Honorable Mentions from the Abyss #2: Invocation of Death/Witchgöat/Apes of God

El Salvador...FUCK, I knew nothing about the extreme metal scene of El Salvador before I received so many requests just from this country! So, I thought well to dedicate entirely this second appointment with "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss" to El Salvador by introducing you three notable bands. I am sure that, considering the primitive style played by this kind of bands, the classic readers of Timpani allo Spiedo 'zine will not be disappointed.

INVOCATION OF DEATH - "INTO THE LABYRINTH OG CHAOS"

Ok, the first band to mention is Invocation of Death (FB page). To say the truth, this band is named in this way only since 2017 because, before, their moniker was Antares Death. But, as it happens for many underground bands, their debut album saw the light of the day only in October 2018 through Morbid Skull in co-operation with GrimmDistribution, a sub-label of the prolific Russian label Satanath Records.

Well, "Into the Labyrinth of Chaos" (that, curiously, is the only production to date by Invocation of Death so far) is old-school death metal at its finest! Full of dark mood and Swedish influences (that see also some thrashy parts from time to time), this album express a raw and pure wickedness also because the singer wisely alternates English with Spanish, a language perfect to give to the listeners plenty of totally cruel vibes.

WITCHGÖAT - "EGREGORS OF THE BLACK FAITH"

Carlos Melara, the same bassplayer of Invocation of Death, plays as C. Fog also in Witchgöat (FB page), so the quality must be high, if even higher! This band was founded in 2016 by the veteran guitarist P. Scyther with the clear intentions to create an ancient black/thrash metal without "any technological refinements". And there's need to say that those intentions were completely satisfied in their debut album "Egregors of the Black Faith", released in 2019 between the usual Morbid Skull (a label from the same El Salvador) and the Thai label Hell Productions.

In fact, your ears will be bombarded again and again by the 8 songs (+ intro) of "Egregors of the Black Faith", that show a black/thrashing slaughter played at a demented speed but made quite atmospheric by some literally icy black metal riffs. The style is very raw, violent and diabolic in the vein of bands such as Nifelheim, Sadokist and Malichor but, at the same time, these 4 demons are good in expressing a nice variety also by playing, for example, more heavy metal tunes. At this point, I have to thank the promotion agency from Bangladesh Zoheb to sending me this must have for every black/thrash maniac worthy of this cursed name!

APES OF GOD - "PROCESSION OF DEATH"

Not an album but a new EP for Apes of God (FB page), a young quartet that contacted directly me some months ago and that probably taken their moniker from a Sepultura's song. They were born in 2015 but their discography is already very full of splits, EPs, and there is also a debut album edited in 2018. Curiously, in the release party of their new EP, "Procession of Death", held on 9th March 2019, there were nothing else than Invocation of Death as one of the supporting acts. It seem that every band coming from Hell Salvador is connected hehe!

Said that, "Procession of Death" (Death in Pieces Rec, 2019) is a 6-track EP in which there is basically an old-school and fast death/thrash metal with some tunes closer to melodic death metal. The band, very professional, made also an official video for "Empty Hell", where you can see an expressive performance by the singer Cesar Canales! Anyway, it's incredible that you can find only black & white artworks in this article!



Ended this fast'n'furious report about the El Salvadorean extreme metal scene, I would like now to understand it in a better way by interviewing, at least, one of the aforementioned bands. For the moment, I understood a thing about the scene of this country: its bands seem to be seriously remained into the '80s-'90s roots of the extreme metal, and that's fukken good for me!