Altar of Patrons #22

Band: Prehistoria
Title: Cursed Lands
Release date: 21 January 2022
Country: USA

New year, new shout-outs… and what better way to restart the monthly “Altar of Patrons” series than to write about a band that – out of nowhere – took my heart by storm recently? So here we go with PREHISTORIA, featuring five band members heading from four different states across the US. They released their debut EP “Cursed Lands” on January 21^st, 2022, consisting of four songs that impressively introduce this new powerhouse to the audience. The atmospheric cover art was done by master Adam Burke at Nightjar Illustrations, perfectly matching to the EP’s title.

PREHISTORIA’s music is best described as powermetal with a good pinch of thrash, death and prog, which delivers a high-energetic mixture. Hitting in with full power from the first second, it is obvious that there are experienced, passionate musicians at work, and they won’t stop for the next 20 minutes. Their tempo is high, the rhythmic pushing yet varied, with the riffs coming along dark and massive. Nevertheless, there’s a lot of virtuosity into their playing. Singer Alonso “Zo” Donoso has a wide range, with even the highest notes being performed powerful, and he lays great melodies over the mighty soundscape.

Lyric-wise, they have different topics: The first song deals with the question what “Time” is about, and how we use it during the years we spend on earth. “Castles” is about selfish people, who harm their surrounding for their own benefit, consciously causing damage unto others just to see them burn. “Purgatorio” takes us to a man who wakes up in purgatory, trying to find out what he has done. The title track is a fantasy story about a man finding himself on an unknown place, striving to make his challenging way home. Will he make it? Give them a spin to find it out.

All-together, “Cursed Lands” is a short but mind-blowing listen. Even though the music is mostly straight forward, there is enough variety into their song-writing, and the different, stylistic elements flow into each other totally natural. With their powerful, passionate kind of metal, they manage to grab the listeners attention from the first to the last second. To sum it up? PREHISTORIA introduce themselves with a blast! Looking forward to see what else they might have in store in the future.

Video for “Time”