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Cultura Tres Post “Hole in Your Head (2017)” Video; La Secta Due this Summer

Posted in Bootleg Theater on April 5th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

cultura tres

To go back and listen to the original version of the song, which appeared on Cultura Tres‘ most recent album, 2013’s Rezando al Miedo (review here), one doesn’t have to stretch too far to hear the differences between “Hole in Your Head” and “Hole in Your Head (2017),” a newly-recorded redux that will appear as a bonus track on the Venezuelan outfit’s fourth long-player, La Secta. Guitarist/vocalist Alejandro Londoño is rawer in his harsh vocals, but cleaner in the melodies, and guitarist/backing vocalist Juan Manuel de Ferrari sounds more spacious in the solo section late in the back half that leads to a fadeout executed with even more patience this time around. Together with bassist Alonso Milano and drummer Benoit Martiny — the latter of whom will make his debut with the group on La SectaLondoño and de Ferrari maintain the atmosphere of the original but build on it.

It’s been a few years. Some degree of growth bodes well but isn’t necessarily a surprise. What kind of is a surprise is that La Secta isn’t out yet. As of last Spring, when Cultura Tres unveiled a lyric video for “Sal y Piedras” (posted here), the album was due in September. That was the last I heard of it. As of now, it seems to be slated for “mid-2017,” which is basically the same as saying “summer.” As to what’s the holdup, I don’t know, but Cultura Tres will head back to the UK in June, so with plans that substantial booked perhaps La Secta will have surfaced by then or will soon thereafter. If and when I hear something, I’ll post accordingly. You know how that goes.

In the meantime, if they want to just go ahead and trickle out a video for each track, that’s a cool way to release a new album too. Works for some, anyhow.

You can check out the clip for “Hole in Your Head” below, followed by more info from the PR wire and its credits. For the hell of it, I’ve also included at the bottom of the post the original version of the track that appeared on Rezando al Miedo, in case you’d like to do your own side-by-side comparison.

Please enjoy:

Cultura Tres, “Hole in Your Head (2017)” official video

South American band CULTURA TRES have released a new video for a re-recorded version of the track “Hole In Your Head”, taken off their third album “Rezando al Miedo”.

9th videoclip of the Venezuelan Sludge / Doom metal band “CULTURA TRES”. The song is called “Hole In Your Head 2017.” This is an unreleased track, a remake of one of the songs of their 3rd album.

“Hole In Your Head 2” will be included as a bonus track in their upcoming album “La Secta” due to release in mid-2017

This video is inspired by the fear, the fear of religion…. This fear has many faces and its devastating divisive hatred had infected our world in the past; now it seems to be lurking just around every corner again… Views and words from the Latin American perspective, a culture still struggling to overcome a post – Columbus catholic brainwash.
CULTURA TRES will be performing this June 14th at the Underworld Camden in London UK, supporting fellow South Americans De La Tierra (Sepultura, Mana, Puya, A.N.I.M.A.L).

Credits:
Filming: Juanma de Ferrari & Alejandro Londoño
Production: Juanma de Ferrari, Benoit Martiny, Ramon, Alejandro Londoño, May Ling Hoo,
Editing & Coloring: Juanma de Ferrari & Alejandro Londoño Montoya

Cultura Tres, “Hole in Your Head” from Rezando al Miedo (2013)

Cultura Tres website

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Cultura Tres on Bandcamp

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Cultura Tres Post Lyric Video for “Sal y Piedras”; New Album La Secta Due Sept. 26

Posted in Bootleg Theater on May 16th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

cultura tres (photo by Ian Vildosola)

We’re still a ways off from Cultura Tres releasing their new album, La Secta — due out Sept. 26 — but listening to their new single, it makes sense why the Venezuelan four-piece might want to distinguish the song. “Sal y Piedras” (“salt and rocks”) has been designated a bonus track for La Secta, which is the follow-up to Cultura Tres‘ third offering, 2013’s Rezando al Miedo (review here), and features the vocals of Yvaruma Tapia, aka Yva Las Vegass, known for working with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic in Sweet 75 toward the tail end of the 1990s, and known as an ambassador of Venezuelan folklore and culture through her music.

