Metal band Cabrakaän is bringing Mexico's Indigenous culture to Canada, via killer guitar solos and haunting vocals which describe the history of ancient Mesoamerican tribes.
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Poignant lyrics spin stories of love and war, retelling the centuries-old tales on which the band's ancestors were raised. The musicians take from both the Myan and Aztec folklore to create original songs. Even the band's name echoes the region's colorful history, paying homage to the Mayan god of mountains and earthquakes, Cabrakan.
The musicians had considered starting a death metal band, but the founding couple – vocalists Marko Cipaktli and Pat Cuikani, experienced in opera and classical music – opted instead to channel their Aztec and Otomi heritage, blending metal with ancient rhythms.
On Cabrakaän's 2014 EP "Songs from the Anahuac" ('Mesoamerican' in Nahuatl, or the language used by Aztecs), the group combines English, Spanish and ancient languages to weave together the traditional legends of their homeland.
The band leaders say that, as years pass, the stories of their people have begun to fade. They now hope their music will help those tales survive for generations to come.
"When you think folk metal, you immediately think Vikings and these kinds of stories," said Cabrakaän co-founder, drummer and vocalist Marko Cipaktli.
"When I started listening to these kinds of bands, that made me interested in searching and getting to know more about the culture. I think I speak for all the band in that we try to get (audiences) here to do the same."
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Cipaktli said the group has always had a healthy interest in early Indigenous cultures. This was particularly important for Cipaktli, whose paternal family is Otomi, one of Mexico's oldest native groups.
"I was always interested in learning," Cipaktli says. "I was always asking her more and more about that. These cultures are almost forgotten so we needed to do some research."
In a spontaneous decision, the five members traded the tropics of Mexico City for Calgary's bitter cold to start a new life after touring British Columbia for the 2016 Metalocalypstick fest and finding home in Canada's metal community.
"We talked about the idea of maybe getting the whole band here and start doing our stuff," Cipaktli said.
The quintet of metal artists masked in traditional Aztec face paint is now hopping from one venue to the next. On February 16 at Distortion in Calgary they will be headlining, along with fellow metal bands Valfreya, Mongol, Osyron, Forsaken Rite and To The Mountains.