Chilean progressive death metal band DECESSUS have signed with BLKIIBLK, putting a label behind one of the more improbable stories in extreme metal right now.
Formed in Santiago in 2020, DECESSUS is fronted by vocalist Ignacia Fernández and completed by guitarist Carlos Palma, drummer Martín Fénix and bassist Jaime Pepe. The band has already opened for INSOMNIUM, JINJER and EPICA — the latter in Santiago in September 2024 — and played festivals in Finland and Germany.
Fernández is also the reigning Miss World Chile 2025, having beaten out 19 other finalists after performing a death metal song during the semifinals. Footage of the performance went viral. She will represent Chile at the 75th Miss World in Vietnam, with the grand finale set for September 5, 2026.
Her choice of material at the pageant was deliberate. "I was suspicious about making the music because I was a little bit afraid," she told host Jose Mangin of SiriusXM's Liquid Metal. "I was, like, 'Okay, this is my only talent. I'm going to sing and I'm going to sing a song from my band to at least show what I do.' Because then if I did another song from, I don't know, ARCH ENEMY, I didn't want them to be mad at me... I was like, 'Okay, if I'm going to fuck it up, I'm going to fuck it up with my music at least.'"
Both audience and judges were visibly thrown for the first few seconds. The surprise turned into a standing ovation; one judge said he had never seen anything like it in a beauty pageant.
Fernández is candid about how hard the early days were. Recalling DECESSUS's first-ever show, she said she nearly walked home: "I actually went out, went to a little park that was nearby, sat down with my bottle of water and was really planning and seeing how bad would it be if I just go home... Then my best friend came walking. I never knew he was going to the show. And he saved the day."
She stuck to harsh vocals by design — "when I built the band, I always wanted it to be just screaming" — but the forthcoming album will break that rule slightly. "We have a few songs in the album, new album that is coming out, that I sing a little bit — just a little bit." The prospect makes her more nervous than screaming ever did: "My screaming is my voice... it's like my alter ego. But then if I sing clean vocals, it's myself, and that makes me very nervous."