Retro-Review: ‘Infierno De Dante’ by Transmetal

If I didn’t know that the 1993 album Infierno De Dante (Dante’s Inferno) by Transmetal was produced by the legendary Scott Burns, I probably would never had bothered to listen.

After all, when I hear a name like “Transmetal” an image of a hairband trying to pass itself off as “progressive metal” comes to mind.

Well, Transmetal definitely ain’t hair metal.

Transmetal are instead a brutal Mexican death metal band who toss aside everything that comes with their glammy-sounding name and just pummel the listener with their sonic sledgehammer.

Infierno De Dante is one of two Transmetal albums produced by Burns, the other being 1996’s Mexico Barbaro. Overall, those two albums are less than 10 percent of the material released in the band’s 20-album career, which began in 1987.

The lineup for this album is Alberto Pimentel on vocals and guitars, Juan Partida on lead guitar, javier Partida on drums and Lorenzo Partida on bass. Lorenzo is also credited for the lyrics. The only lineup change since then is that Pimentel has been replaced by current vocalist Sergio Burgos.