NOMADAS ~ ARMAGEDDON ....review

Desert Psychlist recently had a conversation with Iglesia Atomica bassist/keyboardist Agustin Criollo regarding the Peruvian music scene and the glut of good quality young bands that are seemingly popping up on a regular basis over there, that same observation could also be accredited to the current Chilean scene which is also producing an unending stream of quality rock bands one of which we will be dealing with here.

Nomadas are Walter Bugueño (guitar), Guillermo Ventura (bass/backing vocals), Francisco San Martín (drums) and Tiare Echeverria (vocals), a band  hailing from Arica y Parinacota, Chile who jam a groove that sits somewhere between heavy desert rock and proto-doom. The band have just recently released their debut album "Armageddon", an eight song opus packed to the gills with crunching guitar riffs, growling bass motifs and solid tight thunderous percussion all of which are coated in strong vocals sang in the bands native tongue of Spanish.

If you are not from a Spanish speaking country and the last eight words of this reviews intro piece has put you off checking out Nomadas' debut release then you, my friend, are going to be seriously missing out. Of course understanding Spanish will add an extra element of enjoyment when listening to Nomadas' incendiary grooves but it is not essential, for those of you non-Spanish speaking readers (myself included) it is enough just to enjoy the tones, inflections and power of Tiare Echeverria's vocals as she roars, croons and soars over the powerful refrains and rhythms that surround her emotive voice.
Title track "Armageddon" opens proceedings with muted trumpet blown over a backdrop of tribal percussion, an obvious reference to Gabriel's Horn announcing Judgement Day, then segues into a mid-tempo groove replete with a chugging palm muted guitar refrain, Echeverria's vocal rising and falling in undulating waves of emotional gravitas over a backdrop of restrained, but nonetheless heavy, doomic groove. "Acechado" follows and raises the temperature and the tempo by exploding into a galloping metallic groove that sees Echeverria trading the spotlight with some fiery lead work from Bugueño, the guitarists solo only stopping short of screaming due to the amount of fuzz and distortion he has dialed into it."Gente sombra" is up next and maintains the galloping pace of its predecessor but here we find Echeverria sharing chorus duties with bassist Ventura, his deeper tones the perfect foil for her more soulful vocal outpourings."Espectros" explodes out of the speakers like a greyhound on steroids with San Martin going hell for leather on the drums, Bugueño's bass growling, Ventura's guitar screaming and Echeverria's impassioned vocal soaring powerfully overhead. We made mention earlier of the "heavy desert" aspects of Namadas' sound and where better than to highlight that side of their sound than on a song called "Desierto" (translation:desert), a song built around a recurring circular guitar motif that just screams dunes, cactus and heat. "Arena negra" and "Impulsos deponder" follow much the blueprint the band lay down on the rest of the album, both are full on heavy desert outings drenched in raucous riffage, screaming guitar solos and incredibly powerful percussion and both perfectly frame Echeverria's powerful distinctive vocals. It is almost heartbreaking that an album this good has to come to an end but if you've got to go out then you should go out with a bang and Nomadas go out with a virtual nuclear explosion with "Insomnio" a song that sees Echeverria trading off vocals with Ventura over a groove that in places drools and snarls like a rabid dog and in others takes off on lysergic journeys into the cosmos.

It often amuses Desert Psychlist that there are English speaking bands out there, that we all know, love and listen to, that sing in harsh, gutteral tones that without a lyric sheet in hand we would never have a clue of what they may be singing about, yet when we are faced with a band singing lyrics in a language we are not familiar with we hesitate to give them a chance. Don't make this mistake with Nomadas, this is a band that needs to be heard , not just by Spanish speaking rock fans but by all rock fans.

Check 'em out .... 

© 2020 Frazer Jones