Album Review: Culto Negro - La Noche Oscura del Alma
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
La Noche Oscura del Alma is the debut album from Costa Rican blackened thrash metal maniacs Culto Negro. Translating to Black Cult, Culto Negro are a five piece band that formed in Heredia in 2015 and have only one prior release to this album - the 2016 E.P. Abismal Speed Metal.
With this being only their debut album Culto Negro sound like a band that have been doing this for years. The bands mix of thrash and black metal is absolutely furious and an all you can eat buffet of gnarly and filthy riffs, hyperactive drumming and deranged vocals. The lyrics are all in the bands native tongue so unless you are fluent in Spanish you won’t have a clue what the lyrics are but this is an album where the music does all the talking. Chaotic thrash riffs, the black metal fuck you attitude, punky d-beat rhythms - this album has all the key ingredients to make it as gnarly as possible and if you aren’t banging your head like a maniac whilst listening then you are dead inside.
This album is chock full of neck wreckers such as Desdoble, Verso Adiviando, Rojo Siniestro and La Larga Marcha with all the songs being fast, nasty and abrasive with no pause or respite from the barrage of chaos in sight. Guitarists Isak Arroyo and Esteban Sancho deliver a non-stop attack of wonderfully filthy riffs and glorious solos whilst the rhythm section of bassist AntiChristopher (possibly one of the best names I’ve heard in metal) and drummer Vörago similarly pummell the listener into submission. The vocals from frontman D.N. are nicely varied from thrash shouts, to black metal shrieks and death metal growls with all these styles delivered with unhinged passion.
Culto Negro have delivered a fantastic debut album with La Noche Oscura del Alma. It is not an original style of extreme metal that they play but it is gloriously old school and played with an addictive amount of passion and enthusiasm. It also helps that the band are all killer players and are tight as hell with the album sounding absolutely fantastic. Any self respecting extreme metal fan who loves the old school sound should 100% give this album a listen as it is an absolute blast. One of the joys of reviewing albums is coming across bands you would probably never have heard otherwise and discovering some absolutely killer music.
