xibalba - aztlán

xibalba return (so do I) with this beast of an e.p. just as if they had never been gone. still one of the heaviest around. 700 copies on gold nugget vinyl. closed casket activities. 2024. (i just realised i held the b-side upside down :)

xibalba - años en infierno

after five years xibalba are back with their latest effort "años en infierno", and what a heavy hitter it is. this band crushes, so far so obvious, the album doesn't change that impression. it's a mean bastard child of hardcore, death metal and a lot of doom metal.

a mixture that really appeals to me. probably it won't top my favourite record of them, "hasta la muerte", but you simply can't do no wrong with "años en infierno". i'm happy that i scored one of those tri-colour striped copies out of 500. it resembles the mexican flag and is a real looker. southern lord. 2020.

xibalba - diablo, con amor... adios

a new release by one of the heaviest bands around - xibalba. unfortunately it is not a full length but whatever it is this band comes up with, i am there to willingly open my wallet and buy the product. the new 7" consists of three new songs and is aptly called "diablo, con amor... adios." which are the three song titles compiled in one sentence. the guys released it via closed casket activities, like almost all of their non-album releases like splits or 7"es.

the musical content is what you expect of xibalba. crushing riffs, kiloton heavy breakdowns and their very own doomy melancholia in the mix. you can check out the songs at the label's bandcamp site and also order the vinyl there. i ordered my copy via per koro, therefore it was clear that i would get the most common version. that's ok because the alternative meant ordering from the states with paying double for the shipping. smooth transaction as always with per koro.

the artwork by dan seagrave, who is also responsible for the look of "hasta la muerte" and "tierra y libertad" and for many other legendary records in the death metal genre, is really great. almost a shame that is wasn't used to grace the 12" format. there were four colour-ways pressed for this 7". electric blue with olive splatter out of 200 copies, clear orange with bronze splatter and blood red out of 300 copies and my electric blue out of 700 copies. closed casket activities. 2017.

xibalba - s/t

the month started out with a xibalba post and so does it finish. we have come full circle. this time it's about their compilation release on a389 records. in 2010 xibalba self-released their first album 'madre mia gracia por los dias'. that album generated that much attention, that it wasn't long until a big label such as southern lord knocked on their door.

southern lord re-released 'madre mia...' on cd and liscensed the vinyl rights to a389 records. they in turn decided to not only press xibalba's first album to vinyl, but also include the four songs that were featured on a three-way split with world of pain and ruckus, called 'earthquake split' on beatdown hardwear records.

beside a to 55 copies limited 2011 euro-tour press, which is damn hard to come by, a389 issued all their first press copies on black vinyl. i probably would have bought myself a black copy earlier, if i wasn't occupied with getting a reasonable priced 'hasta la muerte' coloured copy. as this task was finally accomplished the holy vinyl re-issue god came to my rescue just in the right moment. i was browsing the net for some xibalba vinyl pictures and came across a coloured copy that was new to me.

a split coloured platter that was for sale at the a389 webshop. i was baffled as to what was going on. after some research i was informed about this latest re-press and searched discogs for a german retailer might having it in stock. markus/per koro had one and i gladly took it. looks and sounds awesome. can't say how many have been made on this nice green and purple split vinyl. comes with big poster and download code. a389 records. 2011/2015.

xibalba - hasta la muerte

it was a true odyssey to get my upper extremities on this sucker. in the past i attempted to snag a copy here and there, but without the absolute will to do so. thus these attempts failed miserably. after i made 'tierra y libertad' and the split with suburban scum mine, fell in love with their heavy sound and couldn't get enough of it, i was pretty determined to finally obtain 'hasta la muerte'.

after ebay was a dead end, i searched discogs thoroughly. i came across an offering from canada. thankfully the exchange value of the canadian dollar to the euro is way more favourable than the u.s. dollar's. so all in all i paid round about 35 bucks. european bucks, that is. reasonable to me. anyway, to keep costs as low as possible i chose the cheapest shipping method which darrell, the nice fellow i ordered from, was offering.

exchanging some mails in order to carve out details of the deal, darrell warned me that surface shipping would take up to eight weeks from canada to germany. i consented because i'd rather wait than pay another twenty bucks for faster shipping. i asked darrell to lower the value of the item on the customer's declaration, to prevent myself from paying taxes at customs. unfortunately after eight weeks of waiting that little trick didn't work out and the record landed at customs nevertheless.

after some phone calls with customs and with the appreciated help of darrell - i will not go too much into detail here but again a big 'thank you', mate! - the record finally was mine. musically this is easily their best work. bulldozing! check out 'no serenity' and the title track and dance hard. the presentation is top notch too. ultra thick cardboard gatefold sleeve with apocalyptic art and some lovely blue marbled vinyl. looking sharp! 500 copies made. southern lord. 2012.

xibalba & suburban scum split

i actually had this record in my possession before i ordered the new xibalba album 'tierra y libertad'. but only as of late and i gave 'tierra y libertad' the advantage in order to be contemporary. i saw this release first on lenny's blog. he always wrote very fondly of xibalba and as this post was no difference, i couldn't help it but to give them a shot.

i came across this specific record at hamburg's finest, burnout record store, pulled it from the racks and threw it on the turntable to check. boy, these two xibalba songs are nothing short of amazing. bulldozing death metal with hardcore and doom elements of most crushing nature. check out 'death threat' and bring your surroundings to nought.

the suburban scum part however isn't really grabbing me. it's not like their stuff is complete shit, it simply fails to excite me. but check for yourself. 'misery loves company' to your service. the split 12" was pressed on three different colour-ways. 300 on blue w/ white merge, 500 on blue w/ black splatter and 1200 on clear blue. closed casket activities. 2014.

xibalba - tierra y libertad

here i am with the first release of 2015. xibalba's new effort called 'tierra y libertad'. since southern lord runs an european mailorder, i check their offerings on a regular basis. but news of a coming xibalba record came to me through other channels. coretex from berlin had a few coloured copies for pre-order and i recieve their newsletter.

i ordered at southern lord europe anyway because they sold the coloured vinyl for only ten bucks. best value for money, i call that. the eight songs on display are damn strong. xibalba mixes very heavy and groove orientated death metal with hardcore, sludge and doom metal. the outcome is mean. and i mean this in the most positive way.

check out 'guerilla' and 'en paz descanse' and get sucked in in their sinister soundscapes. i was able to get my greedy hands on a grey copy of the first press. i think it was the only colour-way pressed. cover artwork looks silly though. by now southern lord eu and coretex have sold out on the coloured vinyl. 500 pressed. southern lord. 2015.