Worldwide Metal: Argentina
On this edition of Worldwide Metal, I head to South America to check out the country of Argentina. A beautiful country with tourist hot spots like Buenos Aires and the second largest country in South America behind it’s neighbors to the northeast Brazil. And food to die for as well. Making me hungry as I look at pictures of dishes like Choripán & Alfajores. But like its neighbor Brazil and its most famous metal export Sepultura, does Argentina have any good extreme metal? They actually have A LOT (especially per Metal-Archives.com), so I thought I’d look at what the country has to offer to the world of extreme metal.
The first band I’ll be covering from the country is a unique brutal death metal act that truly encapsulates the themes of space and science fiction. The band is 01101111011101100110111001101001, which translated in binary means “OVNI” (an equivalent to the term “UFO” we commonly associate with aliens. Formed in 2017, the band is a brutal act that bares similarity to acts like Wormed, Wormhole and Pathology. Though the band only has one studio album, 2019’s SDSS J0333+0651, the band truly scratches that brutal, almost slam, itch that you want. I hope more music is in the works cause I loved this record a lot as a huge fan of the death metal genre.
The next act is a death metal/grindcore hybrid Blast Bitch. With a guttural vocal delivery remeniscent of classic Florida death metal from the 90’s, this three piece dabbles in many different variations of death metal. Like the Florida death metal sound of the 90’s, to grindcore/crust punk pacing, to chugging slam guitars. Vocalist Constanza Samhain has such a deep, guttural, gravelly vocal delivery that reminds me of Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy fame. With her accent adding an almost Max Cavalera-esque twist to some of her vocal cadences. The band has only released three EPs, with the most recent EP being 2021’s Deshumanizadxs, and no news of a new EP or studio album in the works. A good hidden gem to check out if you like your death metal with touches of grindcore like early Terrorizer.
Next we head into the forest of black metal with the one-man black metal project Abyss of Animas. The brainchild of Santiago Sauza, the band adds the epic, grand scale of symphonic elements to pounding black metal double bass and deep, guttural growls that remind me of Uada. The band released their debut album Beautiful and Hateful in 2023. A truly captivating and entrancing record. Just the pure scale of instrumentation, song structure, and overall proficiency, while also capturing emotional depth in sadness, sorrow and longing is very well done. Definitely check out if you are a fan of Ihsahn or Ceremonial Castings.
Now heading into a slam/deathcore direction, we will talk about the band Megalodón. This two-piece released their debut album La extinción de la humanidad in 2024. With heavy and chugging slam elements you’d get from Abominable Putridity, to blasting and chugging breakdowns you’d get from a lot of modern deathcore. The album is truly heavy as all hell. With almost machine-gun like double bass on some songs, mixed with the trademark “brees” from Diego Vera. A true deep cut and a band with a bright future ahead of them in the slam scene if the debut is this good.
Heading into the green haze of stoner metal is the band Paramo Bonzai. Formed in 2018, the band embodies that stoner metal trademark from the get-go. Fuzz heavy guitars and distortion, slow, Sabbath-like pacing at some points, to almost Matt Pike-like bellowing vocals. I can picture the band opening for classic acts like High on Fire, Sleep, Weedeater and Bongripper. The band did release a new song in 2024 “El Rey Del Abismo”, but no word yet on a new EP or debut album. Check this band out with a good pair of headphones and a strong indica strain.
The last band I will be talking about is a thrash band that has shared the same stage with acts like Black Sabbath, KISS, Motörhead and Slayer. That band is Hermética. Formed in 1987, the band truly captures the peak genres of the 80’s. You have the Bay Area thrash sound of Metallica and Megadeth, mixed with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal like Judas Priest. The band’s 1989 self-titled debut captured those peak genres in a bottle and was a fist-pumping forty-minute beast of a record. The band would release two more records, 1991’s Ácido argentino & 1994’s Víctimas del vaciamiento, before breaking up. I HIGHLY recommend checking this band out for a hit of nostalgia and a good marriage of peak 80’s metal done very well.
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That’s going to do it for my time visiting Argentina and another edition of Worldwide Metal. Did you dig some of the bands I featured in this edition? Were there any bands you think other readers should check out? You can also let me know what country I should travel to next, so I can stamp my metal passport on my journey to discover Worldwide Metal.
