Right around the time the dudes from Burzum and Emperor were torching churches in their native Norway, a trio of Mexican teenagers lit their own black metal inferno in Mexico City. Guitarist/vocalist Marco Ek Balam, drummer Jorge Ah Ektenel and bassist Jose Ortiz burned their first corpsepaint hymns to tape in the form of Xibalba’s 1992 demo In Lucescitae Tristis Hiei.
The acclaimed and cavernous full-length Ah Dzam Poop Ek followed in 1994, but by then the band’s enthusiasm for an underground culture they saw becoming increasingly trendy had started to wane.
They went tits up in ’97 and didn’t reform until 2008—this time with Victor Ehxibchac on bass—after Nuclear War Now! re-issued the Xibalba recordings.
Currently operating under the name Xibalba Itzaes (partially to avoid confusion with a hardcore band from Pomona) this mysterious black metal triad will release a new seven-inch via Nuclear War Now and a new Full Album.