There is more than just playing good metal, and that is putting a great show; off course the music should never take second sit to the fire, blood, pigs head’s flying about, but it helps, it helps to create an atmosphere mostly seen in our country through DVD’s and once in a while in our media when our local news outlets loose site of what the real problems of the country are and attack a small but resilient metal scene. And so where does Corpus Necromanthum fit in all this; simple they have the music and they put on a hell of a show!
One of the “new crop” of metal bands in Costa Rica trying to elevate the genre from a mostly garage inspired and display art form Corpus, comes to show that if you want to do something beyond the norm all it takes are ideas and guts, and they have those to spare.
A death metal band with the look and feel of a black metal outfit, was just what the country needed, and so Arturo AKA... Read all

The meaning of “true” in black metal has become some sort of chalice that many young bands preach and follow, with hopes of not just establishing themselves but to rescue their genre from a “globalization” of their sound. Among those young bands is Förnost, not preaching about the true meaning of BM but rather playing what to them is the purest from of this dark and seductive genre.
San José, Costa Rica might not have the cold winters that Norway, Finland, Sweden or Denmark share, but the cold and raw sound in “Every Green Turns Grey and Cold” shows that BM is not just played and felt by Nordic man and women; it is carried within ones soul.
The work and the words that one of the founder members of Förnost shared with me, took me into the subconscious idea of exposing your sound, not because you feel like it needs to be rescue but because is the... Read all

With nothing but respect for the pioneers of the genre in Costa Rica, I haven’t heard a thrash band with this much talent and promising future since I noticed the existence of our scene a couple of years ago. Eternal has taken the old school thrash sound of the 80’s and added some personality to every riff, without losing the essential catchy tunes that memorable songs are made of; something that becomes more than clear when you listen to a song like Rotting in Anger, one spin and you’ll be hooked!
The sound of the demo… well lets just say it lives up to its name, raw, dirty, unbalanced and striped of any embellishing production, but despite all that, you can still hear the idea and the great song structure this guys can deliver, truly a demo that deserves to be in your collection due to the “rarity” of its content and the honest and true thrash approach that it brings ... Read all

As it is typical in San José during this month, the weather hit our capital hard this pass Friday October 12, non stop rain, thunder, puddles of mod everywhere and an infernal traffic jam was the foundation for the first ever show of Napalm Death in Costa Rica, and what a show it was; finally with a decent location, and a more than decent attendance, the Brits brought all their Grindcore to our capital, and the Ticos responded with soccer like chants, “Napalm, Napalm, Oeeeee, oeeeee, oeeee, Napalm, Napalm”.
Kontakt was in charge and the responsible for bringing this legendary band to San José, after the great success of Cannibal Corpse, despite the heavy opposition from our local press this (at least to me) young concert promoter, has achieved and is feeling very embolden by the fact that not even the religious extremists in the government and press could stop Cannibal from playing in a tiny ... Read all

A sign of a growing scene is the growth not only of the quality of the bands they manage to put out, but the expansion of genres and the ability to write more complex material that goes beyond, brutality, Satanism and mere look, when a scene begins to see bands and fans demand more quality over looks you know your scene is going in the right direction.
Katharzys is not reinventing, or presenting a new approach on what death metal is, but they are bringing quality and musicianship as their presentation card, leaving aside looks and brutal ideologies, something that plagues the Latin metal underground over quality song writing.
This relatively young Costarrican band has put out one of our best death metal albums in years, maybe the beginning of a revolution of musicians guided by the enthusiasm to write good metal above all; still the band keeps... Read all

To be in a place that is not clearly assigned for anything can be a great thing, or it could become your demise. In the metal world a sudden “hate” for new sounds and genres has spread like wild fire between metalheads, take for example the common hate towards bands like Slipknot and Korn, or the most recent hate for metalcore bands, all this because some old timers saw a bunch of kids getting into metal music a different way than they did.
So here comes 1n54n0, not a nu metal band, not a metalcore band, but something more along the lines of a melodic thrash metal blend with a few industrial elements that makes them a hesitant band for the more “traditional” and sometimes close minded metal fans.The simplest and most honest description I can come up with is that “is heavier than rock, is not as popular as pop, is not as flamboyant as hip hop, and is not folk music, there for is metal” and yes 1n54n0 is metal and they are ready to... Read all

Arsenal is one of those few bands in Costa Rica that respect and work very hard to give its fans a sharp, punctual live show, and that is really hard to find.
This year the melodic thrash metal band from San José is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and that doesn’t happen everyday; with new plans for a future album, a possible anniversary concert and a full scale attack on promotion, I decided it was about time Arsenal was a part of Leviatan, they have surely earn it.
Almost an hour talking with Carlos and Diego was a pleasure and a very informative time to spend on a Wednesday night at the heart of San Pedro; while I was listening to each and every answer this two good friends gave me, I realize that until now I haven’t really have a bad experience with any interviewee, its like every metal musician in this country is a nice guy (at least the ones I have interview). Perhaps the fact that many metal bands from... Read all

Rising from the darkest corners of the Costarrican underground scene, the mummy approaches, dragging his feet, coursing his way with a deep horrific voice until he gets a hold of your throat, just to strangle you no matter how much you beg for your pathetic existence.
Before meeting with Ronald and Christian in a local bar in San Pedro, I expected two psychotic mentally disturbed guys, since the lyrics from Mummified are always headed that way; instead I had a close encounter with two cool guys who like to joke around and for no reason keep things to themselves.
This was not your typical interview; it was more of a friendly chat among old friends (even though I just meet the guys), we talked about the band, their album, and our local scene and boy did we talked about our metal scene, maybe the two beers each of them had help them relax a bit.
Maybe and with out even notice it; I discovered the roots of Mummified’s ... Read all

If you are going to talk about Costarrican death metal, you have to talk about Pseudostratiffied Epithelium. The name it self is long and complicated but manages to stay in your memory just for the curiousness of it.
This “Ticos” (another way of calling Costarrican people) have gone from brutal death metal, to grindcore, to old school death metal mostly influence by the Florida scene back in the early 90’s.
It seems that longevity is the key to wisdom and respect, something that Fernando Baltodano seems to know a lot of; Pseudo’s drummer for almost 12 years, he has been a part of the Costarrican metal scene almost from the beginning, and one of the pioneers of the local brutal metal sound.
Pseudostratiffied Epithelium is your normal underground act; they.... Read all

Alastor Sanguinary Embryo’s black metal goes beyond their records; their music manages to capture the essence of the genre and a high level of professionalism only seen on bands that want things done the right way.
With theatrical and full of energy live performances, this Costarrican black metal band has made a commitment with his fans, and that commitment is to always give them the best, from painted faces and dark outfits very common with this genre of metal, to well recorded and produced material that can easily be confused with the material done by the big record companies. This commitment to their fans and themselves have give Alastor S.E a very loyal fan base.
Alastor Sanguinary Embryo is a pretty good example of what black metal is all about, and a worthy exponent of... Read all

In Costa Rica is very hard to find bands that survive the passing years and the changes in radio stations tendencies, but from a few that have survived we find Mantra, a metal band that has done it all, tours in Costa Rica, Central America, Mexico and Italy; and that now is about to be sixteen years old, and is still looking for that recognition many deny them.
The once death metal band is now looking in another direction to rebuild, and redefined their style, but always maintaining that special essence of brutality that earn them the respect of every Costarican metal head.
With five albums and one more in the works “Begin to Burn”, we talked to Roberto Pana, drummer and only original member left of the band that was born back in 1988. Roberto talked to us about the new line up, the new style and the new force begin the band and all the plans they have for the... Read all