TZOMPANTLI
Tlayohualli
From 'Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force'
LP / CD / TAPE / DIGITAL
Releasing May 17th, 2024
www.20buckspin.com/tzompantli
20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album...
1. Tetzahuitl
2. Tlayohualli
3. Tlaloc Icuic
4. Chichimecatl
5. Tetzaviztli
6. Otlica Mictlan
7. Icnocuicatl
With first album ’Tlazcaltiliztli’, Tzompantli called forth a penetrating strike of Death and Doom Metal like a poisoned arrow through the heart. The band’s foundation in Indigenous / Native rituals, history and lore, and merging of traditional instruments into their sound made for one of 2022’s most uniquely voiced metal records.
Now Tzompantli have again been summoned from the smoke of the ancient fires with a new offering at the altar of human sacrifice, ‘Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force’. Fearsomely brutal marches of war-like, percussive Death Metal are contrasted with melancholy passages of longing spirit and entrancing ceremonial invocations to the ancestors. The Tzompantli tribe has greatly expanded on this second album with 10+ musicians enlisted in the conjuring of wrathful deities and collection of invader skulls.
There has been no shortage of fantastic Death/Doom records in recent years and Tzompantli’s latest entry in the genre’s pantheon demonstrates its continued expansion into wider musical and thematic arenas. The anguished fortitude at the heart of ‘Beating The Drums of Ancestral Force’ exalts in the blood and ash of empire and would be conquerors, a fiery lamentation to centuries of erasure.
Tzompantli Tribe:
Brian “Itztlakamayeh” Ortiz - Vocals, Rhythm & Lead Guitars, Bass, Folks Instruments & Percussion
Manzig “Yohualli” Sanchez - Lead Guitars
Eric Delgado - Bass
Mateotl Boughton - Lead Guitars
Jason “Katulu” Brunes - Vocals, Folks Instruments & Percussion
Erol Ulug - Vocals, Lead Guitars
Alejandro Aranda - Vocals, Drums, Folks Instruments & Percussion
Justin Moore - Vocals
Lord Foul - Vocals
Mateotl Gonzalez - Folks Instruments & Percussion
Justin Ton - Lead Guitars
Recorded, produced, mixed & master by Erol Ulug at Bright Light StudiosCover by Adam BurkeAlbum layout by Chimere Noire
Photography by Luckee Ngin