Review by Sandre the Giant
If you were deep into extreme music in 2022, you’ll remember the staggering debut of ancient Mexica inspired Tzompantli, ‘Tlazcaltiliztli’, and their emergence into death/doom titans from what seemed like nowhere. If you missed it, we reviewed it here. So to say that the follow up, ‘Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force’, is a little hotly anticipated is underselling it. It is out now, much like it’s predecessor, on the venerable 20 Buck Spin.
Immediately with opener ‘Tetzahuitl’ you are plunged back into the burning ancient cauldrons of pre-Latin Central American culture, powerful thrusts of riffs scalding through your synapses. There is a truly primal feel here that is rigorously enforced through guttural roars and a crawling, creeping morbidity. That’s not to say that this is a one dimensional record, of course not. You get touches of Crowbar in sludgy second track ‘Tlayohualli’, the eerie tolling notes in ‘Otlica Mictlan’, or even the almost gothic, weeping doom of epic closer ‘Icnocuicatl’. Tzompantli are doing stuff in death/doom that no one else is right now, with a truly inspired mix of the brutal and the melancholic. The haunting crawl of ‘Tlaloc Icuic’ is a glimpse of where Sepultura could’ve have gone after ‘Roots’ if there was no split.
‘Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force’ was built upon a staggering foundation, but I honestly thought Tzompantli would struggle to match their debut. This blows past it, keeping those little atmospheric touches and death/doom majesty firmly in play but giving us glimpses of directions we could go in future. Another masterpiece from one of the genre’s brightest hopes.
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https://tzompantlidoom.bandcamp.com/
https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/
The Killchain 