A sinister horde from Chile arises from the pits of hell with their debut full-length opus, offering us all eight dismal and imperishable tracks of determined darkness and majestic, sinister Black Metal purity.
From the darkest depths of the subconscious, stained by the blood of the dragons from the other side, Valparaíso, Chile-based Black Metal entity Faustian Spirit was born to see the darkness in 2019 beyond the blackened sun of the anti-cosmic void. Comprised of Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218 on vocals and bass, N. Psicopompos on the guitars (or on the “anticosmic vibrations” as the band itself likes to say), and Knoʯmenon on drums, Faustian Spirit arise from the underworld in 2022 with their first full-length opus, entitled Blessed by the Wings of Eternity, following up on the absolute darkness of their 2020 self-titled debut demo. Recorded and mixed at Dead Signal, in Chile, and displaying a sinister logo and Sol Intempesta sigil by Nox Fragor Art and a darkly stunning cover artwork and photo frame sigils by Beatriz Wolf Artworks, Blessed by the Wings of Eternity presents eight dismal and imperishable tracks of determined darkness and majestic, sinister Black Metal purity not recommended for the lighthearted.
The opening tune Nullification is brutal, raw and blasphemous form the very first second, with the obscure gnarls by Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218 crawling deep inside your skin while the anticosmic vibrations blasted by N. Psicopompos are an ode to classic Black Metal. Then Knoʯmenon hammers his drums with endless hatred in his heart in Mysterivm Veritas Silentivm, something in the lines of “the mystery of the truth of silence”, another demolishing Black Metal onrush that will please all fans of the darkest side of music with Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218 sounding once again inhumane on vocals for our total delight; and the acoustic and extremely sinister guitar lines by N. Psicopompos in the interlude The Faustian Archetype set the stage for Faustian Spirit to crush our damned souls in Sanguinem Drakonis (or “dragon’s blood”), where the trio keeps slamming their sonic weapons mercilessly in the name of pure evil. Furthermore, Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218 is not only a talented vocalist, but his low-tuned, demonic bass lines also bring an extra touch of obscurity to the overall result.
If you think you’ll have a moment of peace you’re absolutely wrong, because infernal riffs, rumbling bass jabs and nonstop blast beast will decimate your senses in the fast and furious title-track Blessed by the Wings of Eternity, a solid display of Scandinavian Black Metal made in Chile for admirers of the genre; followed by Die Minnensänger, which translates as “the minstrels”, and that’s what you’ll get from Faustian Spirit with three minutes of acoustic guitars, somber passages and sheer melancholy, warming up our senses for the Stygian and grim Sol Intempesta, their most infernal and detailed creation exhaling old school Black Metal spearheaded by the demonic gnarls by Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218, while N. Psicopompos continues to invade our minds with his undisputed anticosmic vibrations, flowing into the outro Gazers of Tehiru, which despite taking away a tiny bit of all the darkness and energy of the album, it ends up working fine for what it is.
You can enjoy all the blasphemy and obscurity blasted by Faustian Spirit in Blessed by the Wings of Eternity by streaming the album in its entirety on YouTube, but in order to show your utmost support to the most Stygian corners of the underground you should purchase a copy of the album from the band’s own BandCamp page, from the Inferna Profundus Records’ BandCamp page or webstore, as well as from several other retailers such as Sound Cave, Oratorivm, iMusic and Discogs. South American Black Metal never disappoints, and Faustian Spirit make sure the fires of Chilean metal keep burning bright with Blessed by the Wings of Eternity, inviting us all to destroy and transcend the material castle of our ego, conquer our will, and open ourselves to chaos.
Best moments of the album:Mysterivm Veritas Silentivm, Sanguinem Drakonis and Sol Intempesta.
Worst moments of the album:Gazers of Tehiru.
