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Released on January 26, 2015 via Southern Lord
If you name your band after the underworld of any mythology, you have to make sure you live up to it – no band who name themselves Xibalba are going to hold back if they consider themselves worthy of the name, and this Californian quintet’s intentions are clear from the moment a wordless growl kicks off their third LP (whose title translates from Spanish as ‘Land and Liberty’). They’re hell-bent on making their mark, having started out on A389 Recordings in 2011 and then made the jump to Southern Lord the following year, and there’s no doubt about their having made impressive strides since their formation in 2007. I discovered them last year on their split with New Jersey hardcore types Suburban Scum, and they’ve taken their sound further since then, to craft an envigorating hardcore/death metal hybrid with some unmistakably doomy parts thrown in.
They’ve seemed to pick up a little bit of everything, which is why the unexpected shift into full-blown doom on closing track ‘El Vacio’ doesn’t come entirely out of left-field. That track takes up almost a full third of the record’s running time, and it’s good enough that I wouldn’t mind hearing more doom influences incorporated into future material. Musically speaking, it’s the Yin to the rest of the album’s Yang, trading aggression for a sense of bleakness that plunges into the abyss of despair around the 8-minute mark, the previously wispy guitars becoming powerful at the drop of a hat, chugging riffs and steady drumming allowing the album to end on a curious note – previously, one would have assumed that writing such music was outside Xibalba’s comfort zone, but they laid down a solid enough foundation on their second LP that it now makes sense for them to try to change things up a little.
The closer is the clear outlier – it doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the record, but it could offer a tantalising glimpse into the group’s future. For the most part, they’ve used their third LP to improve upon and refine what’s come before. There’s a refreshingly natural feel audible in opening pair ‘Enemigos’ and ‘Guerilla’, tracks on which their hardcore side is readily apparent. Rather than the short bursts associated with the genre, Xibalba prefer to keep things loud and unpredictable, bringing a progressive flair to a style of music often more concerned with getting from point A to point B in as straightforward a manner as possible. The death metal cornerstones are here too, of course – gruff vocals, double bass, downtuned guitars aplenty – but one thing the band particularly excel at is switching gears when you least expect it; recent single ‘Invierno’ is particularly adept at this.
Their drummer doesn’t play to a click track, so the tempo shifts can sometimes feel a little jarring, but there’s plenty of forward momentum in songs such as ‘Si Dios Quiere’ and the menacing title track, enough to suggest that Xibalba are more settled in themselves than they were before. Tierra Y Libertad could easily have been a misfire, as I’ve seen plenty of bands wilt under increased exposure, and there’s no denying that their star has been on the rise for the last few years, but they’ve delivered on their early promise and made an album that’s as thrilling as it is heavy – and who knows, there may be even better to come.
