So apparently Peru has Metal bands? Yeah, I had no idea either. Well, they do, and I guess it's up to me to review whatever they have. REINO ERMITANO is the first band from said South American country, and they better do well. They basically are speaking for their entire country - in the Metal music area, anyway - and they don't want to fuck it up.

Well, they did.

You see, the one good thing about having lyrics in Spanish is that anyone who doesn't speak it can only listen to the music, because the lyrics could well be about the amazing cuteness of the drummers' cat and I would have no idea. Honestly, every time I hear someone speaking Spanish I always assume they are talking about tacos. Is that racist?

Well, once I am able to consciously ignore the lyrics and just focus on the music, I wish I hadn't. Not that it is terrible. But this is Doom Metal - which just means you take a song four minutes in length and stretch it out by about six. This is the main reason why doom metal really hasn't "taken off" as a subgenre of metal. Most, even the more extreme, have had their day in the sun as it were. It doesn't seem that way for Doom Metal. And to fair, I think I know why.

You see, I totally understand the mood they are going for, but the problem with Doom Metal is that it expends so much effort trying to sound moody and ominous that the listener will probably lose interest and move on to something (anything) else. You can't ride a riff for seven minutes and expect us to stay hooked through the entirety. And that is very sad, because buried beneath the immense pile of boredom is some really impressive lead guitar work. I'd type the name of the guitarist, but I'm currently using Microsoft Word and I hate seeing that squiggly red line under text because it doesn't understand it's a Peruvian name. The point is he should really think of ditching this thing and get into a genre that actually goes somewhere.

So, I guess now I've been soured on all things Peruvian. I guess I'll cancel my spring break. And I was really looking forward to visiting the Puerto Maldonado y Manu. Damn.