Artist: Volahn
Country: Mexico
Label: Crepúsculo Negro
Formats: Cassette Tape
Year: 2025
Although there’s been a few short players and split releases in between, ‘Popul Vuh’ is Volahn’s first full-length since 2014’s ‘Aq’Ab’Al’. But that was also the year that the underground buzz surrounding the ‘Black Twilight Circle’ died off. A couple year earlier, the releases, mainly on cassette tapes by the Crepúsculo Negro label, of bands like Arizmenda, The Haunting Presence, Blue Hummingbird On The Left, Shaatan, Dolorvotre, Axeman and many more were very sought after. But just as with every hype, they eventually fade away and things get back to normal. Now that we are over a decade further it is probably a good way to look back at it to see whether the buzz was justified and there was anything substantial backing it all up.
In today’s musical firmament indigenous Black Metal is something that is not frowned upon anymore, in fact, bands like Pan-Amerikan Native Front, Maȟpíya Lúta, Kūka’ilimoku, Maquahuitl and especially Ifernach and Blackbraid are celebrated acts who based their whole existence on native North-American culture, folklore and even nationalism. So, looking back at what Volahn & Co. did some fifteen years ago it is hard to conclude that it was very different. And, zooming out to a more general view, it is not all too different from the European bands who took their pre-Christian culture as their main inspiration for both the lyrical and musical side of their identity.
Because, if we’d take away the native instruments and lyrics, in this case mainly dealing with pre-Columbian cultures in the region that we now call Guatemala and Mexico, we’ll see that what is left is “just” Black Metal with a slightly raw but mostly a melodic connotation. It is undeniably clear that Eduardo “Volahn” Ramírez is a very gifted musician with an impeccable sense for melody and suspenseful song writing, but I always felt that Volahn mainly benefitted from their conceptual take on the music. Add to that the conglomerate-like construction of side projects and affiliated bands, all housed under an obscure label that focuses primarily on cassette tapes: a cult has been created.
Nevertheless, ‘Popul Vuh’ is another powerful and fascinating album that will not only appeal to fans of Volahn’s earlier material, but it is also conceivable that the music will now find more fertile ground, given the popularity of major bands such as Saor or the underground success of Invunche and the aforementioned North American bands. Although the latter is subject to reservation, because nowadays all bands that draw inspiration from their cultural and ethnic roots are under scrutiny and are often accused of national extremism. A fate that has befallen many bands, especially (Eastern) European ones. If you can see past this or reduce it to a negligible detail, then ‘Popul Vuh’ is another exceptionally good album, which leaves me hoping that the next album won’t take so long to arrive.
