Southern Lord
2011
Not to be confused with the Mexican black metal band of the same name, these guys actually from California. I was kind of torn on this album so lets get at the positive first. Xibalba have a deep, heavy plodding hardcore sound not far off from early Hatebree. They begin almost every song with a lot of force and never veer off. The production is solid and provides their sound with a fair amount of depth. Okay, the downside and there most definitely is one. Their lack of varation in the tempo department makes many of their sonds very tedious and difficult to take. The vocals occasionally pick up steam, but not the music. Several times during this album my thoughts were "is this song still going on?". That's never a good sign.I gave this album several chances and I like parts of it. Ultimately they came across as a band with some determination and some basic skills, but they lack the ideas to make this album worth hearing in it's entirety. Maybe they were hoping that their heaviness would make up for their lack of creativity, but unfortunately they aren't heavy of forceful enough to cover up their shortcomings.
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