Sotz' - Popol Vuh Review

I’m back!

Did you miss me, my child of the night?

I do hope so.

I had a little cat situation envolving my computer. One of my beloved felines decided to piss on my CPU and burned my motherboard. Yeah! And it took me more than a month to get it solved.

But life goes on and I’m back. That’s all that matters.

Here we have the album of a band that I was expecting a lot to hear. Some time ago they sent me a press release and I got fascinated with the main thematic of the band. The thematic isn’t exactly new or unheard. The news, however, is the whereabouts from the band that were inspired from the Mayan Empire. In general, Mexican bands are interested in them, not European bands. And that sparked my attention as well as the use of Mayan language which isn’t completely known by researchers.

“Popol Vuh” is an album that in many aspects could have been done by a Heavy Metal band. Its historical thematic and music approach are strongly related to it. In fact, I dare to say that Sotz’ are a Melodic Death Metal band due to its musical approach which bounces strongly with Heavy Metal. Of course, as a Death Metal band, there are other languages Sotz’ speak, but there is no way of denying that Amon Amarth is a hell of reference. Moreover, if one goes a little farther with this reflection, in a way, there is a lot of Saxon’s “Crusader” era within Sotz’ “Popol Vuh.” Take, for instance, the white noises and the strumming intro “Cenote” to “Oracles.” With all due respect, it’s pure “Crusader” intent. But the album doesn’t stop there, there are more references that make it more interesting and stronger. For instace, the guitars in “Tree of Knowledge” have a great taste of Pantera with that known swing and punch. I like a lot the contrast tracks as “Sahkil” bring. They give a more epic feeling and mood to the song. The guitars phrases in “Ixchel” work fine as well. It’s the kind of thing that really embellishes a song and take it to another level of existence. Which I guess was the intent.

I see in “Popol Vuh” the all aspects that I admire in Melodic Death Metal. It’s an album where no track sounds exactly as the other even though having a musical link and connection. Vocals are also able to be as diverse as gutural singing allows, and that’s a real nice thing. Even were talking about a Death Metal band, vocals doesn’t have to all the same. Don’t you not aggree, my fan?

Sotz’ “Popol Vuh” was released in 2020.

Track Listing: