español El Invunche y el metal del Sur global en Grimtotem

Abstract

This article examines how the Chilean band Grimtotem re-signifies extreme metal tradition from a decolonial perspective, proposing horror as a sonic ontology. Through the analysis of the track “Invunche,” it argues that guttural vocality —with its vocal distortion, rough timbre, and dramatic intensity— operates as an epistemological device capable of embodying memories of colonial violence, dispossession, and historical trauma endured by the Mapuche people. By invoking the mythological figure of the invunche — a deformed, silenced, mutilated being — as a metaphor for colonized bodies, Grimtotem transforms horror into an acoustic archive, shifting metal’s logic from demonic gore toward horror as ongoing historical wound. This approach positions Latin American metal — and Grimtotem in particular — as a spaceof sonic resistance, collective memory, and epistemic production from the margins.

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