Label: Sliptrick Records
Date: November 15th, 2022
First of all, I am confused. It’s not my first time to work with Latin American metal bands but with this kind it is. When I finally set down to listen to some new music the first on the line was Arrealhue. By the cover photo of no-face man with a knife, a book and a black metal name design I was intrigued to see what this is. Summary of weird feelings rushed through me but I had to listen to this. I mean, please, the band is from Chile, it has a song very cheerful with some kind of a horror vibe and they sound like they are casting spells. Definitely something to explore for me. The album “Post Lux Tenebras” is one year old now and still actual to review, of course.
Death / black metal as they present themselves, Arrealhue is one solid presenter of this genre in Chile (I know I sound like I am familiar with Chilean metal scene but I am not). Their music is not so typical but nothing so exceptional either, until the moment they confused me with a song called “Cueca Pagana” and its folk / Latin spirit. Dark and mysterious as they sound, those three people definitely have experience in making music. They put an effort into their presentation and showed us what they can do. Will they convince you that they have music under control, you (reader / listener) will say.
Arrealhue started the album with a song called “El rufián”. Five and a half minutes of high-quality noise rushed in my headset with vocals that are coming straight from hell. Nice way to start an album. Next, there is “La agonía” and after it “La muerte”, “La mar” and I can talk about all thirteen but it would be: 1) boring; 2) exhausting and 3) not so necessary. This time a bit shorter.
All songs on this album have something unique and I hope those will be their remarks in big metal world that will help them be recognized. Next to death / doom melodies that make the essence of every song I must highlight the guitar riffs and vocals. Like Rotting Christ, a bit oriental and a bit progressive guitar riffs really give to all songs some special dimension. Catchy but again interesting riffs made by El Mayoral did a great job here. Into these doom / death / undefined melodies back and main vocal of Mal Cristiano took central figure and proved a point. More than growl that, as I said, came from the throne of Satan, back vocals are something I really liked. That made this album not typical. “El reino de Baco” or “La daga”, where those clean vocals took important place are my reason why those two songs are my personal favorite.
Now, the moment where I got confused. I didn’t get the impression that Arrealhue has a folky vibe but with the song “Cueca Pagana” everything previous fell in water to some level. I didn’t get in the end why and how this song fits into this whole release. Maybe that’s lack of information or my inability to explore better but definitely I was confused.
I am glad I took this band to review. Frist reason is to explore music outside of North America and Europe and, second, they surprised me pleasantly. With all twelve (without the last one) tracks I heard Arrealhue really proved they have a place among good bands in the metal world. Exotic is the fact they come from Chile, through music to their appearance they really deserve to go on the light of the day. I don’t know what are the chances to expect their second album but I hope this review will inspire them to make more music.
