(written by Islander)
In naming their records and their songs the Mexican black metal band Fumes have shown a talent for combining words in distinctive ways that also point the way toward the character of the music: Their 2022 debut EP was named Stellar Murders Upwards. The title of their forthcoming debut album is Skeletal Wings Unleashed. And that album’s first single was “Stellar Ascension Infernal.”
Today we present a second single from the album. The name of this one — “Kamazotz” — will be less understandable for many fans, but it also turns out to be suggestive of meanings behind the music and its sensations as well.
This writer is certainly one listener that didn’t understand the word. A bit of researching led to the name “Camazotz,” and this information from The Font of All Human Knowledge, which connects with both the name of the album and its cover art:
In the Late Post-Classic Maya mythology of the Popol Vuh, Camazotz is a bat spirit at the service of the lords of the underworld. Camazotz means “death bat” in the Kʼicheʼ language. In Mesoamerica generally, the bat is often associated with night, death, and sacrifice.
The music of “Kamazotz” is just as distinctive as the band’s naming conventions, creating a head-spinning experience that’s both deliriously wild and exotically esoteric. The riffing continually changes — feverishly needling, sinuously slithering, brazenly blazing, and fanatically writhing as if possessed. It’s backed by equally variable rhythmic drives, and fronted by vicious renderings of fanged lycanthropic madness.
The soloing that rises up is itself an entrancing tracery of black magic, and the music further includes peals of melodic extravagance that seem worshipful as well as unearthly, and a cacophony of utterly berserk cries that reinforce the music’s unbounded ferocity.
But make no mistake, this isn’t musical chaos. Though it’s undeniably wild and exhilarating to hear, the songwriting is intricate, well-plotted, and executed with impressive technical skill.
For those who might not have heard that first single from the album, “Stellar Ascension Infernal“, we’ll provide that stream too. Its name effectively invokes the experience of the music. The song races, again powered by an electrifying rhythm section, and the guitars rapidly swirl, spiral, and pulsate, creating clear sounds that are simultaneously ornate, demented, and technically sharp.
As they do in the song we’ve just premiered, Fumes also bring out some haughty heavy metal riffing, a wild guitar solo, and chords of solemn (and bleak) grandeur, along with rabid vocal ferocity that erupts in terrorizing howls.
Skeletal Wings Unleashed will be released by Personal Records on February 7th, on CD format and digitally. To order, check the links below.
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.personal-records.com/product/pre-order-fumes-skeletal-wings-threshold-cd/
https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/skeletal-wings-threshold