Mientras las nubes ciegan la luna...

Folk, black and some minor other elements have been thrown together on this first demo of the Bolivian band Oscuro Mito. Maybe one should emphasize the fact that local traditional elements have been woven into it as well, because they add a somewhat charming touch to it all. Furthermore and this comes not much of a surprise, a band from South America tends to play music that has a touch of times gone by. Modern influences appear to be rare on this demo and accordingly they fail to shine through.

There are three tracks on this output and each of these is basically a different set of elements. Oscuro Mito have not found their style or concept so far and that is why they take the listener through a trip into their realm of musical conception. Sometimes a bit more melodic, then folkish with choir parts and then those darker black metal influenced ones. One should at least recognize the band's willingness to dare to be different and to experiment a bit. There is metal core, which is very standard set of metal, which has elements from the thrash as well as the black metal scene, but as outlined before. Here the preferences lie in the interpretations of comparably older conceptions and not of recent ones. This would also be true of the sound, which comes over slightly raw and unbalanced. Imagine a melodic black/thrash metal band from the 90s mostly without keyboards but with folk elements added to their music.

Whether this release leaves a lasting impression may be depend on personal preferences. That said, the song-writing leaves something to desire, because there is not much that would spark curiosity. Now and then the arrangements come over as forced and unnatural. Some kind of flow is missing or even a balancing of the facets. The keyboards in Luz Naciente are simply off and also the vocals do not always follow in line with the music. Preferences and emphasises.

This first release is an interesting start, but nothing more. Oscuro Mito lack consistency in what they are doing. Somehow it is nothing more than traditional metal elements with folk thrown on top of it. To simply throw term folk as a label on top of the music ignores what this term actually entails. Those cultural narratives and traditions, which are told from on generation to the next. While the texts may be there, some sounds may be there, they stand next to each other and are bewildered about the existence of the other. Here those sounds do not come over as more than an appendix to the metal basis of the music. Time will tell whether the band will broaden their style and whether they will be able to build a solid foundation for their way of making music.

Written for:
A dead spot of light

Oscuro Mito reminds me of one of the greatest unsung potential in folk-related metal. While it's unsurprising that most bands of that ilk would draw upon Celtic and Scandinavian traditions, the cultural heritage of North-Western Europe has been plundered by would-be metal 'Vikings' and pagan-themed hedonists. For a genre that, ideally, merges two of my favourite types of music together, I've had a frustrating time finding interesting prospects. Oh, how the game changes when the folk influence shifts cultures. There's been a strong wave of folk metal from the far east (see: the likes of Tengger Cavalry and Cthonic), and even a band as relatively close to the Nordic hub as Negură Bunget has established an entirely different brood of folk metal, thereby drawing upon their own Romanian roots.

Why, then, should it be so surprising that the New World would have its own folk styles, ripe for integration with metal? I think Oscuro Mito still have a few steps ahead of them before making their blend of Bolivian folk and extreme metal really work, but the potential behind this uncommon fusion would alone make Mientras las Nubes Ciegan la Luna... worth checking out.

Oscuro Mito have been around, to some extent, since 2008. The recently released Mientras las Nubes Ciegan la Luna... is their first demo, loaded with only three tracks, falling just under the fifteen minute mark. While that's not a lot to draw any conclusions with, Oscuro Mito cover a fair range of possibilities here. Although Oscuro Mito are labelled primarily as black metal (and rightly so), I think that tag only works if it's approached as a stylistic hub for the band, a style each of their individual parts might bear association with. While Fernando Caballero's aggressive vocals fit black metal expectations well enough, Oscuro Mito's instrumentation has much in common with traditional heavy metal riffing, although the grizzly production keeps the music from ever sounding like a true crossover. Although I'd reckon the songwriters in OM have spent just as much time listening to the metal classics as they have black metal, the second track "Danza en Trance" makes their influences clearer. The deep, boomy chanting on that song is vaguely reminiscent of something Bathory would do, circa Hammerheart. For a band whose greatest asset is that they've embraced their own culture, it's certainly intriguing that Oscuro Mito would nonetheless draw upon a titan of Viking metal. I'm not complaining, either; the approximation of Bathory's mid-era glory isn't perfect, but "Danza en Trance" actually sounds better written and realized than the demo's two less derivative tracks.

