So... it's time for me to summarize the last year in South American
heavy rock. And for Roadburn, no less! In 2006, Roadburn put on the
most efficient, organized and absolutely kick-ass festival of the
genre that I've ever had the pleasure of attending.
Given the colossal difference between the South American Doom,
Stoner, Heavy and Psych scenes and those of the Northern hemisphere,
I feel I need to tell you about the general state of things around
these parts. The Stoner / Psych scene has never been big around here.
The few bands that push on through the hardships very rarely get to
enjoy gigs with like-minded bands, the concerts are usually mixed
with bands from other styles [metal, for example, which has always
run strong in most of our region] and most venues are less than
enthusiastic about the genre.
Still, a constant fire has kept burning, and the attention of media
and public has grown slowly but steadily in the scene. Although there
are bands that have stubbornly stuck to their guns through the last
couple of decades, they have always worked largely in isolation.
With the economy, politics and culture in our region, music has always
been localized to the capitals of South American countries, and given
the great distance that separates Peru's Lima, Argentina's Buenos
Aires, Santiago in Chile and most major Brazilian cities, touring
throughout the region is pretty much an impossibility, given the
small budgets this music has to rely on.
Despite all this, things are growing.
The internet has proven to be the most powerful tool for
communicating and promoting between bands that are far away from each
other. The Chileans got to see their powerful Doom ensemble
Electrozombies tour Europe, and I learned of a few
bands I didn't know about from there, notably Bitterdusk, a heavy and doomy band with a clearly promising
future.
Argentina, probably the country with the richest Rock history in our
region, with many iconic Rock bands dating back to the 60's and
70's, has remained strong in creativity, launching new experimental
and psychedelic projects like Sarghuma Incoxis and Festival de los Viajes, as well as releases from the stoner genre by local bands Los Natas, Poseidotica, Buffalo, Taura and others.
One release that especially caught my attention was Dragonauta's "Cabra Macabra", a record that shows an accomplished band delving
deeper into NWOBHM roots, coming up with a genre that could be called
Fast Doom, mixed with the band's characteristic Psychedelic,
Progressive and Jazzy twists. It's good to know that despite the
massive difficulties created by the Argentine authorities requiring
their bands to leap through hoops to get permission for gigs, and the
added insult of often having to do the dreaded "pay to play"
bullshit, Dragonauta got to play repeatedly with other bands from the
scene like Poseidotica and Buffalo, as well as alongside extreme
metal acts like Avernal and Mastifal, and they even provided a track
for local film "El Kuervo."
Argentines never disappoint in the creative department. Also, Los Natas got to
open for The Stooges at their reunion concert in Buenos Aires, a gig that
I really regretted not being able to attend.
In Lima, my city, last year did get to see some growth. Most notably,
La Ira de Dios put out "Archaeopterix", a Heavy-psych
record, rich in strength and emotion, released through Germany's Nasoni label. Then
they got to promote their excellent new release, with a two-month
European tour, playing many gigs in Spain and Germany, including
Nasoni's Ten Year Festival and the notorious Trip In Time. The
Peruvians hope the tour will open new avenues of opportunity for the
band, which is already working on their next release and accompanying
tour.
This year also saw gigs by bands with some years in the Heavy / Doom
scene like Darken, and new talents
like Caballo de Plomo, a heavy Stoner Rock band with a bright future. Local label Ogro Records has also been
preparing releases for cult-classic Heavy Rock band Mazo, a 20 year
old band that pioneered the genre here and will put out their first
official record early this year. Another local band which delves into
a Heavy Psych Rock 'n Roll frenzy named El Cuy got to play a few gigs
in the capital, arousing a great response, and recorded their first
full-length which will see the light of day very shortly.
As for Reino Ermitaņo, where I play bass, this was both a good and a bad year for us. Early into 2006, we got to release our second full-
length named "Brujas Del Mar" through Austria's PsycheDOOMelic. We were
very pleased with the way the record came out, and it received a very
warm response both locally and around the world, and set the bar
higher for us, as this record shows a deeper plunge into heavier and
darker regions, where more personal emotions surfaced.
Unfortunately, shortly after its release, our drummer got
mugged and had his elbow shattered into four parts, which required
surgery, steel rods into his bone and a lengthy recuperation time
without playing. Despite this, Ņaka, the trooper that he
is, eventually recovered and we have finished writing our third
record, "Rituales Interiores", which has a heavy load of aggression poured into it.
We will be recording this in March and expect to release it shortly after that, kicking
it off with a tour abroad in July.
As for what the best three releases of 2006 were, in my opinion...
Hard question. I think I was the most pleased with the heartfelt
return to form of Celtic Frost's "Monotheist." A great album from start
to finish, and one of the richest guitar tones I've heard lately.
My second choice would be Witch's self-titled... not just because of the
sound, which I absolutely love, but a true richness in composition
and melody that doesn't seem to recycle the same old riffs we find in
so many bands of the genre, but rather writes with true
personality and intent.
One of my favorites for sure. The third one, it's almost a tie for me, I think. La
Ira de Dios' "Archaeopterix" is just such a huge step forward to the band, and
it's so full of depth and textures that I often find myself immersed in it
and find new layers every time I get into this stoney thing, so true
and so filled with emotion.
The other one I connect with in the same astral plane
was Om's "Conference of the Birds." Hypnotic, guitar-less Doom. And it
works beautifully, which is more than I can say about most projects
that take a chance like this one and sound good in theory, but don't
really move me when I hear them. Amazing record. I found that I could
live without heavy distorted guitars in some situations, and I really
didn't expect that to happen. Without drums, not so much.
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