Introducing: Unborn Prophecy

We’re ticking a new country off the GigRadar map of metal today as we introduce you to Costa Rican band Unborn Prophecy – which takes us to covering bands from 55 countries. The progressive death metal collective draws inspiration from the apocalyptic prophecies and ancestral wisdom of their ancient roots and the fury of nature in a sound they describe as “powerful, meaningful and passionate.”

The band, which has been hailed as one of the best on the Costa Rican scene, was founded by David Gonzalez (lead guitar) and Juan Carlos Suarez (drums) after their previous cover band came to an end. They recruited Sley Martinez (vocals), Jeancarlo Murillo (rhythm guitar) and Paulo Matarrita (bass) from their group of friends with the purpose to develop original and meaningful music and high-quality metal.

And Unborn Prophecy certainly deliver on that promise, with an amazing sound that’s powerful yet technical. In the band’s words: “Unborn has a singular sound, characterized by being strong and dark, with a high level of elaboration for those who like complex metal. But at the same time, our music is quite groovy and enjoyable for anyone who likes good music.”

Our first taste of this is the band’s debut album Walking Our Ancient Memories, which was released in April. On the album, the band told us: “We are quite excited since it has been a long journey to get to this point, where we can finally see materialized the efforts and the work of the band. We hope that our friends and followers enjoy this album and continue to support us as in previous years.”

The band pick out the track Ocean, as it encapsulates all the themes that inspired their ideology. It opens up with a fun riff that’s joined by fast-paced heavy chords and huge drums. A vicious scream jumps in with heavy guitars and pounding drums, then spins into a huge opening verse. Wild vocals take over and lead into a massive chorus with screamed vocals and intense guitars and drums, followed by a fun riff and more huge vocals. The track later develops into a delicious guitar solo supported by typically powerful drums, which ends with another vicious scream and chugging guitar chords to set up a heavy conclusion.

On the track, the band adds: “The track is very enjoyable, and the lyrics tell a story about a reality where humans are the architects of the apocalypse of our ancient prophecies. It reflects our interest in reaching a different world where the relevance and power of nature is respected.” Check it out in the lyric video here:

The album kicks off in style with the delicious chugging chord sequence that opens up Whispers, which was also the band’s debut single. That feeds into an opening verse featuring wild dual vocals and increasingly heavy instrumental support, and if you’re not banging your head along to the rhythmic sections of heavy drums and guitars, then frankly there’s something wrong with you. Check it out in the video, which was partly recorded on the slopes of a volcano!, below:

The album is packed with vicious but technical death metal goodness, including the excellent Ancient Alchemy, which features a fun chord progression alongside a darting riff then a big doomy section with fun little guitar flurries before developing into a more melodic section. We also love the intense Forgotten Gods, the huge closing track Prophecy, and the delicious Seven Blood Lines, which you can watch in the video below:

But the band also offers great diversity, which especially comes across in the penultimate track Awakening Of Tiamat. It opens up with a nod to their ancient roots before a powerful opening riff and drums that flow into a bouncy riff and cool drum rhythms supporting intense vocals. Huge drums kick in before a cool high-pitched guitar lick that drops into a bumbling bass solo, then explodes into chugging guitars and wild vocals. That gives way to a section of doomy drums and even heavier vocals, before another section of chugging guitars drops into another little bassline. And another huge chorus ends with a little guitar solo, before a more melodic outro. We love this and you can check it out below:

The Unborn Prophecy sound is influenced by artists like Tool, Opeth, Slayer, Decapitated, Vader, Bloodbath, Soen, Belphegor, Gojira, Cattle Decapitation, and many more.

And on what inspires their music, the band tell us: “We make metal because it is our passion, it is the most natural way we have to express our interests and concerns in an artistic way, when we come together and create music everything flows in order to manifest the intangible into something tangible.

“The lyrics are strongly influenced by themes such as the wisdom, culture and prophecies of ancient civilizations, rituals, and traditions of our native roots. All this converges with modern topics such as the decadence of the current system and society and the growing environmental problem of our planet.”

There’s plenty more to come from Unborn Prophecy, starting with shows around Costa Rica to help people in their country enjoy their music live. They’re also getting to work on their second album, which will consist of 10-12 new songs that reflect the band’s growth since the creation of their debut album.

You can follow Unborn Prophecy on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Soundcloud and YouTube. And check out more great new music through the band’s record label WormHoleDeath and WHD’s YouTube.