I don't believe Oscuro Mito have totally figured out what they want to do on their metal end. On the surface it looks as if they want to be a black metal band, but their hearts are largely set on trad-heavy riffs. Whatever direction they decide to take with their music will benefit from their grasp of folk. Armin Villca plays a host of 'native instruments' on the demo, and it sounds beautifully realized. Between eerie flute soundscapes and the odd undertones beneath the central riff on "Luz Naciente", Oscuro Mito bring their folk influence to life in subtle, but stirring fashion. The lyrics take things a step further-- exploring Bolivian folklore and heritage. Although OM's metal melange is still mired appropriately in the 'demo stages', they've got a real grasp of their folk music and what they mean to accomplish with that accoutrement.

I've said it somewhere before that one of the few positive effects of globalization is the fact that we'll be seeing great metal emerge from virtually every country on earth. I think that potential is doubled when we approach folk metal. For a new age that's been generally criticized for social and cultural alienation, the time has never been so ripe for folk to be embraced by metal in a serious manner that extends past a love of liquor and vague High Fantasy fandom. Oscuro Mito haven't yet convinced me as a metal band, but for their folkish potential, I am genuinely interested to see what they'll develop into with future albums.

Originally written for Heathen Harvest Periodical

There's one thing about folk metal that us metal fans rarely regard: we tend to hear the Euro side of things way too much. Most folk metal is based in Scandinavian mythology and traditional European folk melodies, and all North American culture pretty much just rips off European culture anyways so by extension all the folk metal my homeland writes tends to fall within the same paradigm. There are a world of other cultural myths to be explored, and with them come a completely different musical ideas as well, and it'd be nice to hear some other cultural takes on folk metal. Oscuro Mito are an interesting band for this reason: I've never heard South American folk metal, much less one that actually integrates native folk instruments and uses them as a feature in certain parts of songs. Already this gives the band a distinct aesthetic, and allows them to actually stand a little bit outside the box and not resort to the tropes that usually plague the sea of Ensiferum/Korpiklaani rip-off clones in Euro-style folk metal. Even when this jigs, it jigs in an unusual way that's quite engaging to listen to.

I had the fortune of conversing briefly with guitarist Andres Costas in preparation for this review, and asked him a bit about what the influences and inspirations behind the music and lyrics on this demo were. Thankfully, since he was nice enough to provide me with such things in good detail, I have a direct and (hopefully) accurate representation of the sounds that Mientras las Nubes Ciegan la Luna is supposed to draw from and emulate. I'm partially integrating the content of our conversation into this review, trying to take all of the important details out of it but still retain the flow of the text, so this is a combination review/interview of sorts. As this is a demo of a band just starting out, I felt a little bit more detailed background context was somewhat necessary and luckily, I got that shit straight from the source.

The main influences on the music itself range from folk/black such as Windir and Himinbjorg, with Bathory also being cited as a significant well of inspiration (as should be the case for any folk metal band, really). Other favorite bands among the members are Dimmu Borgir, Hate Forest, Immortal and In Extremo. This is perhaps how the black/folk categorization comes into play, and a good chunk of this demo (most, the opening track) does draw from the influences mentioned above. However, there's a couple of additional twists on the album that give it a very unique flavor. The integration of traditional South American folk music with black metal (and a bit of a hidden heavy metal influence as well) makes the album very initially playful, but with somewhat sinister motives underneath. This album's lyrics, while not without their share of the standard "dark and mysterious" imagery common to metal, draw from Inca, Ayamara and Tihuanacota cultures mixing local word-of-mouth folk tales with a bit of the band's own exaggeration and flair. They weave stories about: shadowy figures in the trees lurking in old, rural Bolivian towns at night with only the moonlight to guide you, a masked man condemned for his sins to dance until he dies for a sacrifice, and a celebration of spiritual rebirth in the new year by indigenous Aymara people in the three tracks on this demo respectively. The pacing of the album reflects these themes in a lot of places. "Danza en Trance" moves in a very slow, fluent sort of way that manages to make give the song an ominous atmosphere you don't usually find in a fun song like this. Rotting Christ's Non Serviam is perhaps one album that I could compare this demo to rhythmically. The riffs and drums (especially on the last two tracks) move together in a very elegant, foreboding manner much like the album of those notorious Greeks, but that doesn't mean this sounds much like Hellenic black metal. In fact, a lot of the riffs on this album that aren't clearly black metal influenced actually sound fairly similar to tried-and-true 80's heavy metal riffs, but either way they end up being a good way to build into the black metal sections. The native instruments are quite effective at bridging any gaps that would otherwise occur in the songwriting, and the harmonious mystique that the melodies have make this brief demo sound much more well-rounded.

