Xolotl - Xolotl (2009)

From the US, Xolotl - a side project of some of the members of Yaotl Mictlan.

Xolot is brought from his eternal rest in the underworld in the mid 2007 during a break of nearly 12 months of “Yaotl Mictlan”. The need to continue to play extreme metal and after some talks between “Yaotl” (drums), “Xolotl” (guitar) and “Adrian” (guitar) lead to invoke one of the most infamous ancient aztec gods, “Xolotl“. To complete this ancient worship they enlisted two mexica warriors, “Nahualli” (bass) and “La Bruja” (screams). The principle idea was to create a studio project band, but after a short time “Xolotl” proved to be the dark infamy that it truly was. So the idea of only being a studio project band was abandoned and now the band takes life as a well established band of aztec black metal. With this new lineup, some hymns are composed but after the first show Adrian disappears and is considered a deserter and is expelled from the band. Quickly a new mexica warrior is enlisted “Mo’ol Balam” on the bass, and warrior “Nahualli” is moved to guitars. With this line up and after many months of hard work by all members of the band, the debut CD is completed which was recorded in November 2008. Immediately an old friend, mexica warrior Joel Morales of American Line Productions (Alprods.) blindly trusts the band and offers to make the debut album under his signature label. In August of 2009 after several delays in the production of the CD the first attack of “Xolotl“, under the production of Alprods sees the light of day…”

- Quote Xolotl Myspace Page

In Aztec mythology, Xolotl (Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈʃolotɬ]) was the god with associations to both lightning and death.
Although often depicted in relation to the underworld, Xolotl was not a psychopomp in the Western sense. Xolotl did, however, aid the dead on their journey to Mictlan, the afterlife in some myths.
Xolotl was also the god of fire and of bad luck. He was the twin of Quetzalcoatl, the pair being sons of the virgin Coatlicue, and was the dark personification of Venus, the evening star. He guarded the sun when it went through the underworld at night. He also assisted Quetzalcoatl in bringing humankind and fire from the underworld.
In art, Xolotl was depicted as a skeleton, a dog-headed man or a monster animal with reversed feet. He was also the patron of the Mesoamerican ballgame. He is identified with Xocotl as being the Aztec god of fire.
Xoloitzcuintle is the official name of the Mexican Hairless Dog (also known as Perro Pelón Mexicano in Spanish), a canine breed endemic to Central America dating back to Pre-Columbian times. This is one of many native dog breeds in the Americas and it is often confused with the Peruvian Hairless Dog. The name Xoloitzcuintle makes reference to Xolotl because, mythologically, one of this dog's missions was to accompany the dead in their journey into eternity. In spite of this prominent place in the mythology, the meat of the Xoloitzcuintle was very much part of the diet of some of the ancient peoples of the region.

- Quote Wikipedia ("Xolotl")


Xolotl as already mentioned, is a side project of Yaotl Mictlan, so some similarities are inevitable. As far as prehispanic BM goes, they both adhere to that genre generally. However, I think Xolotl tends to be faster (I guess that correlates with the short song lengths), and with less ambient/atomospheric elements like Yaotl Mictlan. If you are a fan of one, quite possibly you'll be a fan of the other. Indeed, I like both, but I'm a fan of ambient/atmospheric BM, and for that reason, for example, Yaotl Mictlan stand out more for me.

Album Name: Xolotl
Band: Xolotl
Genre: Black Metal
Year: 2009
Country:
Track Listing:

1.	La gran limpia de Ix Chel	03:32
2.	Tlamanaliztli (La ofrenda suprema)	03:07
3.	El regreso de Tlaloc	03:26
4.	Huitzilopotchli	03:10
5.	Chaac	04:05
6.	Kulto de Ketzalcoatl	03:52
7.	El Sol de manana	03:04
8.	Xolotl	03:36
9.	Xaman Ek	02:38
Total playing time		31:05

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