Los Mundos slithers out of Monterrey, Mexico like a psychedelic serpent ready to draw blood. Undulating along riff-heavy guitar lines and fuzzed-out bass, Luis Angel Martinez and Alejandro Elizondo cut a path through psychedelia that pulls from sources as diverse as the Beach Boys, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and horror legend H.P. Lovecraft, creator of the Great Old Ones—a race of gods intent on reclaiming Earth. The album is set for a cross continent release from UK’s Cardinal Fuzz and USA’s Little Cloud Records on 26 April.
Luis Ángel Martínez and Alejandro “Chivo” Elizondo came together in 2012 and met while working with separate bands, but their undeniable chemistry has resulted in a total of five albums released over seven years and has seen them perform at the Levitation Festival in the USA and just recently perform a live session for KEXP.
Calor Central is an album based on the Jules Verne story Journey to the Center of the Earth. For title track ‘Calor Central’, Los Mundos decided to go to an abandoned mine on the outskirts of Monterrey where they recorded the drums and percussion and the rich cavernous sound of that mine reverberates on this opening track of the journey. This was made with the intention to simulate the beginning of the story where they start to enter the earth. From there Los Mundos returned to their studio to continue the story where they utilised a two-drum set up to make a more percussive album which gives the whole LP a glorious throb making it their heaviest offering to date.
Opening with ‘Calor Central’ then, the richness of the echoes pays homage to its origins and the with the vocals being administered in a chanted style, it’s the perfect way to begin the journey into this record. ‘Apertura’ is a heavier entity than its predecessor, with fuzz laden guitar overlying a mesmeric beat that drives throughout. This blends seamlessly into ‘Sin Vértigo’ which is basically a progression, exactly what you’d expect with songs that are aiming to tell a tale. The vocals are hypnotising due to their distorted and almost removed nature, capturing attention from the offset. ‘Olas de Lava’ is more upbeat and less intense, with a melodic sway absent from other tracks. It channels haunting Eastern inspired harmonies that invoke imagery of desert nights and swirling snakes, weaving their way across the sand. ‘Subterráneo Mar Jurásico’ is the longest track coming it at over nine minutes and channels a bit of everything that has gone before. A third of the way in the tracks takes on a different tone, with motorik drumming, an accentuated guitar riff and repeated vocals which almost create the feel the record is skipping. Concluding ‘La Salida’ ties everything together neatly and completes the journey by once more bringing everything together.
This isn’t just music, this isn’t just a record, it’s a classical journey interpreted through sound and made afresh. This isn’t something that can be dipped into lightly but should be recognised as an independent entity in its own right.
UK order here
USA order here
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