DEMONAUTA ~ TEMAUKEL, THE SPIRIT BEFORE TIME .... review

As discussed on these pages many times before Chile is a country cranking out some of the finest doom, stoner and psych in the Southern Hemisphere with bands like Kayros, Sotano and Pies de Plomo making a splash not only in their own backyard but also internationally. However there is one Chilean band that, for Desert Psychlist, stands head and shoulders above the rest and that band is Santiago's Demonauta. Demonauta, David Véliz (guitar/vox,) Miguel Quezada (bass) and Ale Sanhueza (drums/percussion), have that something extra, that little bit special and magical within their sound that just seems to hit that all important sweet spot and in doing so renders it almost impossible to listen to them without feeling a shudder of delight run through your body. The band return, this year, to once again bring tremors to your spinal columns with their latest offering "Temaukel, The Spirit Before Time" (Kozmic Artifactz)

It is hard to explain in words the sonic impact of of Demonauta's grooves on "Temaukel, The Spirit Before Time" except to say that this is an album that will live in the memory long after the last note has faded into the ether, Desert Psychlist could just tell you to skip this review and just go straight to the link and revel in the albums majestic blend of heavy psych, doomic darkness and stoner fuzz but that would be too much of a cop out and so we will try to impart, in words, why you should invite this stunning collection into your lives and why Demonauta are about to become your favourite band.

Balance is the key to Demonauta's unique and highly addictive sound, the band cleverly utilising aspects from a wide range of metal genres and rock styles but without ever leaning too heavily on any one ,weaving elements of the blues, hard rock and good old heavy metal into a tapestry sown together with fuzz and distortion that shifts through dynamics like a racing driver shifts through gears. Moments of lysergic tranquillity and space like ambience, offset by monolithic riffage and pummelling rhythms, are the order of the day throughout "Temaukel's" seven songs with no one song ever standing still long enough to ever become staid or stale, the band taking off into stratospheric cosmic heights one minute diving into deep doomic depths the next.

It would be pointless writing a rundown of each and every one of "Temaukel's" seven tracks here as there is not a song or instrumental on the album that, in Desert Psychlist's opinion ,falls beneath stunning. To say we love this release would be an understatement but see what you think.
Check it out ….

© 2018 Frazer Jones