The pairing with Cultura Tres‘ typically vicious sludge metal makes sense more than it might first seem. The band — vocalist/guitarist Alejandro Londono, guitarist/backing vocalist Juan Manuel de Ferrari, bassist Alonso Milano and drummer Benoit Martiny — have a long-established track record of not only promoting cultural pride in their heritage, but in conveying a fiercely anti-colonial stance and pointed social critique in their songs. This is a part of their character as a group and it bleeds through the seething intensity of much of what they do. Sonically, “Sal y Piedras” pulls away from some of that, benefiting much from Yva Las Vegass‘ melodic command and keeping a quiet initial push that ultimately gives way to a satisfyingly weighted roll. Even four months out from the record’s arrival, one can understand why they might be eager to share this special moment with their followers.

More background on the collaboration, on Yva Las Vegass‘ work and on the release of Cultura Tres‘ La Secta can be found under the video below, courtesy of the PR wire.

Enjoy:

Cultura Tres, “Sal y Piedras” lyric video

Lyric video for the newest single by the Venezuelan psychedelic/ sludge metal band Cultura Tres feat. Yva Las Vegass (Sweet 75, Delusions of Grandeour, Tres Mundos) can be seen below. The song will be included as a bonus track in the fourth Cultura Tres album “La Secta” which will be released on September 26th 2016 on vinyl and CD and digitally through iTunes and Bandcamp.

For the members of Cultura Tres this is one of the most special compositions they have worked on – the song is a tribute to the career of someone who makes them feel proud to be Venezuelan, a person who is one of the most important voices of the Venezuelan rock. This is the reason the band decided to give to this “bonus” track its own space and let its magic proclaim the end of almost three years of silence.

Yva Las Vegass (born Yvaruma Tapia) grew up in different cities, such as Caracas, Barquisimeto and La Guaira, cities where she acquired her love for music and deep connection with folklore. She started singing and playing cuatro (Venezuelan instrument) at the age of 5 and this developed her folk music base. However, her rebelliousness took her to Seattle in the late 80s where she started performing music on the streets, taking part in different bands and playing various genres. Yva’s voice and energy made Krist Novoselic invite her to the recording studio and they formed Sweet 75 shortly afterwards. Yva’s solo album “I was born in a place of sunshine and the smell of ripe mangoes”, was one of the 25 best albums of the year 2012 according to NPR, her compositions were performed among others by Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Herb Albert and endless number of musicians and last but not least, she made many of these world icons play Venezuelan folklore. She is one of those persons whose world is art and whose life is music.

Currently Yva lives in New York City and is taking part in the recordings of the new Hurray for the Riff Raff album in The Electric Lady Studios. She is focused on developing new projects, as a sample of this can be heard in “Sal Y Piedras”. Cultura Tres vocalist/ guitarist Alejandro Londoño: “It has been an honour to have Yva Las Vegas singing this song with us, it is a tribute to the dedication and talent of one of the most significant artist of our country Venezuela. Enjoy it”.

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Cultura Tres on Bandcamp

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Cultura Tres Premiere New Video for “La Selva Se Muere”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 11th, 2014 by JJ Koczan

cultura tres

Even without translating the title of the song “La Selva Se Muere” itself, Cultura Tres‘ latest video (their eighth, reportedly) makes its theme pretty plain, starting out in a dense, inhabited forest full of animals, people, water, insects, all manner of life, and winding up in a desert and a garbage heap. “The forest dies” is the title in English, and yeah, that’s pretty much what the aggressive bilingual Venezuelan sludge metallers give us in the clip, at one point guitarist/vocalist Alejandro Londoño switching from Spanish to repeat the line, “The ground is covered in blood,” reinforcing both the band’s respect for the land and their disdain for the ravages of colonialism and its thinly veiled corporate counterpart, globalization.

