Interview with OracleVuh, Folk Metal Band from Guatemala

Interview with OracleVuh, Folk Metal Band from Guatemala

OracleVuh is Folk Metal Band from Guatemala. They’re Enrique Vásquez - Drums, Kevin Sipaque - Flute, Robin Ethan - Guitars, Daniel Contreras - Keyboards, Wiliam Ventura - Violin, and Luis Alvarez - Vocals (lead). OracleVuh gave us some information. Check it out.

Tell us about Your OracleVuh?

The band was founded in July 2015 because of a casting to form a folk metal band in Guatemala. The band was founded under the name Efestus, by the end of that year, the band almost disintegrated since most of the members left. With the remaining members I (Robin), Daniel and Luis, started working on our first full length album "Preludio". At the beginning of 2016 we set ourselves the goal of finishing our album. In November 2016 we decided to change our name to OracleVuh, since we wanted a name that had more relation with the Guatemalan folk stories and at the same time we would identify our origins. The name is composed of two words "Oracle" and “ Vuh", which comes from the sacred book of the Mayan culture "Popol Vuh”.

What are lyrical themes of OracleVuh?

We mix stories related to the folk stories of Guatemala, legends, myths and everything that comprises the Mayan culture, since Mayans had epic stories about heroes and battles in the underworld. 

What are your influences?

We have a wide variety of musical influences. Each one of our songs are totally different from the other and we fuse different types of metal like Folk metal, Power metal and even Symphonic metal. We also included native instruments from Guatemala in some of our songs. Our influencing bands are European mainly from Spain, Italy and UK, like Mägo de Oz (old), Lèpoka, Saurom, Warcry, Iron Maiden, Angeles del infierno, DragonForce and Rhapsody of fire.

Who are Your Favorite Guatemala Metal Bands?

Alux Nahual and Nova Epica

How did you choose the cover artwork for "Preludio"?

We liked the idea of representing different mythical creatures from different folk cultures around the world, we also included characters from myths and legends of Guatemala, and we thought that it will be awesome if we combine them all together so that it will be way more epic. We chose the name of "Preludio” (Prelude) since it is our beginning in Folk metal music.

How were the songs written?

Luis, our lead singer, was in charge of writing most of the lyrics with Daniel, our keyboard player. Most of the music was written and composed by me, Robin (guitarist), along with the orchestral arrangements and celtic folk melodies played with Violin and Tin whistle. Daniel and Luis also composed some songs giving their unique touch like Blues, melodic metal and orchestral.

How did the recording process go?

The recording was a somewhat complicated step. But our guitarist (Robin) despite not having a big experience recording an album before, offered to record our songs. It was a long process since everyone had to study their part in order to record, but everything went well. Some times we had to stay recording at Robin’s house for a whole weekend.

What are your future plans?

Tell the world who we are and what we play, and let everyone know about the epiceness that the Mayan cultures holds. Be able to release a second full length album and have the honor to play next to other great musicians and bands from around the world.

Are there any countries you’re interested in touring or performing in? Why?

We would love to be able to play in any country around the world that likes our music, so we can meet other musicians, different people know different places and also to expand the metal genre to every corner of the planet.

What bands would you like to play alongside?

Mägo de Oz, Lépoka, Saurom and José Andrëa y Uróboros.

Any last words?

We hope everyone likes our music and we thank everyone for the support they have given us, many thanks to BDP Metal for the interview, Robin, Luis and Daniel.

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