Finding bands with their own sound, where you absolutely know who you’re hearing before someone identifies them for you, is becoming a more rarified experience. Homogenization has become a norm, not just for metal but most forms of music, and that’s not a criticism as much as an observation. There’s so much out there that we’re flooded with sameness.

 Tzompantli were a revelation when they arrived in 2022 with their debut record “Tlazcaltiliztli,” delivering death doom that also basked in Indigenous/Native history and instrumentation. The spirits and thunderous power were impossible to shake, and they manage to up the ante on their great second album “Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force,” a seven-track, 42-minute force unlike almost anything else you’ll hear this year. The band has grown into a full-fledged musical tribe here as we have originator and Xibalba guitarist Brian “Itztlakamayeh” Ortiz (vocals, rhythm/lead guitars, bass, folk instruments, percussion), Manzig “Yohualli” Sanchez (guitars), Justin Ton (guitars), Mateotl Boughton (guitars), Eric Delgado (bass), Jason “Katulu” Brunes (vocals, folk instruments, percussion), Erol Ulug (vocals, guitars), Alejandro Aranda (vocals, drums, folk instruments, percussion), Justin Moore (vocals), Lord Foul (vocals), Mateotl Gonzalez (folk instruments, percussion) all contributing to make this massive record what it is. It’s heavy, it’s dark, it’s penetrating, and it’ll leave you thoroughly destroyed.

“Tetzahuitl” erupts with sharp howls, trudging as guitars blaze, drubbing with mean spirit. The playing batters as the leads take off from there, pounding as the guitars melt rock, and then a calculated fury drags us into the dust. “Tlayohualli” punishes and mauls, the raw growls taking bodies apart, the humidity thickening and making breathing a chore. A beastly force bludgeons, twin leads taking off and adding a sense of glory to the carnage. The aura is devastating, crushing as the guitars glimmer, the heat spreading before being quenched by a driving rain. “Tlaloc Icuic” bursts with Native whistles, guitars dripping, and chanted vocals meeting up with beastly growls. The playing goes cold for a moment before coming back and ripping flesh, entrancing as the slowly meted-out devastation gores. “Chichimecatl” boils before battering, unloading as the guitars scorch, dust spreading and choking as you’re beaten with maniacal force. Deep growls bruise as the guitars unite and hypnotize, gangly hell reaching out, plowing to a furious end.

“Tetzaviztli” starts with rhythmic hand drumming before the doom clouds thicken overhead, a haze collecting as drums encircle, and the growls scrape flesh from your throat. The vocals lacerate as the chants gain heat, flattening as the soot increases, the guitars chugging as the intensity lashes, slowly trudging as the final moments squeeze out all breath. “Otlica Mictlan” arrives amid colder guitars and then growls that go for the throat, the drums pelting as the riffs drill into an electrified hell. Clean guitars glimmer behind the raging fires, the howls bubbling over, slipping into an entrancing atmosphere that pulls you under. Closer “Icnocuicatl” is the longest track, a 9:04-long excursion that begins reflectively, clean singing mesmerizing, and then the vice tightening, howls scraping as things get chilling even as temperatures begin to rise. There are harrowing moments that eventually unite with colder melodies, the singing floating above the chaos as the playing erupts and begins to crush. Guitars burn, drain, and then rise again, the heat peaking dangerously before the final blows deal a final dose of devastation.

“Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force” is a mind-splitting, smoking dose of doom-emblazoned death metal, and with that wide array of musicians that are a part of the tribe of Tzompantli, you’re bombarded with a spirit with which you cannot contend. This second record from this band is heavier, richer, and more nuanced, something that will have major impact on first listen, and then the layers reveal themselves more every time you go back. This is a fiery, crushing display, one that unleashes the ancient forces of both their ancestors and the roots of metal that’ll leave you absolutely scorched.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/tzompantlidoom

To buy the album, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/tzompantli

For more on the label, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/