Acrania
Mexico City, Mexico | Established. Jan 01, 2016 | SELF
Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
“Simply put, Fearless is a tour de force of nearly everything I love in music. It has the intensity and intelligence of Death and Cynic, the rhythmic tomfoolery of Meshuggah, the adventurousness of The Mars Volta, incisive lyrics of Gaza or Gojira, and heaps of Latin flavor that I grew up playing in so many school jazz bands. It’s so fresh it makes Genghis Tron look like Bloodbath and so fun it makes Revocation look like the National Society of Accountants.” - Kronos, Angry Metal Guy
“Mexico's Acrania is a true Prog/Extreme Metal beast. Theirs is a unique combination of manic rhythmical patterns, Afro Cuban sounds, twisted riffing, Jazz-like ambiances, and an unparalleled use of brass instrumentation. Bearing all this in mind, it becomes obvious why they chose to name of their latest album Fearless. Acrania clearly wants to make a point with this album. This quintet is not afraid to showcase their commanding musical virtuosity, highly-skilled songwriting, and overall creativity. Now the world needs to take notice and embrace them. They could be on the brink of becoming the next Cynic or Atheist, but on steroids... Seriously.” - Ramon Martos Garcia, Pure Grain Audio
“A number of you have certainly heard Elements, the final album by Atheist before they broke up in the ’90s. It was a record on which the band tapped more strongly into their fusion, Latin, and jazz influences. I’m as much a fan of it as the other Atheist releases, but even if you aren’t, imagine that sound Atheist went after on Elements mixed with a mid-’90s to early-2000’s death/thrash alongside a ripping melodic death metal influence. The band certainly draw from the native sounds of their home base in Mexico City, which translates into the prominent funk and Latin jazz elements in Fearless that really give the record its head-scratching yet smile-inducing sound. If you’re looking for something exotic yet somehow familiar, this record fills a niche I never even knew I was looking for. Maybe you’ll feel the same way? It’s at least worth a listen in any case!” - Austin Weber - No Clean Singing
“Our fearless leader Spear described Acrania as death samba, and that’s about as good a descriptor as you’re going to get for this unique death metal band. On People of the Blaze, Acrania have taken a traditional death metal tortilla and stuffed it full of spicy horns, sizzling tabla rhythms, and hearty Latin guitar work to create quite the appetizing burrito. This is zesty stuff sure to appeal to those looking for something beyond the norm.” - Spear, Toilet Ov Hell
“Never in my life have I heard a mix of death metal and traditional Mexican folk music meld together as well as Acrania does it here. It may not be heavy enough for some, but that’s alright, because to me this record feels like a party in my ears and I wouldn’t mind listening to it a couple more times. It’s just the kind of thing that you don’t forget easy, and you’ll look forward to hearing more of it, if you’ve got a taste for the sounds of other cultures, like myself. With every record Acrania just kept getting better and Fearless definitely shows them at their arguable best. If you’re looking for something more than just plain old death metal, definitely pick up a copy of the record and without saying, we highly recommend it. This isn’t just death metal, it’s an all-out death metal fiesta. Now all I need is some Tequila.” - Eric May, The Grim Tower
“Now here we have some flavorful music. Progressive, Jazzy and Metal to name a few of the the emotions being projected on the album. Indeed, something for everyone. If you only stick to a certain genre then this may not be for you. However, if you like you Metal like a mixed salad, then this will delight your ears. Songs like "Poverty is in The Soul" encapsulate the variety of styles happening from moment to moment. Catchy guitar riffs, trumpets and a vast array of drum fills to keep the listener engaged and attentive as to what's coming next. Overall the music moves the spirit while texturing the aggressive parts with metal.” - Arte Mortifica, Metal Albums Review
“You would imagine it hard to be thrown off kilter and truly surprised within the broad landscape of metal nowadays, even in the avant-garde and experimental realms which blossom and scintillate from the unique creative minds of bands like Trepalium, 6:33, Pryapisme, and Hardcore Anal Hydrogen to name a few. One band which has and continues to through new album Fearless is Mexican death metallers Acrania. The release is a psychotic fusion of extreme metal and lyrical confrontation with virulent Latin rhythms, celebratory melodic revelry, and schizophrenic imagination. You could call it death jazz or funk core to make up tags, we call it one of the most exhilarating encounters you will hear this year. Acrania should definitely be a recognised world-wide presence after this.” - The Ring Master
