The Colombian band Andes plays "songs for empty gardens." By songs, they're a mix of almost enough metalcore to turn me away, mixed with enough progressive elements to rope me back in. Also garden-themed, their third LP, "Flora," was released yesterday on Bandcamp, and its genre mix, paired with the gorgeous purple album cover, proved to be an interesting listen. Colombian metalcore isn't peaking my personal genre charts, but I'm not opposed to it when/if it does!

"Laiteron Delicat (Bufe de Papel)" (I sincerely apologize when I butcher these friggin' Spanish song titles) opens the album with Yuseff's lead synths and slightly djenty riffs. The band's progressive attitude comes mostly from said jagged guitar playing. It's a harder breed of metalcore they play, but there's plenty of clean vocals, hooks, and melodies to sway to. The deathcore-ish vocal work during the song's end is quite impressive-there are two vocalists, and their synergy is great. "Tacca" is a down-tuned chugfest with extremely high-pitched singing at times. It's dawned on me that Andes takes inspiration from both eras of metalcore, blending attributes of each well. I'm not a fan of the screechy vocal delivery strewn about, though. "Cuando Florecen los Giracoles," the longest track on the album, is a pleasant electronic-forward ballad (kind of) that acts as a nice bridge between tracks. The hints of death metal and the like are present, per the metalcore norm. This song also displays the best of Esteban's drumming. "Rosa sin Petalos" leans heavily into black metal, blast beats, and all.

The second half of the album is made up of four more "normal" tracks, plus a three-track suite. "Diente de Leon" brings back the technical, screamy metalcore of before, with an occasional ambient section, and I'm surprised by how much I like it. "Se Marchitan los Tulipanes" is another one of those melancholic, slower songs, and while I appreciate the feels, I'm not all for Andes slowing down. At all. Thankfully, "Buscando el Aroma de las Rafflesias" is an electronicore banger with plenty of gutturals and dynamic, progressive instrumentation, just like the following "La Delicadeza de los Hibiscos." Moving on to the three-part suite, dealing with elements-my embarassing Spanish skills could recognize "agua" and nothing else. Part one, "El Loto que Nace en la Tierra," is yet another poignant, chuggy track, and the following parts, "La Semilla que Nace en el Agua" and "La Sombra que Cubra la Flora del Sol," pack a similar punch

Besides some minor sound issues that I really can't elaborate on further thanks to my lack experience, I enjoyed the time I had with Andes and "Flora." Their progressive metalcore sound, mixed with electronics and some harsher metal genres certainly filled my garden.