Think New Orleans represents the southernmost point of Southern metal? Try shooting down 2,000 miles or so and you will reach Venezuela, home of Cultura Tres, a band you may not have heard of yet, but hopefully will be hearing a lot more of soon.
South America is not the easiest of locations to launch a metal career, and since their formation in 2006 the group have been adopting a strictly (and perhaps unavoidably) DIY approach to push their music into wider consciousness.
Originally issued as a pay-as-much-as-you-want self-release last year, El Mal Del Bien blends a heavy sludge/doom foundation with a progressive streak that not only sees the huge riffs textured with layers of intricacies but breaks up the attack with introspective interludes. There are hints of Sepultura, the slow groove of Alice In Chains, and even a dose of Celtic Frost, the creeping compositions appearing to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.
