From Chile, Sempiternus Prepares Its First EP | Extreme Metal From The End Of The World
Chile is a beautiful country to explore. In fact, living on the other side of the Andes Mountains, I’ve been lucky enough to visit, but anyway, this isn’t about tourism—much less geography. What brings us together is Metal, of course, and within that context, we’re here to talk about a project that shows a lot of promise. We’re talking about Sempiternus, a band that’s hard to define but could be categorized within the Death/Thrash Metal genre, though the band isn’t necessarily limited to that style.
Sempiternus was formed in 2004 under a different name: Obcecación, a band founded by guitarist Nestor Mancilla and vocalist Rodrigo Huenulef. At first, it was just an idea revolving around various compositions, mixes, and experiments with musical fusions based on personal interests and diverse influences from classic Metal. Several projects and ideas emerged from this period but remained shelved for years due to work commitments, family matters, illness, and other factors.
Later, following the COVID-19 pandemic, Cesar Salazar—a friend of Nestor Mancilla—joined the band to take over lead guitar, adding more harmonies and melodic structures to the songs that had already been composed. Carlos Estrada also joined the project to take on lead vocals, giving Sempiternus a distinctive sound. Finally, Ricardo Ojeda became the last member to join, taking over on drums. With this lineup, the first songs began to take shape, alongside the well-known restructuring of the older compositions.
Sempiternus’s sound revolves around Metal, with elements of Death, Thrash, Doom, and Heavy Metal, creating a style that transcends the conventional and the established norms of the Metal scene. Each band member contributes their unique essence to build a sound that is as inspiring as it is reflective.
The central message of Sempiternus’ lyrics ranges from biblical passages, prophecies, spiritual warfare, and demonology, among other themes, with a focus on faith and a relationship with God. This has nothing to do with religions of hate, death, or extremism. In that sense, the band believes that “In a religion of hate, man does not exercise his true freedom, but is a slave to a corrupt, false, and selfish system that divides and subjugates through its imposition” (Editor’s Note: Does that sound like V8 to you?).
From what we’ve heard, we can tell that Sempiternus delivers a lethal dose of Extreme Metal, centered on Death/Thrash Metal, heavily influenced by Mortification to name one reference, but the band also acknowledges bands like Grave, Paramaecium, Trouble, Tourniquet, and all the old-school Death Metal of the ’90s. An excellent combination of power, fury, and metal, straight from the southern hemisphere.
For now, Sempiternus doesn’t have any tracks available to listen to, except for a few demos the band has posted on social media, but that won’t be the case for much longer. Nestor Mancilla told us they’re currently in the middle of recording what will be their first official release in EP format, which will feature six tracks, including a cover. In addition to the digital release of this work, the band hopes to release it on CD and cassette as well—true to the old school!
Among what we were able to hear are the demos for the tracks “Getsemani Passion” and “Rebellion: The Fall of Lucifer,” which we’ve included below so you can get a sense of Sempiternus’s sound—a band to keep a close eye on in the coming months. And as always, here are the links to find these Chilean brothers on social media, so you can follow them and stay updated on their latest news…
https://www.instagram.com/sempiternus_puerto_montt
