“The word ‘interesting’ hardly describes Acrania’s material, which is actually rather unorthodox and challenging, not only because of the Latin rhythms the band has incorporated into their songs, but also due to complex song structures and the heavy use of horns. Acrania’s experiment with jazz-tinged (Death) Metal surely takes guts.“
-THE METAL CRYPT-
Mexico City-based act, ACRANIA has firmly established that the band’s mission is to integrate Latin instruments and rhythms into traditional Thrash/Death in such a way that they constitute a major element of the songs rather than just acting as a curio used for intros, as well as to pay homage to their musical heritage.
ACRANIA meshes the technical sounds of legendary thrash metallers ATHEIST and CYNIC with a unique environment created by ACRANIA that integrates elements of Jazz, Samba, Bossa, Salsa and other identifiable Latin American sounds. The band’s standard lineup includes vocals, guitars, bass, drums as well as percussion (congas, timbales, etc.), tenor saxophone and trumpet to give ACRANIA their distinctive sound referred to as “Latin Metal”.
ACRANIA’s most recent release, “Fearless” is a definite statement of intent from the band and is once again a challenge to metal conventions and a testament to creativity and indifference to metals purist rules. “Fearless” was produced, recorded and mixed at Archway Studios in Mexico City by Johnny Chavez and Luis Oropeza, drummer and vocalist/guitarist respectively and was mastered in Tower Studio by Brett Caldas-Lima (CYNIC, MEGADETH). The cover artwork was again in charge of Berlin-based artist Eliran Kantor, well known for his work with bands like TESTAMENT, ICED EARTH, SODOM and more. “Fearless” was released thanks to the support of Mexico’s National Council for Culture and Arts (CONACULTA) and the National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA) who found it worthy to support ACRANIA and their finest offering to date.
The band was formed in Mexico City in 2006, the newly formed ACRANIA sought the perfect balance between Latin Jazz and Metal which came to fruition with the band’s first studio EP, “In Peaceful Chaos”, which was released in 2007. ACRANIA is also a band that does not hide their political, religious and anthropological vision of the world in which we live in, I.E., in “People of the Blaze“, the first single off of “Fearless“, vocalist Luis Oropeza states that the track refers us to the “crushing of Mexican culture at the time of the conquest, its sacrifices, its pyramidal vision of society and its hegemony“.
In November of 2010 ACRANIA released their first full-length album titled “Unbreakable Fury“. To promote this release, ACRANIA went to tour in Europe with the support of The Wacken Foundation (Berlin, Soest, Dresden, Helsinki, Zurich). ACRANIA received tremendous positivity from fans, affirming the success of the album and live performances with European audiences.
Their second studio album entitled “An Uncertain Collision“, was released in October 2012 with support from the National Council for Culture and Arts (CONACULTA) of Mexico, this album has been named as Best Album of The Year by several magazines in Mexico including Search N Destroy and Rolling Stone. Furthermore, ACRANIA received an award for Best Album of The Year from Kalani Metal Awards, it has also been listed in the Best Albums of 2012 by Sweden’s Global Domination along-side Candlemass‘ “Psalms For The Dead“, Diablo Swing Orchestra‘s “Pandora’s Piñata“, Kreator‘s “Phantom Antichrist” and has been highly praised by specialized media such as Metal Underground, Bravewords, About.com (Heavy Metal), The Metal Crypt, etc.
The positive feedback on the releases as positioned ACRANIA to extensively tour around Mexico and Europe, sharing the stage with bands such as DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA, DEATH TO ALL, EXODUS, THE AGONIST, THE FACELESS, LEGION OF THE DAMNED, HAVOK and more.
In 2017, ACRANIA caught the attention of New York based, EXTREME MANAGEMENT GROUP which lead to a worldwide management deal. This put the band on a roster alongside heavy hitters such as SUFFOCATION, CATTLE DECAPITATION, CRYPTOPSY, ORIGIN, RINGS OF SATURN, INTERNAL BLEEDING and many others. ACRANIA is poised to do great things and set new expectations within the realm of heavy metal.
ACRANIA is:
Luis Oropeza – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals & Trumpet
Johnny Chavez – Drums
Alberto Morales – Bass Guitar
César Gallegos – Lead Guitar
Dani Montiel – Percussion