(written by Islander)
Trying to sum up the history of Cuba in a few sentences would be an impossibility, especially for someone like me who lives roughly 3,000 miles away in the great behemoth of a country that looms northwest of the island (and has never visited there).
From that distance and perspective, it often seems like Cuba was frozen in time many decades ago, thanks largely to the hostility of the U.S. (and the intransigence of Cuba’s rulers). Certainly, despite the country’s rich history and obvious charms, it doesn’t seem to have been a very welcoming platform for extreme metal bands, or probably metal bands of almost any kind.
And yet, metal has survived in Cuba. And for 30 years, the Cuban death metal band Combat Noise has survived. To celebrate their 30 years of determined survival, a trio of labels (Satanath, Sanatoria, and The End of Times) will release a special compilation album called 30 Years Of Cuba Death Metal on October 28th. It includes 11 songs from across those three decades of Combat Noise music, all of them completely re-recorded for this record at Deepblast Studios in La Habana in 2025.
What we have for you today is the re-recorded version of “Rapid Attack (Macabre Dance)“, a terrific new rendering of song originally released in 2003 as part of the two-song Combat Noise single Under My Rifle’s Fire.
As both the band’s name and its music titles clearly signify, Combat Noise create war anthems, lyrically telling stories of war and (to quote the labels) “recreating belic acts where there were courage, honour, brotherhood but also cruelty, fear and horror.”
True to these themes, the re-recorded version of “Rapid Attack (Macabre Dance)” is definitely death metal warfare, a well-produced thrill-ride from start to finish, but a multi-faceted one that proves to be unnerving as well as heart-hammering.
Starting in high gear right away, Combat Noise discharge thundering percussive cannonades, furiously writhing yet also angular riffage, and a shrieking lead guitar. As commanding guttural vocals go on a barking and rabidly snarling attack, the fleet-fingered tremolo’d riffing becomes even more convulsive, even more violently unhinged and desperate, an engulfing churn of sound.
But an ensuing guitar solo creates a different and more piercing dimension, seeming to wail in agony and to whirl in displays of electrifying feverishness. Another dimension arrives soon after, as the guitars twist into dissonant, macabre, and seemingly miserable shapes, an unsettling, tension-producing phase punctuated by big booming detonations and shrieking string tortures.
COMBAT NOISE is:
Juan Carlos Torrente – vocals
Jorge Luis “Colo” Reyes – guitars
Yanio Lee – guitars
Boris Marrero – bass
Pedro Cruz – drums
30 Years Of Cuba Death Metal was recorded, mixed, and mastered in La Habana, Cuba, and features artwork by JC Torrente. It includes re-recorded tracks from Marching of Terror (Independent-1996), Soldiers Must Like to Kill (Independent-1998), For Military Supremacy (Independent-1999), Awakening in Holocaust (Independent-2001), Radical with the War Enemy (Independent-2002), Under My Rifle’s Fire (Independent-2003), After the War… the Wrath Continues (American Line Prods-2008), Frontline Offensive Force (Brutal Beatdown Recs-2010, Old Cemetery Recs, Butchered Recs, Sevared Recs-2011 and Nocturnal Recs, Ataraxia Prods-2022), Anthems of Carnage (Brutal Beatdown Recs-2012, American Line Prods-2015), In War we Trust (Legion of Death Recs-2013), and To the Heart of the Battle (Satanath Recs, Sanatorio Recs-2024).
The album will be released in a jewel-box CD edition with an 8-page booklet (500 copies) as well as digitally. Find pre-order info via the links below, and also give a listen to the compilation’s first single, “Come From Underground“.
PRE-ORDER INFO:
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat409-combat-noise-30-years-of-cuba-death-metal-compilation-2025
https://www.facebook.com/phtisis (Sanatorio)
maesinfe@hotmail.com (Sanatorio)
theendoftimerecords@gmail.com
COMBAT NOISE:
https://www.facebook.com/combatnoise/