"Murmullos de Espectros" plays around with some almost Metallica-esque riffs mixed in with a bit of tremolo riffing after acoustic buildup, and it's a pretty good introductory song overall. The only thing about it that gets me is the harsh vocals over the clean guitar segment, as harsh vocals always kind of grate against a non-distorted guitar for me. This is easily the weakest moment on the album, though. Maybe it's for the best that they put it right at the beginning, because the rest of the album utilizes the harsh vocals well and even showcases some interesting cleans. This only leads me to wonder, though--why didn't they just sing over the clean intro? Anyways, "Danza en Trance" is the most folk metal-oriented of the three, but as previously mentioned there's a unique, almost tribal sort of twist on this song that makes it stand out from a stereotypical folk metal jig. "Luz Naciente" has the same sort of feel rhythmically, but uses more black metal-focused marching riffs to drive the song. The catchy melody in this song is delivered entirely through the native instruments--did I mention how lovely these things sound? Granted, I probably wouldn't want this band to use them any more frequently than they're doing here, but they serve as a very nice contrast to a primarily riff-based framework. The combination of what appear to be woodwinds and other stringed instruments (damn, really wish I had asked him about the specific instruments used now) Is quite well-balanced with the less melodic black metal in this track. Each song showcases different elements of Oscuro Mito's sound, yet they come together cohesively.

The only real downside to the ambition in this demo is that it perhaps causes the songs to jump to new ideas too quickly, not really letting some good ideas set in and unfold to their fullest potential. This is only a 13-minute demo, however, and this should probably be kept in mind as the band plans to record a full-length album sometime in the near but not concretely-defined future. This is worth a couple genuine listens for any fan of folk metal who's looking for something a little bit different but still remains strongly tied to the realm of folk metal Bathory pioneered long ago. It's definitely a promising, surprising listen, albeit still just a preview of what's to come. I'm not going to claim myself a full-blown fan of this band yet, I definitely will be if they expand upon their sound in the right ways in future releases.

From the Bolivian lands emerges a band called Oscuro Mito. This band is formed by five members being the guitar player Andreas Costas the only one with a previous known experience. Oscuro Mito started its career sevens years ago, so it’s clear that they have taken a long time to release their first demo. This first effort consists of no more than three songs and their style can be defined as folk black metal.

Before I listened to the demo for the first time, I found especially interesting that the lyrics are based on the Inca and Aymara cultures and sang in Spanish. I have nothing against the bands that sing in English and choose to write lyrics about other cultures, specially the overused Viking/Scandinavian theme. But it has more sense and coherence when a South American band decides to explore its rich and ancestral culture, and tries to represent their legends and traditions through black metal. Another interesting point is that they try to introduce actual folk instruments in their music, trying to achieve a balanced mixture between metal and traditional music.

As I have mentioned before this demo, which is entitled “Mientras las Nubes Ciegan la Luna” (“When the Clouds Blind the Moon” in English), has only three songs which are not long at all taking into account black metal´s standards. Nevertheless, this short duration doesn’t prevent this demo of having some interesting ideas to offer. The first song is entitled “Murmullos de Espectros”, which begins with a nice folk melody and it’s closely followed by the first raspy vocals, which suddenly turn into a more death metal growls when the guitars and drums enter. Anyway, Fernando combines both types of vocals with a remarkable consistency during the song. The tempo is not particularly fast, as they combine mid paced sections with slower and faster ones. The sound is surprisingly good for being a demo, which helps to distinguish each instrument.

