Ignacia Fernández, the 28-year-old model and frontwoman of Chilean progressive death metal band DECESSUS, performed her own band's song "The Hollow Descent" during the talent competition of the 75th-anniversary Miss World festival on Tuesday, August 25, at the Children's Culture Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
It is worth pausing on how unlikely that sentence is. Pageant talent rounds are built for show tunes, ballads and classical crossover — the format rewards the familiar. Fernández walked into it with growled vocals and an original from an unreleased debut album by a band that only signed a deal a few weeks ago.
She did not win. That went to Miss World England Grace Richardson, a performing arts graduate from Leicestershire, who took the fast-track event with "Over The Rainbow" and became the first England representative ever to do so.
Fernández's reaction was gracious and, reading between the lines, entirely satisfied with the outcome she actually cared about. "A moment I'll never forget," she wrote on Instagram. "Getting to bring metal to the Miss World stage and share a part of who I am through music was an incredible experience." She added: "Every contestant who took part in the talent competition was extraordinary and unique. The level of talent was truly incredible, and I want to congratulate England on winning first place!"
The grand final takes place on Saturday, September 5, also in Nha Trang, closing a festival that has run across multiple Vietnamese cities and provinces since August 8.
DECESSUS, meanwhile, are moving quickly. The band recently signed with BLKIIBLK, the heavy metal imprint of Frontiers Label Group, off the back of the singles "The Hollow Descent" and "Dark Flames", with a debut album promised to balance progressive songwriting against genuine aggression.
Fernández has been open about how she arrived here. Speaking to Finland's Chaoszine, she traced the path from her parents' record collection through GUNS N' ROSES and SYSTEM OF A DOWN to the moment that actually mattered: hearing Mark Jansen's harsh vocals in EPICA at around eleven, then seeing ARCH ENEMY's "Nemesis" live in Japan. "That was the first time I saw a woman singing death metal, and I was really impressed," she said. "And ever since, I was, like, 'I want to do this.'"
She names Alissa White-Gluz's work in THE AGONIST as a foundational influence, and describes years of failed bedroom attempts before the technique arrived — followed by two years of formal vocal lessons taken specifically so she could build DECESSUS.