Xibalba

Hasta La Muerte

'Hasta La Muerte' sounds low. How low? Trillions upon trillions of miles below you, that low, that’s how low this album sounds. Deep as fuck. Fuck the Marianne trench, that’s Blink 182 shit. This is about as heavy as Jupiter as well. Two Jupiters. Massive as fuck. As heavy as my baws after a day at work.

Xibalba's second album on Southern Lord, 'Hasta La Muerte' ('To the Death') is produced by “Nails” Taylor Young. The album has none other than Southern Lord supremo Greg Anderson lending his mastery of whale-heavy guitar to the album. When I first heard 'Sentenced' (the nemesis of all shite music, riffs that will travel through time and space to kill all the bands you hate and pump your mum), it was accompanied by the finest artwork for an album I had seen in ages. Dan Seagrave unfurls a fantasy horror landscape like Conan invading Machu Picchu with Zyclon B.

So what’s that album like? Well I already fucking told you way up there. Remember? Its heavy as fuck. 'Burn', I swear to god, nearly broke my mp3 player, or it sounded like it. Everything just goes a bit wobbly, like the space-time continuum is fucking up in the studio due to the bass levels. Hardly ever changing the game, the sound, theme and tone is constant. This merciless consistency makes 'Hasta La Muerte' a brilliant record. There is never an escape route, never respite from cab-wrecking riff overlordship and outlaw punk temperament. I cannot wait to see these guys live. I'll probably die at that concert. All my fluids escaping me. My head exploding like the psychic dick in Scanners at the start. I cannot fucking wait!  

#Albums #funeral doom #Metal #sludge #Southern Lord #Xibalba #Darkwülf