Crisálida

Drawing on their historical and cultural heritage, the Chilean prog metallers fuse old and new for the here and now.

“I really think we found our sound with our third album, //Solar//,” says guitarist Damián Agurto as he considers the development of Crisálida. Based in Santiago, the prog-metal band was formed in 1997 by singer and lyricist Cinthia Santibáñez and, having undergone a number of line-up changes, hit their stride with a combination of heavier contemporary sounds and lyrical concerns that embrace both the band’s cultural heritage and the challenges facing the wider world. Along the way, their unique approach was recognised when Crisálida’s fourth album, //Terra Ancestral// was awarded the prestigious Pulsar award for Best Metal Artist.

Crisálida’s new album, // Niños Dioses//, which translates as //Children Of The Gods// is their most ambitious yet. “It’s about this sacrificial ceremony called Capacocha that the Incas practiced on the summits of the Andes, but they didn’t like to see it as a sacrifice,” explains Agurto. “What was happening was that they chose children from noble families and they offered them to the gods and so the children became gods themselves. Cinthia writes the lyrics from different points of view. So some songs come from the children, some from the parents. It’s a sad story that involves a lot of death and strong emotions so we try make the music reflect that.”

Agurto rightly insists that the Spanish lyric shouldn’t be a barrier. “You can enjoy the album without knowing the subject matter.”

Augmented by guitarist Augusto Maldonado, bassist Braulio Aspe and drummer Pablo Stagnato, // Niños Dioses// seamlessly blends prog-metal with Chilean traditions without making concessions to either.

“It is very important to maintain out culture and heritage but we’ve chosen not to use Chilean instruments because it sounds like a resource that you’re trying to exploit, rather than meaning it,” states Agurto. “You get commercial interests coming here and they use the indigenous culture to exploit that and we want avoid that. At the end of the day, we play prog metal but we make it sound like it could only come from here.”

Crisálida approach is paying off. In addition to playing festivals across South America and Mexico, the band has also played with luminaries including Tesseract and Riverside and hope to tour Europe in late 2025. It should be worth the wait. JM

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— JM