With their frontman fresh off a month in jail and still raring to freak-out the general population Córdoba, Argentina-based heavy psychedelic rock trio LAS HISTORIAS bring ~high-minded, freedom seeking menace as they present what is essentially a near-finished second full-length album per this chunk of recent pre-production demo recordings. ‘House of Pain‘ arrives as a preliminary step taken toward their still in-development sophomore record, a handful of perfectly basement level and buzzing psychedelic heavy rock songs which lumber and languish within their wax melting proto-metallic bap. Uncomplicated, off the cuff and seemingly built from jam-heavy muscle memory for classic early 70’s bustle these folks head a more direct buzzing stride ’til starts to sound like they ran out of cash and had to pawn a mic or two, and (from what I’ve read) their only decent guitar.

Las Historias formed officially around 2018 as a duo though guitarist/vocalist and main songwriter Tomas Iramain had been conceiving his own vision of Sabbath-heavy psychedelic rock with the spirit of the late 60’s for years prior. Producing several jammed and raw rehearsal releases to start, they were a trio by 2019 and had generally sourced their first sign of potential as performers, releasing the musty ‘Mayhem and Sex‘ (2019) rehearsal tape to some reasonable notice. It’d been part of the fast walk-up to their debut LP (‘Las Historias‘, 2020) a set of literal mid-summer jams, all of ’em sleazy as the cover art suggests and with a sound big on guitar pedal dribbling garage level blues. In short review of the album I’d commented: “Short and not at all sweet, nothing about [the album] is complicated beyond the string of classic effects it’d taken to build thier way up high and I’d appreciate that simple-but-effective approach. A meditative yet filthy experience that is easy to recommend to any fan of jam-heavy psychedelic rock/doom metal hybridization.” Since then we’ve only gotten a handful of live recordings, either in studio (‘Luto Sessions‘, 2021) or in a bar setting (‘Live at WB‘, 2021) as they pull in some earlier heavy rock songs from their rehearsals and pick favorites from their debut. Their work in a live setting is enough of a jam that each of these recordings warrant a quick listen if you’re already keen on their style and haven’t poked around their improvisational side.

If you aren’t at least tangentially aware of Argentina’s heavy psych and stoner doom metal scenery of the last decade or so there is a strong occult rock-era Electric Wizard cum Uncle Acid tinge to certain sects (a la Mephistofeles) with many new acts appearing out of the woodwork during the pandemic years. A strong do-it-yourself component which speaks to the defiant idealism many groups carry also finds a certain level of shock value deployed for the sake of being noticed, or working the retro-psych aesthetic. Las Historias are clearly out to push buttons, to reach some kind of limit on filth in drugged and low-slung heavy rock but they’re also paying out a bit of hero worship in terms of the general bones of their craft. Sure they can freak out beyond the norm within jams here and there but what we find on this demo and in revisiting most of their earlier recordings is that when it comes time to hit a big riff there is a bit of Zeppelin (“Mountain”) and Sabbath (“Down the Road”) in most everything they do and that is still true for some of the songs on ‘House of Pain‘. Otherwise this album seems far more interested in the song rather than making a jam of everything, cutting it quicker and dirtier than usual.

With bootleg-ass riffs set back to back on scorched two-mic recordings with a nuclear fuzz and rattle applied to the guitar tone the ear bleeding ripples of this album’s introduction via “High Times” should rightfully set off the record store diver’s ear, anyone in tune with the 70’s comedown beyond heavy blues, as the scratchy middle-era Zeppelin kicked muse of Iramain‘s vision goes big and fully wet with effects off the jump. For a band that’d typically burn in place, stretch into simpler sprawling pieces, this opener has its own jangling and broken garage rock sock to its beat which feels entirely different in style than original drummer Juan Tamargos, who’d played on ‘Las Historias‘. This Bonham level hop is even more pronounced as Jorge Iramain‘s step into “Mountain” cements a baseline grid for these raucous songs to step, or, stomp along with. Raw as these limited recordings are they feel sufficient enough to communicate the personality and the tact of Las Historias‘ style, their uglied up swagger and freely tumbling sense of movement applied lose no charm here despite the ruggedness of their delivery. That said Side A greatly benefits from the more present and complete production values applied to it as those four songs were captured with some additional room noise and a second microphone, as a result these feel like the most important songs on the record.

While we shouldn’t skip past the twang of “Hell Bird” and my personal favorite piece here, “The Way I Am“, it should already become clear just a few songs into this album that they’re onto something here in terms of energy, guitar pyrotechnics and devil-may-care attitude and despite repetitive use of guitar effects and a fairly rusty mix. The trouble will over listening, over analyzing this type of recording per my own experience is that the finished versions of these songs will not likely live up to the ruckus and the rhythmic muss of these loosened versions. I’ve heard enough to know Las Historias‘ second major release will be fantastic and at this point I’ve already fallen in with these demo-level recordings for all the charm they’re carrying through this half hour. Sure, they’re not all that original (see: “Down the Road”) and this recording is a monster but none of that’d stopped me having a great time and many a zoned-out evening enjoying ‘House of Pain‘. Here’s hoping he gets that guitar back and they knock this one out without cutting all the desirous cacophonia available here. A high recommendation.

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