Rodrigo y Gabriela - Orion

Not new news, but this can't not be seen - Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela have been turning heads with their nylon-string cover of Metallica's "Orion." Rodrigo's flatpicking makes an interesting contrast with Gabriela's percussive rasgueado technique. Evidently, the couple cut their teeth in metal bands in Mexico (they've also covered Metallica's "One") before journeying to Dublin and Denmark, busking for a living. Busking friend Damien Rice took them on tour; now the pair is hitting the charts in the US and UK, with recent exposure on MTV. Quite a story! Apparently, an EP of Metallica covers is on the way. The highlight of the video is Gabriela's painted toenails tapping away, a most un-metallic sight.

Disgorge (Mex) - Gore Blessed to the Worms

I've been impressed by the recent output of Spain's Xtreem Music, the imprint of Avulsed frontman Dave Rotten (the label recently signed Obscene Gesture, whose demo I reviewed here). Disgorge (not to be confused with Austrian, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, and American bands of the same name) rolls out brutal, gore-oriented death/grind with an old-school flavor.

Next Mortuary Division
Cadaveres

The drumming is a delight, with atypically placed fills cutting through the riffs; the mix really brings out the ride cymbal work. Solos aren't frequent, but when they hit, they nicely balance chaos and control. Overall, the attack is ferocious and varied. I can see this stuff totally killing it live. Mexico doesn't fuck around when it comes to death metal, and Disgorge is another fine example of that. Gore Blessed to the Worms is available from the Xtreem webstore.