Disdain is something of a specialty of Cultura Tres — here Londoño, guitarist/backing vocalist Juan Manuel de Ferrari, bassist Alonso Milano and drummer David Abbink (recently replaced by Benoit Martiny) — and their 2013 full-length, Rezando al Miedo (review here), proved them to be masters of brooding viciousness and slow churn. If somewhat unipolar — the hazards of having a point to make — it was also consistent in its perspective lyrically and musically patient to a surprising degree. A band that seethes so much, one almost expects them to bust out thrashing at some point, but Cultura Tres never did, and “La Selva Se Muere” reminds of the deliberateness in their approach and the force behind their moody, lurching riffs.

Rezando al Miedo was released by Devouter Records, and Cultura Tres have started writing and demoing material for their next outing, which presumably will arrive in 2015. “La Selva Se Muere” was shot by LondoñoMilano and de Ferrari (somebody get that drummer a camera!) and edited by Londoño and de Ferrari. More to come next year as they start to move past Rezando al Miedo, but as you can see in the clip below, the band’s pissed off sensibility is as fresh as ever.

Enjoy:

Cultura Tres, “La Selva Se Muere” official video

Strong criticism of the aboriginal holocaust, the religious invasion and polluting of the rainforest are some of the concepts that visualize the hypnotic chants and grunts, revealing a powerful narrative of greed and death. “La Selva Se Muere”, an agonizing mixture of psychedelic guitar work and haunting vocals, comes from CULTURA TRES latest album “Rezando Al Miedo” released last year on the UK based label Devouter Records. The video was shot on location in the midst of the Venezuelan Amazons and Médanos de Coro National Park.

The band has been working hard behind the scenes following the arrival of Benoit Martiny on drums and are busy writing their 4th album, the follow up to the widely acclaimed predecessor “Rezando Al Miedo”.

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Devouter Records

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Cultura Tres, Rezando al Miedo: Saying Prayers

Posted in Reviews on June 14th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Venezuelan sludge metallers Cultura Tres have their thing pretty much down at this point. The band made their debut with 2008’s La Cura and followed it in 2011 with El Mal del Bien (review here), an album that opened doors thanks in no small part to their touring throughout both South America and Europe and helped establish Cultura Tres among the stronger and most resonant acts blending metallic aggression and weighted sludge-fueled grooves. In 2013, the Maracay four-piece return with Rezando al Miedo (Devouter Records), a 55-minute, eight-track collection that furthers the band’s anti-imperialist/anti-colonial thematic and moody atmosphere even as it affirms what El Mal del Bien established as the chosen Cultura Tres aesthetic. Tonally and sonically consistent owing to production by vocalist Alejandro Londoño — who also helmed the two prior outings and shares the credit here with guitarist Juan de Ferrari — Rezando al Miedo gradually unfolds an identity of its own over the course of repeat listens, and though even unto its morose artwork (though admittedly the cover to the third album, taken from the painting Day of Judgement by Damian Michaels, is far more haunting) it may seem to fall in line with what Cultura Tres brought to the table stylistically in their last effort, there are nuances to be had throughout Rezando al Miedo that speak to growth within the band’s approach, whether it’s the sense of space Londoño brings to his echoing vocals in the closing “Forget I’m Here” or the surprising classic rock influence that shows up in some of de Ferrari‘s solos, filtering a wide sonic heritage through Jerry Cantrell-style wah theatrics that blend remarkably well with the lower, chugging-riff layers of rhythm on “Es Mi Sangre” and other cuts throughout.

