Mawiza release IN MONGELETEW tomorrow through Season of Mist, and the label calls it the first acoustic album the band have made.
Five songs: Mur, Wuzapiwken, Wingkawnoam, Mamull Reke and Ti Inan Paw-Pawkan. The titles are in Mapudungun, as everything this band writes is, and that is the point rather than a decoration. Mawiza sing in the language of the Mapuche and build the music around it, which means the words decide the rhythm instead of the other way round.
Taking that into an acoustic setting is a harder test than it sounds. A groove metal band without the weight of the guitars has to find the force somewhere else, and on this record it comes from the percussion and from three guests on the opening track: Fabi Hidalgo, Anne Olsen of Danefae and Mira Ceti of Heilung.
That last name explains the company this record keeps. Heilung built an audience out of people who never listened to metal, and Mawiza are closer to that audience than to a festival bill.
They recorded it in their own studio, and Wuzapiwken came out ahead of it.