metal assault, because of their extreme and social-critical music and their powerful-instrumental live performance (I have witnessed them in live concerts several times); Occisor goes beyond the overpopulated death metal genre and places its music in a context of individual and communal reflection.