The guitar work on Rezando al Miedo is a standout factor across the board, de Ferrari proving fluid and able to drive the atmosphere of a needling insistence on “Hole in Your Head,” one of the highlights of the album. Cultura Tres — the foursome rounded out in the rhythm section by bassist Alonso Milano and imported Dutch drummer David Abbink (ex-Cheesy), who returns from the second LP — don’t necessarily rely just on the guitars to convey their moody sensibilities, however. Londoño plays a huge role as well, and though he knows to step aside and let de Ferrari hold sway toward the end of a cut like “En Esta Tierra,” his half-in-Spanish/half-in-English lyrics are a force unto themselves, his monotone drawl immediately lending drama to opener “La Selva se Muere” that stays with Cultura Tres through closer “Forget I’m Here” no matter what musical moves the band is making behind him, a summary of a decent portion of his lyrical perspective provided by the only two lines of the title-track, “Rezando al miedo/El miedo es dios” — translated to,” “Praying to fear/Fear is god.” An anti-Christian lyrical take is nothing new for metal — make no mistake, Cultura Tres are a metal band, whatever elements of doom or sludge they may incorporate; they are well at home within the churning thrash that emerges in “1492,” including Abbink — but the specifically anti-colonial edge Londoño brings to the lyrics of “Hole in Your Head” speaks to an individuality of voice and critique that the cluster of heavy metal faux-satanists is sorely missing. Coupled with the band’s ability to turn fluid rhythm changes into dynamic songwriting shifts — again, see “1492” as it rises from a droning opening to rage and then descends again to a slower, hypnotic pulse — this perspective is a key element in what sets Rezando al Miedo apart from the output of Cultura Tres‘ peers the world over. When was the last time you heard anti-colonial sludge?

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Cultura Tres Post New Video for “Es Mi Sangre” from Rezando al Miedo

Posted in Bootleg Theater on June 3rd, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Venezuelan atmospheric sludgers Cultura Tres continue their creeping threat with a new video for the song “Es Mi Sangre.” The track comes from the recently-issued new album, Rezando al Miedo, which is out via Devouter Records in the UK, and more subdued than some of their material, it shows the incredible tension that the Maracay four-piece are able to build up over the course of a single track.

Fittingly, the video is no less atmospheric than the song itself. As noted in the PR wire info below, it features the paintings of Damian Michaels, including the screaming faces of the cover, tying in with the band’s long-running themes of colonial religious oppression and strife.

Dig it:

Cultura Tres, “Es Mi Sangre” official video

CULTURA TRES Release New Video For “Es Mi Sangre”

The South American sludge metal keeps showing its ugly face – following the premiere of Cultura Tres’ third album “Rezando Al Miedo” the Venezuelans come up with the first video supporting this release.

“Es Mi Sangre” displays once more the band’s twisted, uncomfortable take on the genre. A more melodic side of Cultura Tres can be heard, but in this instance it is darker and more disturbing.

The imagery of the video has been enhanced by the paintings of Damian Michaels; an artist known for his vast collection of dark surrealism. Damian’s art blends perfectly with the Latin American witchery vibe which is omnipresent within the style of Cultura Tres.

http://culturatres.bandcamp.com/
http://devouterrecords.bigcartel.com/product/cultura-tres-rezando-al-miedo
http://www.culturatres.com
www.flickr.com/photos/damianmichaels/sets

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Cultura Tres Announce New Album and European Tour

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 21st, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Darkened atmospheric sludge metallers Cultura Tres are once more hitting the road in Europe, this time to herald the arrival of a new album, Rezando al Miedo, which is set for release on May 15. The vigorously anti-Christian/anti-imperialist Venezuelan four-piece will issue the collection through the UK’s Devouter Records, who also handled a reissue last year of their sophomore outing, El Mal del Bien (review here).

Details follow, fresh off the PR wire:

CULTURA TRES Unveil New Album Details And Artwork. Announce European Tour Dates.

The Venezuelan psychedelic sludge act Cultura Tres will release their new album entitled “Rezando Al Miedo” on May 15th 2013. The cover artwork for the band’s third full-length is taken from the painting “Day of Judgment” by the remarkably talented artist Damian Michaels.

