Band:	Yaotl Mictlan
Album:	Dentro Del Manto Gris De Chaac
Style:	Black metal, Folk metal
Release date:	August 2010

01. Dentro Del Manto Gris De Chaac
02. Garra De Jaguar (Ocho Venado)
03. Cihuacoatl (La Llorona)
04. Hun Hunapu
05. Gemelos Heroes
06. Noche Triunfadora
07. Huelitiyotl Mexica
08. Nada Verde Creece Aqui

Yaotl Mictlan are back again, this time blastbeating their way to your eyes from America. Here is a band so brutal that Mexican drug cartels feared them, so destructive that Felipe Calderón had them exiled, so satanic that The Vatican nearly excommunicated Mexico, so?oh? You get the picture? Well in that case, it's not surprising that Yaotl Mictlan have had to flee for their lives from Mexico into Utah, where they were able to record and release their second album, Dentro Del Manto Gris De Chaac.

I admit, maybe Yaotl Mictlan are, in all reality, not brutal, destructive, or satanic. Instead, they offer a healthy dose of mid to up tempo black metal with an injection of Mexican folk instruments. Dentro? isn't your typical Nordic "polka while singing about trolls" style of black metal though. Instead of a gimmick, their use of indigenous instruments helps to highlight somber, downtrodden moods throughout the album very tastefully. Unfortunately, this is where the album trips up the most.

Besides during the introduction on "Dentro Del Manto Gris De Chaac", the folk instruments and acoustic guitars are almost exclusively used to supplement the guitarwork rather than being given lead status, which leads into the next problem. Many of the instances without folk instruments are downright boring. Sometimes Yaotl Mictlan uses interesting, well written riffs, but many other times they end up tremolo picking a few notes accompanied by blastbeats, sounding like one of a million other mediocre black metal bands.

Maybe Yaotl Mictlan needs the coke-filled streets of Mexico for songwriting inspiration, or maybe they are still experimenting with the amount of folk to fill the veins of their music with, I don't know. Regardless, Dentro Del Manto Gris De Chaac is unique, although inconsistent, with enough strong moments ("Huelitiyotl Mexica" and "Nada Verde Creece Aqui") to outweigh the weak, making the album as a whole a rather enjoyable trip.