There’s an unspoken expectation when dropping the needle on an OCULTUM record. You brace yourself. You prepare for the sheer weight of it. Their past two albums, Ceremonia Oculta Primitiva and Residue, established the Chilean trio as a crushing force in the underground doom/stoner/sludge scene. With Buena Muerte, they don’t just reaffirm that status – they obliterate any doubt.
From the opening moments, Buena Muerte thrives on tension and release. OCULTUM have mastered the art of the slow burn, letting riffs coil like a snake in the shadows before striking with devastating force. The production – handled by Juan Pablo Canolés at Plex Studios and finalized under the sonic scalpel of Esben Willems at Studio Berserk – ensures that every note feels massive and raw at the same time, every distortion-drenched chord lingers like a seismic aftershock. But sheer heaviness alone doesn’t define Buena Muerte – there’s an eerie, almost ritualistic quality woven throughout, as if the music itself is an invocation of something ancient and indifferent to human suffering.
It’s in this atmosphere where OCULTUM truly excel. The album plays like a single, harrowing journey, each track bleeding into the next with a seamlessness that suggests careful design rather than mere jam-room spontaneity. The band’s statement about the record – describing death as “benevolent” in the face of humanity’s endless struggle – rings true in the music’s suffocating intensity. The weight here isn’t just audial; it’s existential.
There’s a certain paradox at play in Buena Muerte. The band cites ‘70s influences, and indeed, there are moments where the specter of vintage heavy rock looms – swirling psychedelia lurking in the margins, the occasional bluesy inflection swallowed by walls of fuzz – but this isn’t an exercise in nostalgia. OCULTUM wield these elements not as a throwback but as a means to deepen the abyss they construct. The riffs are primordial, the drums hit like tectonic shifts, and the vocals – often emerging from the void rather than sitting comfortably atop the mix – sound less like a frontman and more like a conduit for something vast and unseen.
For all its weight and murk, Buena Muerte never feels like an exercise in excess. There’s restraint here, a careful control of dynamics that keeps the album from sinking into a monotonous trudge. When the band pulls back, allowing space between the punishing waves of distortion, it only amplifies the impact when the next crushing passage arrives.
OCULTUM have created something with Buena Muerte that feels both immense and intimate – a record that envelops you completely, yet leaves room for contemplation in its quieter moments. It’s the sound of a band fully realizing their vision, standing at the crossroads of doom, stoner, and sludge, not choosing a single path but carving their own through the abyss.
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Released by Heavy Psych Sounds Records on February 28th, 2025