“Rezando Al Miedo” doesn’t walk away from the mood their previous record “El Mal Del Bien” had, yet the songs tell a different story. Darkness exhausts itself into depression; the album is a journey inside the collective subconsciousness, a walk on the edges of sanity, between the illusive religious relief and acceptance of death as a clear end. Music explores the extremes of the artistic expression, more dynamic than ever, from the harshness of the thrashing roots of the band to the polyphonic movie soundtrack approach that characterizes Cultura Tres. The band has never been afraid to take chances and this album proves it. The brooding cocktail of classic psychedelic rock, 90’s death metal and gloomy grunge makes their South American Sludge a unique recipe.

The eight songs orchestrate to the detail the emotions of every word sang, yet this isn’t a record that comes to tell a full story. Instrumental parts often let the thoughts of the listener ask their own questions, give their own answers, explore their own fears…..

The album was produced, mixed and mastered by Alejandro Londono and recorded in Cultura Tres studios by Juan De Ferrari and Alejandro Londono. ”Rezando Al Miedo”, will be released on CD in UK by Devouter Records (http://www.devouterrecords.co.uk) and in South America by the Argentinean label Cumpa Records. The digital version of the record will be available on the same date as well.

The dates for the Cultura Tres’ first European performances for 2013 can be seen below. Stay tuned for further updates as more shows get confirmed!

20.03 – The Netherlands, Amsterdam @ The Cave
22.03 – Germany, Cologne @ MTC Cologne
23.03 – Czech Republic, Cheb @ Jazzrock Café
28.03 – Austria, Vienna @ EKH
30.03 – Luxemburg, Dudelange @ Why not?
31.03 – France, Paris @ Les Combustibles
09.04 – France, Saint-Etienne @ Thunderbird Lounge 42
13.04 – Spain, Barcelona @ Be Good

Cultura Tres, “Propiedad de Dios”

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Cultura Tres, El Mal del Bien: La Amenaza que se Arrastra

Posted in Reviews on November 26th, 2012 by JJ Koczan

Originally released on vinyl in South America last year, Venezuelan four-piece Cultura Tres’ second album, El Mal del Bien, arrives on CD/LP under the banner of UK imprint Devouter Records. It is the latest in a series of impressive achievements from the atmospheric sludgers, who also made a stop at Desertfest in London this year (review here) on a European tour that might have been their first but wasn’t their last. Their La Cura debut arrived in 2008 and immediately established their aggressive take, and was well received in South America and beyond. The tracks on El Mal del Bien (“the bad from the good”) were recorded in 2010, so it may well be that Cultura Tres have already moved past the album’s atmospherically dense lurch in their writing, but as their newest release to date, it’s nonetheless relevant, particularly as the band has taken the last couple years to work vehemently on promotion with big shows, videos and so on. The most immediately striking aspect of the 10-track/51:38 outing is its overarching darkness. Cultura Tres open with their longest cut (points right there), the 7:20 “Propiedad de Dios,” which remains a memorable highlight among several throughout El Mal del Bien and does the work of establishing the creepy undertones and malevolence that seems always to be lurking within the songwriting. The guitar work of Alejandro Londono and Juan Manuel de Ferrari is unmistakably metal in its roots, and Londono’s distinct lead vocals, sometimes a snarl, sometimes Alice in Chains lower-mouth crooning, sometimes all-out screams, serve throughout as a defining factor as well. Sludge metal, with the emphasis on the latter, is rarely done in this balance. The prevalence of the US scene and its roots in Southern rock and punk mean that Cultura Tres’ metal is automatically a curio as “Propiedad de Dios” enacts its formidable lumber punctuated by David Abbink’s echoing snare, Londono working somewhere between a growl and moan while his and de Ferrari’s guitars hold steady rhythm and lead lines filled out by Alonso Milano’s bass. Milano and de Ferrari are credited with backing Londono vocally as well, and there are a few striking moments of interplay, but the band’s greatest impact is made as a whole unit and not as individual members, the mood that El Mal del Bien strikes being central to the album’s mission and, ultimately, its success.