Released in 2022 Inferna Profundus Records
Track listing 1. Nullification 5:03
2. Mysterivm Veritas Silentivm 4:56
3. The Faustian Archetype 2:19
4. Sanguinem Drakonis 8:39
5. Blessed by the Wings of Eternity 3:34
6. Die Minnensänger 3:18
7. Sol Intempesta 6:52
8. Gazers of Tehiru 2:15
Band members
Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218 – vocals, bass
N. Psicopompos – guitars
Knoʯmenon – drums
Let this vile and demonic breath of Ritualistic and Hypnotic Black and Death Metal from the infernal pits of Chile reach deep inside your damned soul.
Forged in the fires of Valparaíso, Chile in 2015, Black/Death Metal horde Invocation is unleashing upon humanity a sulfurous and absolutely obscure EP entitled Attunement to Death, the follow up to their highly acclaimed 2016 demo Seance Part. I and their 2018 EP The Mastery of the Unseen, offering fans of extreme music a short but fulminating blast of what the band itself likes to call “Ritualistic and Hypnotic Black and Death Metal” in the form of six original compositions. Comprised of Sense of Premonition on vocals and guitars, Sense of Clairvoyance on bass and Sense of Clairaudience on drums, Invocation reached a hellish harmony with their classic South American diabolism with Attunement to Death, while at the same time imbuing it with a deeper and more unique aspect that bountifully displays their authentic grounding in the occult, setting the tone for a very promising and infernal future for such talented band.
Ominous, cryptic noises permeate the air in the opening track Oppression, a phantasmagorical intro that will drag you to the pits of the underworld before the trio begins blasting their instruments mercilessly in Flying Ointments, exhaling pure evil and heaviness, and with the gruesome vociferations by Sense of Premonition being complemented by his own demonic riffs and Sense of Clairaudience’s intricate and sulfurous beats. After such demented start to the EP, scorching riffs and rumbling, metallic bass lines dictate the rhythm in the also Stygian and infernal Divine Transition, presenting a solid fusion of the darkness of Black Metal with the raw sounds of Death Metal, offering to our avid ears pure devastation in the form of music from start to finish, without of course a single second of peace just the way we like it in extreme music.
A putrid roar by Sense of Premonition kicks off the Death Metal extravaganza entitled The First Mirror, showcasing a great sync between Sense of Clairvoyance and Sense of Clairaudience with their respective bass punches and beats and fills, resulting in a true headbanging tune that lives up to the legacy of the genre. Then get ready for over seven minutes of obscurity and rage in The Officiants, where the classic riffage by Sense of Premonition gets even more impactful accompanied by Sense of Clairaudience’s infernal drums, whereas its vocals couldn’t have sounded more disturbing and visceral. And last but not least, Invocation summon all creatures of the dark in their most detailed and devilish creation, the heavy-as-hell Secret Tongues, uniting elements from Black and Death Metal in the name of evil. In addition, its guitar sounds will certainly darken your mind, while Sense of Clairaudience continues to crush our skulls without a single drop of mercy in this multi-layered aria that sounds absolutely ritualistic.
In a nutshell, while Invocation (hopefully) get ready for their debut full-length opus in a not-so-distant future, there’s a lot to savor in their brand new EP, which as already mentioned might be short in duration but reeks of violence and obscurity. Having said that, simply let the dark and demonic sounds blasted by this awesome Chilean horde penetrate deep inside your soul by following them on Facebook and by purchasing your copy of Attunement to Death from the band’s own BandCamp page, from Record Shop X, or from other locations as soon as the album is officially released in February, celebrating all things evil in the name of our good old Black and Death Metal.
Best moments of the album:Flying Ointments and Secret Tongues.
Worst moments of the album: None.
Released in 2020 Iron Bonhead
Track listing 1. Oppression 0:56
2. Flying Ointments 5:05
3. Divine Transition 7:46
4. The First Mirror 5:06
5. The Officiants 5:29
6. Secret Tongues 6:29
Band members Sense of Premonition – vocals, guitars
Sense of Clairvoyance – bass
Sense of Clairaudience – drums
No kisses, no games, don’t think I want love… Do not complain, it’s the speed metal way!
