Bitumen-thick and black as coal comes 'El Mal del Bien', the second album from Venezuelan sludge metal quartet Cultura Tres. They've added songwriting nous to the impressive power and experimentation of 2008 debut 'La Cura'. This album captures the volatility of their homeland's fortunes, and indeed those of the wider world, marching over the carnage with red-eyed defiance. De-tuned riffs lumber to the point of collapse while the leads spark off disorder with angular patterns and jarring unison bends.
From 'Propiedad de dios' onwards, they manage to embellish this overwhelming heaviness with unconventional and psychedelic touches. The main influences are obvious, yet I defy you to conclude that this isn't a shiny beacon in an increasingly monotone genre. I'm not the first to say that there are echoes of Alice In Chains at their most harrowing here, notably in the vocal harmonies and agonised note bending. This doesn't happen on every track, and the transition from 'clean' to filthy never seems purely arbitrary; it always serves the trajectory of the song.
'El Sur De La Fe' has inspired repeated listening and revealed itself to me as a bona fide classic. When the demented opening lick reels off and the first verse kicks in, I'm pulling a face like Max Cavalera completing the digestion of his Christmas dinner. It's not just raw aggression though; the song has clever builds and releases, pregnant pauses. 'The Grace' is a welcome thrashy diversion from the steamroller doom tempos, and to be ultra-picky I'd like to have heard another one of these more urgent tracks right at the tail end of the album.
The sentiments of 'El Mal del Bien' (translates as Bad from Good) should relate to many of us for whom our prosperity and comfortable lifestyle is built in state/church-sanctioned blood that has scabbed over time. Maybe they've managed to eloquently confront that uncomfortable truth, or perhaps I'm reading too much into it and they're simply really good metal songwriters. Whichever, Cultura Tres manage to strike a raw nerve that most new UK and US bands don't quite hit.
NEW Doommantia (USA)(INTERVIEW WITH CULTURA TRES)
Read it all here: http://www.doommantia.com/2012/04/south-american-sickness-interview-with.html
NEW The Obelisk (LIVE REVIEW FROM THE DESERTFEST)
Cultura Tres are, among other things, well managed. They came all the way from Venezuela to tour Europe and the UK and their promotional team (there were several guys the band brought with them, to roadie, sell merch, street-team, film their set, etc.) has been handing out free DVDs the entire weekend. I have at least three at this point. Clearly a case of a band making the proverbial effort to be noticed, and I can't hold it against them. They have a viable product. Their style is not quite sludge in the American or even the British sense - thinking Eyehategod and Iron Monkey as respective examples - but more of a slowed-down, malevolent metal. Tonally, it's pretty clean, and there's an edge of drama to their presentation on stage that adds to whatever the vague threat their material is making might be. I didn't know them too well, though I'd checked out the video that I think was also contained on those DVDs (I'll have to look to confirm that) and thought it was cool enough to post. If nothing else, it was encouraging to see that Cultura Tres were able to stand themselves out atmospherically from the rest of the Desertscene fare. I didn't see anyone else this weekend who sounded quite like they did.
Sleeping Shaman (UK)
"...their most direct and coherent artistic statement yet. (...) The songs are so full of ideas that they could sound messy in less skilled hands, but Cultura Tres creates a cohesion that would confound many other bands. With this album under their belts it will only be a matter of time before Cultura Tres are huge."
Doommantia (USA) - 9/10
Cultura Tres didn't sit still on their sudden big early success, but were able to push towards evolution of their dark sound with great diversity: sludge, doom, and occasionally touches of post-metal, dark psychedelia and even folk music. (...) Cultura Tres use their dark heavy tunes not for evoking horny goats or telling horror stories but for dealing with issues in life in the tormented South American society. There's no angry or sadistic misanthropy, there's sorrow, incredibly rendered through clean, chant-like vocals. I got haunted by their album: these guys are "deep underground" and sound so well ...
The Soda Shop (USA)
After being declared a Global Metal Discovery by Metal Hammer UK in January 2009, Cultura Tres is again in the spotlight of its editors: they are featured on the Global Metal Compilation CD of September 2011. (...) I tried to think of one word to describe El Mal Del Bien. I couldn't so I'll use a few: heavy, thick, sludgey, doomy, gloomy. Get this sludgey good album now!
Stonerrock.hu (Hungary) - 9/10
Overall, this LP is brilliant, it was long ago that I heard such a daring band. Their songs sound as one style, and yet each is completely different, showing three different faces: sludge, doom and psychedelic rock.
Orlandooom.com (USA) - 9/10
This is haunting stuff, definitely something to listen to with headphones in a dark room. So many emotions are elicited from El Mal del Bien's contemplative swells...
Lost Sounds of Dawn Light (Brazil)
A masterful album that proposes the most obscure sound that South America has ever heard. Cultura Tres does not fail to convey the gloom behind our culturally vast continent.
Grinder Magazine (Chile) - 5/5
Followers of Sludge / Doom pay attention: Cultura Tres is an amazing Venezuelan band. Their second - most acclaimed - album sounds heavy, dense and intense.
The Sludge Lord (UK)
Top-notch Doom/Sludge Metal from our hugely talented South American cousins. This new release is their best work yet: nothing comes close to this amazing album.
HeavyPlanet.net (USA)
Cultura Tres from Venezuela are the sound of South American Sludge.
The Elementary Revolt (Spain)
.. sounds like the soundtrack to a tragic cult movie ...
Stonerobixxx.blogspot.com (Belgium)
Furious South American sludge/ doom metal: "El Mal del Bien" is a really dynamic, non-linear trip in the genre.
PuroRuido.blogspot.com (Argentina)
One of the most interesting sludge/doom bands these days, hails from Venezuela.
Dr Doom's Lair
Their style is a blend of different genres and styles in a way that it is something unique. Songs like "El Sur de la Fe" might get stuck to your mind even though the main riff is totally weird!
ZannMusic.com.ar (Argentina)
Monumental riffs. Slow, very slow. The song arrangements stray from the path of sludge on numerous occasions: incorporating elements from traditional music, hallucinogens and melodic, calm moments.
www.liveinternet.ru (Russia)
Their debut album caused quite a worldwide buzz. Now Cultura Tres is back with their new album, full of thundering riffs and influenced by a long list of different styles.
Temple of Perdition (France)
Cultura Tres displays rich and amazingly heavy music: an intense trip full of subtle, catchy, haunting atmospheres with a unique guitar sound that could simply become a kind of trademark! This is very, very original music!
HeadFullOfNoise.com
This is not an album to just turn on for a quick listen. It's one of those albums you really need to immerse yourself with. Each song is full of sludgy heavy bass lines and sluggish doom driven drums. What's interesting though is the album and songs ebb and flow between slow, creepy doom melody and faster, harsh metal rock.
Stoned Sun Vibrations (Greece)
Cultura Tres suck your soul into such dark, gloomy, tragic places that you never considered their existence. This is a must-listen album for everyone
Stonerhead - 9/10
Get the great album "El Mal del Bien" ...because its good for you!!!
MetalExposure.com (Netherlands)
With this new sludge doom metal album "El Mal Del Bien" this band from Venezuela has made a statement: "We are bigger than Venezuela and South America!".
TheSirensSound.com (UK)
A patient listener will be dragged into a hallucinating trip around the insane world the album paints.
HeavySound.fr (France)
"La Cura" already attracted my attention, but the band progressed enormously in the last three years. Their new album is made with intelligence, as shown by the subtle "Los Muertos de mi Color".
Night Fall and the Gloomy Mist (Netherlands)
Highly recommended! This is truly one of the best albums of the year...