“Imagine, if you can, if Atheist were from Mexico and went all-in on the Latin Jazz flavours that made Elements such a controversy. What you have is something very close to Mexican group Acrania” - Goat, Metal Reviews
Bio
“The word ‘interesting’ hardly describes Acrania’s material, which is actually rather unorthodox and challenging, not only because of the Latin rhythms the band has incorporated into their songs, but also due to complex song structures and the heavy use of horns. Acrania’s experiment with jazz-tinged (Death) Metal surely takes guts.” -The Metal Crypt-
With three full length albums, an EP, and a powerful and charismatic live show led by guitarist/vocalist Luis Oropeza, Acrania has firmly established that the band’s mission is to integrate Latin instruments and rhythms into traditional Thrash/Death in such a way that they constitute a major element of the songs rather than just acting as a curio used for intros, as well as to pay homage to their musical heritage.The Mexico City-based act also features the staggeringly talented lineup of: César Cortés on guitar, Alberto Morales on bass, and Johnny Chávez on drums. Coming from a similar line to bands like Atheist and Cynic, Acrania manages to create death metaller environments with touches of Jazz, Samba, Bossa, Salsa and more, using a permanent lineup of vocals, guitars, bass, drums, percussion (congas, timbales, etc.), tenor saxophone and trumpet that result in this style to which they refer to as “Latin Metal”. Their third album, “Fearless,” is a definitive statement of intent from the band.
This third album is a clear example of what the word selfmanaged means. “Fearless” was produced, recorded and mixed at Archway Studios in Mexico City by Johnny Chavez and Luis Oropeza, drummer and vocalist/guitarist respectively. This album is once again a challenge to metal conventions and a testament to creativity and indifference to metal purists rules. “Fearless” was mastered in Tower Studios by Brett
Caldas-Lima (Cynic, Megadeth). The cover artwork for the effort was again in charge of Berlin-based artist Eliran Kantor, well known for his work with bands like Testament, Iced Earth, Sodom and more. Acrania is also a band that does not hide it’s political, religious and anthropological vision of the world in which we live in, I.E., in “People of the Blaze”, the first single off of “Fearless”, vocalist Luis Oropeza states that the track refers us to the “crushing of Mexican culture at the time of the conquest, its sacrifices, its pyramidal vision of society and its hegemony”.
Released thanks to the support of the National Council for Culture and Arts who saw in Acrania a Mexican musical product worthy of support, “Fearless” is until now the band’s finest offering so far.
The band was formed in Mexico City in 2006, although their first studio EP, “In Peaceful Chaos”, was recorded and released until 2007, this due to a personal and musical growth together between members who sought the perfect balance between Latin Jazz and Metal.
In November of 2010 Acrania released their first full-length album entitled “Unbreakable Fury”, to mark this release, Acrania played a mini tour in Germany with the support of The Wacken Foundation (Berlin, Soest, Dresden) receiving a highly positive support from european audiences.
Their second studio album entitled “An Uncertain Collision”, was released in October 2012 with support from the National Council for Culture and Arts (CONACULTA) of Mexico, this album has been named as Best Album Of The Year by several magazines in Mexico including Search N Destroy and Rolling Stone. Acrania received an award for Best Album Of The Year from Kalani Metal Awards, it has also been listed in
the Best Albums of 2012 by Sweden’s Global Domination along-side Candlemass’ “Psalms For The Dead”, Diablo Swing Orchestra’s “Pandora’s Piñata”, Kreator’s “Phantom Antichrist” and has been highly praised by specialized media such as Metal Underground, Bravewords, About.com Heavy Metal, The Metal Crypt, etc.
This has taken them to extensively tour around Mexico and Europe sharing stage with bands as Diablo Swing Orchestra, Death To All, Exodus, The Agonist, The Faceless, Legion Of The Damned and Havok.
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