Mexican label, rooted in underground metal, Iron, Blood and Death Corporation, released another uncompromising and brutal metal record. It’s a self-titled & sophomore eight-tracker full-length, entitled Maniaco. The band hails from Osorno (Chile) and in the time of recording of this album, line-up was comprised of; Marcos Pérez (guitars), Felix Llefi (guitars & vocals), Mauricio Reyes (drums) and Alfredo Torres (bass & vocals).

The band name (meaning ‘Maniac’ in English) fits their sound very well. From the fantastically ghastly cover artwork, over the sound, to the lyrical content, everything screams – madness, desolation, death and extermination! These are also the lyrical subject in most of the lyrical content on Maniaco. Even before listening to this album, titles as “Marching Towards Hel”s Gates”, “Humiliated, Mutilated” or “I Kill for Lust” provide a pretty good preview of the music?!

The sound on Maniaco is grim and grisly, but also with numerous unexpected twists and turns offering even more variation to their tech/slam/bruatl death metal. Vocals are monstrous, guttural and roaring, and when paired with the fireworks of other instruments (esp. high-speed punishing & dueling tremolo picked guitars) works out more than decent on Maniaco. Since its foundation (almost two decades ago) Maniaco has been known for its extreme and sheer speed, aggression, and technicality, utilizing downtuned guitars, heavy distortion, and guttural vocals. Tempo can vary, but most of the time it’s blistering fast, often featuring blast beats and complex and technical rhythmic patterns.

My favourite cuts from Maniaco are “While My Body Laid Asleep” and the closing “I Kill for Lust”, due to nice rhythm section with great variation and overall sonic instrumental assault, and album’s shortest track called “Repudiation, Excess & Monotony“, because of thick and dark whirlwind of sounds on just 2:40 minutes.

Recorded, mixed and mastered at ‘Greyhound Recording Studios‘ in Osorno, the production is spot on with a clear and concise sound, maintaining consistency throughout while all instruments breathe and can be heard. Recommended for worshippers of brutal and slamming death metal and bands such as Morbid Angel, Krisiun, Vital Remains, Immolation, Deicide, Autopsy etc.

For further information on Maniaco visit the quartet’s bandcamp.