Cultura Tres is a sludge metal/progrock band from Maracay, Venezuela. The sound of the band is often described as a unique mix between sludge metal, psychedelic metal, as well as doom and South American influences. The band formed in 2006, and has released one EP and three full-length albums so far. Cultura Tres has often been interviewed in American and European media about their South American roots, and their D.I.Y. ethic in producing their audio-visuals: the band members record, mix and master their own albums, and film and edit their own video clips. Without doubt, Cultura Tres has become Latin America’s most recognized and perhaps strangest brother to the sludge metal movement. With its roots firmly in Venezuela, this four-piece independently developed a distinctive sound, an avant-garde mix of metal, seventies rock, doom, psychedelia and South American folk. As natural as their sound came to Cultura Tres, as surprising it was for listeners outside their continent, who discovered their unconventional music when the band burst upon the international underground scene with debut album La Cura in 2008.

Live footage of Cultura Tres

Even the musicians themselves could not have predicted the turns their music would take since the band's inception: the harsh sound of their 2007 EP Seis came closer to metal than to the nightmarish soundscapes they would later produce. Although frontman Alejandro Londoño had been instrumental in South America’s very first doom release in 1992 (being a founding member of the pioneering Epitafio), it took a while before such roots would nestle themselves in the creative process of Cultura Tres. The first influences that would define their uniquely haunting sound came through dreams that inspired the most memorable songs of debut album La Cura. This album and the related video imagery attracted the worldwide attention of underground and mainstream media alike, and launched the band on a 18-month tour through South America, Europe and Japan.

Cultura Tres 2017