It’s time to put the pedal to the metal here on The Headbanging Moose by presenting to you one of the meanest, fastest and most ferocious ladies in the world of heavy music, a woman that loves Heavy and Speed Metal from the bottom of her heart and who takes no prisoners in her quest for underground music. Not only a talented musician, she’s also a model, a designer and an artist, always fighting for her dreams and never giving up or slowing down no matter what. I’m talking about Constanza Godoy Díaz, better known by her fast and furious moniker of Tanza Speed (or simply Tanza), the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist behind American Heavy/Speed Metal band Outline and the project’s previous incarnation, Chilean Speed Metal band Demona. With that said, are you ready to accelerate and bang your heads together with Tanza?
Born on August 13, 1990 in Quilpué, a city and capital of the Marga Province in central Chile’s Valparaíso Region, and living her entire childhood in Villa Alemana near her family and friends, Tanza is the daughter of two 80’s metalheads and has always been linked to the metal scene (by the way, her father Mauricio “Jackie” Godoy played guitar in two bands from Valparaíso, those being Distorsion and D.O.D.), with her passion for metal music starting when she was around 12 years old while searching for her own identity and exploring different styles. In 2007, at the age of 17, she created her own band Demona (a project without major expectations that didn’t release anything until 2008), only days after moving to Santiago to study English in university. She didn’t finish her career, though, because she realized it was not what she wanted and decided to change her major and study what she really wanted, photojournalism. However, that only lasted for one year, as she couldn’t continue her studies due to her move to Canada in 2011. Tanza actually said being a photographer was pretty exciting, especially in her home country due to all violence and riots happening at that time, and she still takes photos at her home studio and publishes those on her own website.
Our dauntless musician considers herself a person that likes to learn and study by observing things, always trying to notice the differences between cultures as she’s already lived in Chile, Canada and the United States, and traveled to countries like Brazil and Japan, enjoying seeing the contrasts in people. For instance, when she was a kid she enjoyed observing her mother and grandmother sew, always trying to replicate what they were doing, which ended up helping her develop her skills as a fashion designer. Regarding the time when she moved to Canada, in 2011, Tanza said that was necessary as she was being bullied a lot in her homeland Chile. The local scene didn’t really love her, and due to her lack of experience things got out of control and she couldn’t continue in the band she was at that time anymore. It was thanks to her Canadian friends that she decided to save some money and try a new life in Canada, opening up a whole new world of possibilities for her not only as a musician, but as an artist and a businesswoman.
Before Demona, Tanza was part of a couple of bands with some friends, but nothing that could be considered a serious or professional project, those being Chilean Thrash Metal band Corrosion, where she played guitars and with whom she played a few live concerts and recorded only one demo, and another band named Poisoned, where she was also the guitarist, but that lasted only for a few months. In addition, you can also find Tanza collaborating with American Power/Thrash Metal band Destructor in their 2016 album Back in Bondage, not as a musician but as their cover model, giving a touch of delicacy and sexiness to their crushing music. However, as aforementioned, after forming Demona in 2007 Tanza really started to build a career in heavy music, with the band either working as her solo project, where she took care of vocals and played all instruments, or as a regular band with other musicians involved. Since 2008, Tanza and her Demona have released a promo EP in 2008, followed by the demo Metal Is Me in 2009, the EP Die in Violence in 2010, the demo Nightmare in 2011, the EP MIM / The Assassin in 2012, the full-length albums Metal Through the Time, in 2012, and Speaking with the Devil (which she was also responsible for the layout), in 2013, and finally the EP 2015, obviously launched in 2015. The idea behind Demona was quite simple, as Tanza started playing the guitar at home on a regular boring day during her teens, wrote an original song and voilà, the project was born, with the name Demona being inspired by the word “demon”, but with the additional “a” giving it a more feminine touch. You can visit the band’s YouTube channel to get a good taste of their vicious music, like this video of the band playing the song The Apocalypse live in Sherbrook, Quebec, Canada on August 12, 2011, or also go to Tanza’s personal channel to watch her kicking some ass live in Osaka, Japan in 2014 with the songs Demona and Dirty Speed Metal.
