“We’re always out to prove ourselves because Pueblo is like a meme, like, ‘Oh, it’s just a band from Pueblo,’ and they don’t expect much,” says bassist-vocalist Issiah Moreno. “We definitely feel like we have something to prove because of it. Because people don’t think much of the city, so it’s almost like they write us off, too.”
The underground underdogs got together in 2022, from the remnants of other local groups Voltaic and Retention, and have been repping Pueblo proudly ever since.
“Pueblo’s a hardworking town, man. At its core, it’s blue collar, dude,” says guitarist Ray Kissick. “They’re out here making shit happen. We try to emulate that. We’re proud to say where we’re from.
“We’ve been brought up with that certain type of pride,” he continues. “It’s not necessarily an us-against-them thing, but come with us.”
Moreno lists of a handful of Steel City peers — Sonic Vomit, Diskount Vodka, Mineral Palace, Cortez — to further showcase the yet-to-be-discovered subculture of his hometown. “There is good shit coming out of Pueblo,” he says. “People are like, ‘Pueblo is fucked,’ but there’s a scene here. It’s not massive, but it is very, very passionate.”
“And underground, for sure,” Kissick adds.
The trio from south of Colorado Springs is heading up to Denver to show what the Steel City is all about.
Courtesy Sean Beeman/Eyeworm Photography
Panpsychism — the name is an homage to a 2020 Havok track — is certainly doing its part to shed some light on what Pueblo metal is capable of. Its debut LP, Imperfect Mortality, released independently in April, is a seven-song southpaw to the temple.
While it’s fierce and ferocious, the musicality of Moreno, Kissick and drummer-vocalist Rafi Ornelas is what really jumps out. “Manufactured Genocide” and “Words Unspoken” are intricately written and executed bangers, showing off the technical side of the potent Pueblo trio. “You hear all the stuff you like to listen to, but now you have an opportunity to do something that you like to hear,” Ornelas says.
“One of our mottoes is ‘respect the riff.’ With this band all three of us have a lot of freedom,” Kissick explains. “It’s less metal dudes making music, more musicians making metal. We’re allowed to dip our toes into whatever we feel like we want to.”
That includes bulldozing death metal, too, particularly on “Imperfect Contrition.” But “Reclamation” is by far the magnum opus of the album, at nearly nine minutes in length and featuring an acoustic intro, whiplash-inducing leads and restorative reprieves that still end like an anvil.
“There’s something we wouldn’t have done before,” Kissick says of the clean guitar work. “But we embrace the idea of the unknown and not being afraid to fail.”
“We wrote that at practice all the way through,” Moreno adds. “Our favorite moments that are on the album is just what was spontaneous. We trust ourselves because we’ve wrote enough music to know what we want to hear from ourselves.”
You’re going to want to hear it, too, and Panpsychism is happy to bring it to you in Denver on Thursday, June 18. The band will be at HQ opening for Exhorder; Hatriot, the project of former Exodus frontman Steve Souza, and Denver thrash crew Acid Sentence are also on the bill.
The group is booking more shows around Colorado later this summer, so keep an eye out for the “first rodeo” tour, but there are no plans to leave Pueblo in order to be more involved in what’s happening up north. The nascent native scene is Panpsychism’s breeding ground, and the three-piece its proud flag bearer.
“What we really talk about a lot is not getting caught up in the idea of just being really heavy or trends. We want to write stuff that’s an earworm,” Moreno says.
“There’s a lot of technicalities to metal. There’s a lot of intensity, but I feel like the musicality is a byproduct, and that’s our biggest thing,” he continues. “It might not be the heaviest thing you ever heard, and that’s by choice. We want to write stuff that is faceted in all this so when we do take the opportunity to be heavier it’s more meaningful.
“We’re trying to carve our path,” Moreno concludes, “and it’s a one-step-at-a-time thing.”
Panpsychism, with Exhorder, Hatriot and Acid Sentence, 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 18, HQ, 60 South Broadway. Tickets are $27.