“Purified” furthers the drama of the opening cut and solidifies the atmosphere, and from there, Cultura Tres hold tight and don’t let go. The lyrics are a mixture of Spanish and English phrases, well set in terms of cadence and rooted in a decidedly anti-Christian stance, and de Ferrari answers the unsettling vocal melodies with one of El Mal del Bien’s several excellent guitar solos, setting up the percussion that rises to feature on the instrumental “Los Muertos de Mi Color.” Guitar noise and volume swells fill out an oppressive atmosphere, and whatever else they do, Cultura Tres excellently convey a sense of the deranged in their music. It’s not the en vogue thing to do at this point – that’d probably be to take out a goat head and start playing Electric Wizard riffs in front of it (not knocking that approach, it works for plenty of bands) – but their methods don’t seem dated even if the territory they’re covering thematically will be well familiar to headbangers who encounter these tracks. The undeniable highlight of the album, “El Sur de la Fe” follows the ambience of “Los Muertos de Mi Color,” with an immediate hook of a guitar line, righteous half-time drumming and a forward, aggressive vocal from Londono. Like the best of Cultura Tres’ riffs, that of “El Sur de la Fe” has an undulating sensibility to it, a distinct nod, and the tension the song creates is made all the more palpable by the stops and starts and the echoing shouts, which, when in the last verse “the credit of god” is delivered, remind a bit of Max Cavalera’s work on early Soulfly records. I’ll allow that could be a question of accent as much as anything else, but it’s there all the same. The album has peaked before its halfway point, which is potentially troubling, but actually there’s a kind of wash effect by the time the second half of El Mal del Bien really takes hold that only confirms the disgruntled push of the first. “No Es Mi Verdad” caps the first half with a post-metal build that pays off at 4:33 into its six minutes as Abbink proffers the cymbal abuse he seems to have been advocating all along, chugging guitars driving a straightforward progression behind.

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Cultura Tres Reveal Video for “El Sur de la Fe”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 12th, 2012 by JJ Koczan

I had a genuine, “Oh yeah” moment watching Cultura Tres‘ new video for the song “El Sur de la Fe,” as in, “Oh yeah, I guess they did have cameras filming them at Desertfest in London.” Clips from that show and from another fest show up in the video alongside shots of the Pope, Bible and other Catholic-type whathaveyou, which I guess is appropriate for the song, the translation for the title of which guitarist/vocalist Alejandro Londoño discusses below.

What exactly they’re saying about it, I’m too ignorant to know, but if I had to guess, they’re not fans. In fact, they seem pretty pissed off, which in all my experience with Cultura Tres, listening to their records, seeing them at the aforementioned Desertfest, and watching past videos like the one earlier this year for “Purified,” seems to be their thing. Right on.

Enjoy “El Sur de la Fe” and the subsequent pertinent info:

The clip is produced and directed by Juan de Ferrari (guitar) and Alejandro Londoño (guitar,vocals). “El Sur De La Fe” comes from the critically acclaimed second Cultura Tres album “El Mal Del Bien”, which will see its release in CD format through the UK label Devouter Records (http://devouterrecords.co.uk/) on November 12th. The song can be downloaded for free here: http://culturatres.bandcamp.com/track/el-sur-de-la-fe

“In English “El Sur De La Fe” means something like “South of the Faith”- says Alejandro -“For us it refers to two things: the way religion is experienced in the area where we come from and the hidden side of the faith and its illusive benefits. We would like people to reflect on the impact religion has had on the lives of the original inhabitants of the Americas; how the Catholic church and it’s covered-up, gold hungry crusade practically exterminated a culture older than Christianity itself.

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