Dead Is All Human Truth – A Review of SIETE LAGUNAS’ ‘I & II’

July 30, 2018 — Leave a comment

Oh, sick children of the world!

The kings of old have died,

dead is all human truth.

The forests of Arcadia have died,

His old joy has died.

Oh, sick children of the world…

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Some fresh meat: La Caverna Records is a new label from Bogota, Columbia. At this stage they have just two releases to their name; a reissued US death metal demo tape that had only ever been released on 100 copies way back in the heady days of 1993, and a compilation of the first two demos from a subterranean raw black noise project from Columbia. So because A) I like their ethos of pushing obscure shit and B) label boss David is a really nice guy, let’s take a look at the blacker of the two: ‘I & II‘, from Siete Lagunas.

Formed in 2017, Siete Lagunas (“Seven Lagoons“) is the duo of FFL and ADH, both also members of the death metal band Cóndor. They have two demos out (titled ‘I‘ and ‘II‘, strangely enough) both of which are packaged together on this CD; and they play a type of ultra raw, depressive black that admittedly, many may find challenging.

Pressing play on the album, you wait for the music to hit… But it eases in with some ambience and feedback, which lasts for roughly half the track. What does hit you first when everything finally springs into life are the vocals. Mixed high (far higher then the relatively soft guitars), AEH‘s frantic howls assault your ears and as a result, whenever present become almost the driving force of their sound for the duration of the record. If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea; turn back now.

For the rest of you intrepid travellers, both demos hold some surprises. The whole of ‘I‘ becomes worth it for me when we come to track four, ‘Los Bosques de Arcadia‘. It’s a great track; morose, tortured and where they really nail what they’re going for, plus the lyrics are a Spanish re-imagining of ‘The Song of the Happy Shepherd‘ by poet W.B. Yeats so that’s a massive tick from me. The final piece is also an interesting interpretation of a traditional Finnish instrumental, ‘Väinämöinen Sutatenza‘. Let it not be said that there are no interesting influences at play here.

On to ‘II‘, which explodes in a more energetic way with the minute long ‘Descenso Lunar‘ (“Moon Descent”). It’s more immediate, almost punkish and the howls are still front and centre while possibly being even more manic than ever before (which continues to the point where he absolutely loses it on subsequent tracks; this man definitely throws some passion behind his work). ‘El Rugir de la Segunda Laguna‘ is where things take a twist and head in to straight-up noise territory, something they return to a couple of songs later and I hope they expand upon on in future releases. As with the first demo, there’s one track that stands out to me: final piece ‘Oscurece en la Segunda Laguna‘. A simple, introspective guitar piece, it’s nothing special on its own but works perfectly to tie up everything you’ve just heard.

And before you know it, that’s it. The entire runtime of the thing clocks in at around 20-25 minutes. Restricted to 300 copies with the first 70 coming with a silver gelatin print band photograph, it’s a solid, extremely embryonic, sometimes taxing and possibly promising start to the careers of Siete Lagunas that definitely demands active listening, and an intriguing first release from a label that could turn out to be an absolute gem for releasing some quality underground shit. Watch this space.

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Purchase Siete Lagunas‘ ‘I & II‘ on CD and digital from La Caverna Records here, or digitally from their own Bandcamp here.

Support Siete Lagunas:

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