In addition, as briefly mentioned in the beginning of this tribute to Tanza, Demona recently morphed in 2017 to a new entity entitled Outline, having released in 2017 their first demo named Fire Whiplash and, more recently, an expanded and more professional version of that demo, with the addition of a few new songs to it and, of course, a better overall production. Outline is not just a continuation of Demona, but an enhanced project where Tanza, together with J. Hammer, the mastermind behind American Black/Speed Metal/Punk one-man army Hammr, reveal to the diehard fans of Demona a newer and more traditional side of Tanza, and you can take a good listen at that metamorphosis directly at Outline’s BandCamp page or YouTube channel, like the title-track to their debut album Fire Whiplash. Under this new name, Tanza is known as “The Speed”, while J. Hammer is simply “The Hammer”, just to give you an idea of how raw, direct and metallic their music sounds.
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Not only an up-and-coming metalhead, Tanza is also the founder of her own clothing store named Speed Clothes, an idea that was originated as soon as Tanza moved to Canada in 2011, when she was broke and didn’t speak the language, and therefore felt the need and desire to start her own business inspired as mentioned by her mother and grandmother. In 2012, she made her first printed swimsuit on spandex and things started to change, but it was in 2015 when she relocated to the United States after getting married that her business really took off, investing all she had at that time to create a product that would fulfill every girl’s demands when it comes to metal clothing, empowering them to dress as they please and “looking hot without sacrificing brutality”, as frontman Mauro Gonzales from American Thrash Metal act Bonded by Blood said once. Furthermore, as Tanza herself stated, she’s not just selling clothes, but also taking care of all other business areas such as marketing, promotion, photography, customer service and website development, for example. You can get more information about Speed Clothes from their official website or from their Facebook page, getting in touch with Tanza and, if you’re a girl who loves metal above all things, maybe even purchase new clothes or accessories for your devilish wardrobe.
Still regarding Speed Clothes and fashion in general, Tanza said in one of her interviews that freedom and creativity are the key points in metal fashion, allowing people to express themselves and to innovate, which is something Tanza believes is a crucial part of metal music. “Metal wouldn’t be what it is now without innovation, and innovation comes with trying new things. Whether you want it or not, it implies that you have to mix and try and invent things. Mainstream artists wear a lot of leather with studs and stuff and, if that’s what you mean then, I think that’s great,” said our multi-talented metaller, complementing by saying why innovation is essential in her line of business. “You cannot pretend you are still in the ‘80s when you are using the internet, you know? Even in metal, we can’t keep it squarely in the ‘80s. I understand the tendency, but the 17-year-old girls of today simply do not care about the ‘80s anymore. They want cool things. And why shouldn’t there be cool things for metal, as there are for everything else in life?”
Tanza’s inspirations and idols in music and arts in general are pretty much everything we metalheads love, with underground bands like Living Death, Wardance, Desaster and Sentinel Beast being among her favorite ones alongside metal titans such as Judas Priest and the early days of Metallica. However, she mentioned in one of her interviews that she also takes lots of inspiration from other kinds of music like classic rock, such as Queen and Led Zeppelin, and also from 80’s synth pop like Yazoo, Depeche Mode and Trans X. As a matter of fact, Tanza and her Demona were originally inspired by her own personal experiences plus a wide range of styles, from national classic folklore to the most remote and underground bands that may exist, which is basically why her music sounds so raw, vibrant and honest, working as a representation of her own true self.
