Some of you out there may be familiar with the name David Véliz, some may not, those who are familiar with that name will most likely have come across his name associated with the bands Demonauta and Familia del Desierto and through his solo projects released under the name Deiv Id Fuzz. Today though we are going to be discussing another band he is involved with, Espermaticidio, a power trio formed with fellow musicians Gonzalo Garcia (bass/vocals) and Rodrigo Villalobos (drums). Espermaticidio are one of the oldest musical projects Véliz has been involved with but is at the same time probably his least known outside of his Chilean homeland but that could well change with the release of "Kalkutun" the bands latest and, in our humble opinion, best release yet.
Things kick off in fine style with opening track "
Darkness Wheel", this is a song that blends
Sabbathian proto-doom with
stonerized heavy rock and brings the resulting mix to the boil with soaring acidic lead work, and if that hasn't whetted your appetite enough the band then top things off with a swaying vocal melody (in
English) so addictive it should carry a health warning, A rolling grainy bass motif introduces next track "
Droga y R&R" followed by the rest of the trio joining in on a furious
desert punk groove over which angsty vocals (
Spanish) are delivered in shouty, almost
rap-like, tones. If this song continued on to its last note in this style we at
Desert Psychlist would suspect there would not be too many complaining but slap bang in the centre of all this furiosity
Espermaticidio decide to treat us to an extended passage of soaring and
bluesy heavy psych accompanied by appropriately lilting vocals before then returning to the songs
punk(ish) roots to close things the way they started them . All the usual
dooms,
traditional; proto and
stoner, get a place to call their own on the excellent "
El Camino", along with some dark and dank
psychedelic textures while title track "
Kalkutun" mixes those same
dooms with textures and colours borrowed from
70's heavy rock and
80's metal. Having got
doom,
psych and
heavy rock down pat
Espermaticidio turn their hand to
grungy alt-metal for the deliciously moody "
Downer", the vocal
(English) here delivered sublimely downbeat and weary. For their final number, "
Blanqueador",
Espermaticidio blend
alt-metal quiet/loud/quiet dynamics with elements of
doom,
desert rock and
psych to create a groove that is both undulating and jagged, the band topping off said groove with an excellent swaying vocal melody (
Spanish) that is
Nirvana-esque in its dynamics if not in its tones.
If you are one of those looking to dip your toes into
Chile's vibrant and diverse underground scene for the very first time then you could not find a better album to start your journey with than
Espermaticidio's "
Kalkutun", this is an album that delivers all the crunch, all the bite and all the musicality you could possibly want from an album deemed as "
underground". If, on the other hand, you are a listener already fully immersed in the musical delights
Chile has to offer then this is yet another superb album of
Chilean grooviness that needs to be gracing your music collection..
Check it out ...
© 2025 Frazer Jones
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