CABRAKAÄN is a Folk Death Metal band that was founded by Pat and Marko in the city of Toluca, Mexico in 2012. However, the band decided to relocate to Canada after their first performance at the Metalocalypstick festival in 2017.

The band released their first EP "Songs From Anahuac" in 2014 and showed an ability to mix different influences of folk songs with Death Metal. Five years after the release of their first EP, the band released their first studio album "Cem Anahuac My Home" in 2019 and that's what we talk about.

The first song on the album is called "Cem Anahuac" and begins with a percussion that resembles traditional Central American music and gradually the song grows with the addition of orchestrations and guitar riffs. The mix of guttural vocals and clean female vocals has created an interesting ambience where the more aggressive vocals fit the most metal parts of the song and the clean vocals fill the folk sound. There is even an epic Spanish narration that automatically transports you to some Mayan forest. The next song is "Burning Flame" which begins with extremely fast and aggressive riffs in line with female performed vocals. The instrumental is very well executed and the vocals complement each other perfectly. The chorus is extremely sticky and you will want to be in the front row of the show to sing.

"Huitzilin" follows the same formula as the previous songs and the duets between the guttural and lyrical vocals were magnificent. The instrumental is very beautiful, with flutes and sounds that will take you to some sunny forest. The highlight of the song goes to the vocals and the bassist who created excellent bass lines. "The Eagle & The Snake" begins with an interesting percussion that grows and makes room for the emerging orchestras and the sound of the flutes. It sounds like a ritualistic song that reminded me of some things about Brazilian folk music. It's definitely a very cool instrumental song.

"Calm In My Storm" begins calm, but soon starts the riffs full of grooves and a sensational drums work. You will start banging your head. There are use of acoustic guitars, which created a good variation for the music and female vocals remain a highlight. It's time to invoke "La Bruja" and the song begins with interesting instrumentation, beautiful acoustic guitars and lyrics in Spanish. The song has very interesting variations and is a really fun, dark and crafted song. The album ends with the song "Blood" which begins with beautifully made guitar riffs, lyrical female vocals and aggressive guttural vocals as well. The chorus of the song is very good, there is a duet between lyrical and guttural vocals, which created a very interesting atmosphere. The guitars are pretty Death Metal and you will start banging your head as soon as the first chords sound. There is a good guitar melody in the chorus.

CABRAKAÄN has released an amazing, fun, well-written album with influences from various folk styles aligned with Death Metal. It's definitely one of the best releases of the year in the style and the band deserves all the attention they are getting from the media and the public.