Deidades del inframundo

After having recently written a review for Chilean Death Metal fighters Exanimatvm here is another one of those South American bands (this time from Peru) that have been hiding in the jungle much too long until Dunkelheit Produktionen came along and gave them the chance to present their music to a wider audience. I could just take a big portion of my text for Exanimatvm and copy/paste it as there are more similarities between those 2 bands than distinctions.

Tunjum also play a very rough and dirty style of Old School Death Metal. The sound could be described as basic and primitive which in that case should not come across as negative. The main purpose of “Deidades Del Inframundo” is to satisfy the primal instincts of metal heads looking for something stripped down as counterpart to most stuff being released these days. Generally speaking I am a big fan of the “New Wave of OSDM” with bands like Entrails, Revolting or Demonical releasing albums by taking the old buzz-saw style but embed it in a very modern and powerful production. My cupboard is full of that stuff but once in a while it is refreshing to take out a CD offering something different.

The riffing is taken straight out of the nineties with some really great chords varying from dark and powerful to melancholic and hypnotic. The basic chords get a few small variations throughout each tracks but there are no complete turnarounds or flashy parts. The only major changes within the single songs are some slow-down sections where the music gets a scary and doomy vibe reminding of bands like Asphyx in their slower songs. Those pieces are often highlighted by eerie lead solos that are ramping up the sinister mood. Overall this is an album that has a very dense atmosphere drawing the listener into the music.

For a South American band the drumming feels quite laid-back for major parts. Partially that might be due to the fact that the drums have been mixed a bit into the background to give enough room for the guitars and also the bass which can be heard very prominently. Overall I am satisfied with the production as the sound feels like on a carefully remastered album of the nineties.

One thing that is really outstanding on this record are the vocals. As far as I understood the promo text Tunjum once has been a female only band and the only remaining member is responsible for the vocals. It is hard to believe that the nice looking woman on the band photo is responsible for this extremely deep and violent growls but this is what is stated in the info. Very impressive.

Overall “Deidades Del Inframundo” is a really nice gem and another obscure addition to my collection. I am looking forward to checking out more of this band.