La Iglesia Atómica: the Puerto Rican masters of psychedelic hard rock
What the island of Puerto Rico lacks in size, it more than makes up for in cultural exports. Despite having a population of just over three million people, the exploits of various Puerto Rican artists, musicians, and actors have had a colossal impact on the wider world over the years. Music has always been an important part of Puerto Rican culture, going back centuries. In the modern era, however, the island has managed to imbue those traditional influences with the infectious sounds emanating from other Caribbean islands, as well as from the US mainland.
When rock and roll music started to dominate the landscape of American music during the 1950s and 1960s, its influence travelled to the farthest reaches of the continent. Soon, everywhere from Chile to northern Canada was entranced by its defiant attitude and youthful appeal. Puerto Rico was no different. The island has always enjoyed a diverse and vibrant music scene, boasting its own unique styles as well as taking on influences like Afro-Cuban funk, Latin jazz, and, of course, bolero. However, the advent of rock and roll changed the music of the territory indefinitely.
In a similar vein to nearby nations like Cuba, Peru, and Mexico, the advent of psychedelic rock during the 1960s proved to be particularly popular among Puerto Rican rock fans. Its mind-bending manifesto and far-out sounds seemed to fit in quite naturally with pre-existing styles of traditional Puerto Rican music. As such, the island produced a wealth of fantastic, if overlooked, psychedelic rock bands whose influence never really left the borders of Puerto Rico.
In the wake of this psychedelic explosion came countless other music scenes, from progressive rock to heavy metal. During the 1990s, however, one group orchestrated a revival in the sounds of Puerto Rican psychedelic rock: La Iglesia Atómica. Spearheaded by the prolific songwriter and musical experimentalist Agustin ‘Chito’ Criollo, the band – whose name roughly translates to The Atomic Church – first formed as a stoner rock outfit back in 1990. Over the years, however, their music has developed tenfold from those early days.
Blending a heavy rock sound with sprawling psychedelic guitar riffs, La Iglesia Atómica have crafted a distinctive sound which gives the impression the band are from an entirely different planet. Although the group remain something of an obscurity outside of their native Puerto Rico, they have spent decades crafting mind-bendingly brilliant instrumental psych rock records that have a far broader appeal than they are given credit for.
Take their most recent album, Los Demonios Andean Sueltos, for instance. The record was only unleashed in November of 2024, yet it sounds as though it could have been lifted straight from the early days of psychedelic hard rock back in the 1960s. Clearly, the band takes inspiration from iconic groups like Black Sabbath, but there are also hints at more obscure influences like Peruvian psych-rock legends Traffic Sound. This endlessly broad sound, bolstered by a distinctly Puerto Rican groove, gives the album something of a timeless appeal.
Instrumental rock albums are not an easy thing to pull off. After all, rock and roll music has always relied on a blend of defiant music and lyricism. Yet, upon listening to a song like ‘Los Demonios Andean Sueltos’, the awe-inspiring improvisational riffs of Criollo occupy the chasm left by a vocalist with ease. Truthfully, it is very difficult to notice the lack of any vocals, given the dangerously captivating nature of the band’s playing style.
The psychedelic age of the 1960s has passed, but its influence remains in the music of groundbreaking artists like La Iglesia Atómica. Decades after their initial formation, the band continue to fly the flag for Puerto Rico’s severely underrated rock scene and breathe new life into the ageing genre of hard rock psychedelia.
