It’s likely been at least ten times that I’ve said it now and I am still not getting tired of saying it: death/doom has been doing nothing but deliver the goods in every instance for me for over a year now. I still can’t believe the trend is going even after the staggering and consistent stream of content that we got last year from the style, and it does not appear to be getting any weaker any time soon! With their debut EP, Pistilos Opium cast their name into the ring in a potent blend that only does further justice for the style.

Normally, with any material of death/doom, or any material from doom for that matter, you’d be expecting material where the shortest song is roughly between six or eight minutes with the rest stretching quite beyond. That’s the norm for me, anyway. So, whenever I see a band bring relatively short songs to the table with the longest just barely reaching 5.5 minutes, it makes me wonder like how I did here with “Híbrido”. The case here would be that Pistilos Opium focuses much more on the death metal aspects than what we would normally expect, but the dragging riffs and heavy atmosphere that accompanies that deathly growls and unquestionable heaviness are undeniably present to bring the right amount of doom metal into this mix to say that “Híbrido” balances the two almost perfectly. It’s a feat that we don’t get to see a lot, but Pistilos Opium has nailed it excellently here, and there’s no denying that they have got the proper gauge on everything that they want to bring to the table here from the speed, intensity, melody, mercy, and talent involved to make the entirety of “Híbrido” nothing to scoff at by any means. This EP alone does great justice for the Chilean scene as it really gives us something we can sink our teeth into, and to think that this is just the first offering from Pistilos Opium makes me very excited to see what else they can throw down before us.

Just to see any band perform this style done well is a treat in it of itself, but to see a band do it on their first offering and with flying colors at that is something that demands commendation as the band clearly knows what they’re doing to a great degree while delivering it to us brilliantly. Pistilos Opium does that at every turn throughout “Híbrido”, and if their status doesn’t grow because of it then that is a true crime upon the style. ds

LISTEN to “Híbrido” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Pistilos Opium on Facebook here.