“Dance en Trance” begins with the inclusion of another folk instrument which enhances the tribal aspect of Oscuro Mito’s music. The song has clearly a mid paced tempo which shows that this band prefers not to overuse the typically black metal fast drums. Another interesting aspect is the inclusion of a chorus with clean vocals, which is quite usual in the bands who try to enhance the pagan spirit of their music. Oscuro Mito surely knows how to add variety to their songs with the inclusion of folk sections, using instruments like flutes and acoustic guitars, among others. I especially like how they try to introduce folk melodies in the metal sections, in contrast to the bands that only use the folk instruments in the instrumentals and intros of their albums.

“Luz Naciente” is the closing track of this short demo with an initial distorted guitar accompanied by the full hatred vocals of Fernando. This last track is another mid-tempo song, where the addition of more folk instruments enriches once again the composition, it also reinforces the lyrical concept of the band. Andreas Costas and Joel Nogales do a quite solid work during the three songs. Apart from the typical riffs they usually try to add a solo in each song which is quite remarkable too.

In conclusion, all I can say about this demo is that is a very promising beginning for Oscuro Mito. The production is quite good and the band really knows how to combine folk and black metal, giving us the impression that they really love both styles. Related to this, I would like to mention Armin Villca’s excellent work with the folk instruments. Personally, I would add a higher variety to the drum patterns, which on the other hand are quite solid. In relation to production, I would try to refine the guitars sound in the solos. Anyway, the music is quite good and a future full-length should release all the potential of this band.

Oscuro Mito is a Bolivian black/folk metal band that formed in 2008. Although the band has been active for nearly a decade, they have only recently released their debut demo, Mientras las Nubes Ciegan la Luna…, which dropped at the end of February 2015 through the Bolivian underground label Catáfila Producciones. The demo features three tracks and runs just shy of fifteen minutes. While that’s not exactly an overabundance of recorded material to present, it seems that the band has carefully honed these three tracks into a vicious presentation of black metal with ethnic accoutrements.

Mientras las Nubes Ciegan la Luna…, which roughly translates to “When the Clouds Blind the Moon”, is a rather short affair, but Oscuro Mito manages to cram a lot of solid ideas into that time. From melodic, clean guitars and native woodwind instrumentation to rangy tremolo riffing and galloping, palm muted riffs, Oscuro Mito doesn’t rest on their laurels for very long. From the haunting, introspective introduction via melodic guitars and breathy flutes that mark the beginning of “Murmillos de Espectros” to the last stomping beat and thrashing outro riff of “Luz Naciente”, the band presents a constant flow of ideas while retaining a cohesive sound.

Despite being a debut demo, and from a country like Bolivia to boot, the production is rather strong. All of the instruments seem to be mixed quite well, with perhaps the only issue is when the atmospheric keys seem to drown out the guitars and vocals a bit during some moments. The demo begins with an ethnic sounding melodic introduction with squelched, raspy screams slowly being introduced, which ultimately builds into thrashy, galloping riff before dropping into fiery, yet rather simplistic trem riffs and double bass runs. A dash of native wood instruments flit in and out, adding an extremely authentic South American sound to the music. “Danze en Trance” follows with a strong focus on a stomping beat, clapping rhythms and chanting alongside a dissonant riff, which builds into a sound favoring mid-paced groove putting the native instrumentation in front of the metal. Finishing off the demo, “Luz Naciente” brings the black metal, native folk instrumentation and that dash of groove together for a catchy yet classy close.

Presenting a wide array of ideas, Oscuro Mito shows a promising future. The music on Mientras las Nubes Ciegan la Luna… seems like it would translate nicely into a longer format, so time will tell if the band can capitalize on their black metal and native folk amalgamation. While there is a decent amount of folk placed into the music, the band is still a black metal act at heart, so it’s unlikely that fans of overproduced, hurdy gurdy folk metal will enjoy this. But for those adventurous black metal fans, Oscuro Mito’s blend of black metal with native South American instrumentation shows a band with loads of potential.

Written for The Metal Observer.