When asked about the metal scene in her homeland Chile, Tanza said that Chilean metal fans are extremely passionate, loving metal from the bottom of their hearts and with their souls, but that also means they can be very hateful as well to anyone who doesn’t have the same beliefs and ideas or to who’s too different from them. She said that, while she was living in Chile, women were not very accepted in the metal scene, not being taken seriously as they should as the scene was too sexist and elitist at that time which, as already mentioned, was one of the main reasons why she left her country and moved to Canada. However, even with all those hassles, Tanza loves metal from her homeland, with bands like Force of Darkness, Atomic Aggressor, Pentagram, Insanity and Invocations Spells being among the ones she personally recommends to anyone who’s interested in knowing more about Heavy Metal made in Chile.
It was in 2014 when Tanza had perhaps her biggest adventure in the world of heavy music, having visited and played in Japan, the “Land of the Rising Sun”, something not very common for several bands (especially if we’re talking about bands from Chile), with the story behind her trip to Japan being very curious to say the least. Before travelling to Japan, Tanza was going through a boring and depressed period in her life, almost ready not to play with Demona anymore. One day, out of nowhere, a Japanese label called Rock Stakk Records contacted her for playing her music in Japan alongside Japanese musicians, resulting in the first ever (and so far, the only) occasion Demona performed live in Japan. Furthermore, Tanza obviously has a strong connection now with the Japanese rock and metal scene, recommending countless local bands such as Sabbat, Metalucifer, Gastunk, X Japan and Loudness, among many, many others.
And last but not least, when asked about her hobbies and other activities, our alternative Chilean singer and model (or “trollmodel”, as her own uncle would say) answered that she actually doesn’t have much time for hobbies, although she loves doing some relaxing activities like taking pictures and recording videos once in a while. Overall, her time is divided between music, her clothing store and modeling (and of course her husband). There are several interesting interviews with Tanza Speed online, such as this one for The Noise Hour Radio Show on May 22, 2013, where she talks about the music by Demora and other nice-to-know details about her career. The only thing is that the full interview is in Spanish, her mother tongue, but as a true supporter of underground metal I guess it’s a very good opportunity for you to practice your Spanish, right? All in the name of our good, old, fast and furious Heavy Metal.
“Metal wouldn’t be what it is now without innovation, and innovation comes with trying new things. Whether you want it or not, it implies that you have to mix and try and invent things.” – Tanza Speed
From the darkest depths of the subconscious, stained by the blood of the dragons from the other side, Valparaíso, Chile-based Black Metal entity Faustian Spirit was born to see the darkness in 2019 beyond the blackened sun of the anti-cosmic void. Comprised of Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218 on vocals and bass, N. Psicopompos on the guitars (or on the “anticosmic vibrations” as the band itself likes to say), and Knoʯmenon on drums, Faustian Spirit arise from the underworld in 2022 with their first full-length opus, entitled Blessed by the Wings of Eternity, following up on the absolute darkness of their 2020 self-titled debut demo. Recorded and mixed at Dead Signal, in Chile, and displaying a sinister logo and Sol Intempesta sigil by Nox Fragor Art and a darkly stunning cover artwork and photo frame sigils by Beatriz Wolf Artworks, Blessed by the Wings of Eternity presents eight dismal and imperishable tracks of determined darkness and majestic, sinister Black Metal purity not recommended for the lighthearted.
You can enjoy all the blasphemy and obscurity blasted by Faustian Spirit in Blessed by the Wings of Eternity by streaming the album in its entirety on YouTube, but in order to show your utmost support to the most Stygian corners of the underground you should purchase a copy of the album from the band’s own BandCamp page, from the Inferna Profundus Records’ BandCamp page or webstore, as well as from several other retailers such as Sound Cave, Oratorivm, iMusic and Discogs. South American Black Metal never disappoints, and Faustian Spirit make sure the fires of Chilean metal keep burning bright with Blessed by the Wings of Eternity, inviting us all to destroy and transcend the material castle of our ego, conquer our will, and open ourselves to chaos.
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 