Tag Archives: Keshav Dhar

Slain releases latest single ‘Firesea’

Bangalore-based progressive-rock band Slain has released their latest single titled ‘Firesea‘. The song features Siddharth Basrur of Goddess Gagged fame on vocals and Slain’s 17-piece-choir, The Choral Riff.

The lyrics of the song have been written by Manek DSilva and Naresh Nathan, and the music was composed by Bryden Lewis, Jonathan Wesley, Manek DSilva and Naresh Nathan. “The idea was to bring in someone as a guest and we figured someone who could do justice to a punchy track like this would be Sid Basrur, as he is one of Ranjits favorites as well. The unique blend of his vocals and the choir all add to something that sounds really big and brings about a rather epic sonic experience. The lyric video was done by Manek Dsilva, wanting a very simple lyric video and allowing the song to speak for itself.” says bassist Naresh Nathan.

Interestingly, Bryden Lewis first thought of this song back in college when it was performed differently with another band. Bryden approached his current band-members Naresh and Manek to rework the song entirely. “I wanted the song to be inspirational, with a never-give-up kinda feel to it because life can be a test! There are a couple of more singles that will follow. We aren’t releasing an album yet. Our music is evolving with the change in lineup and this is the first original that we’re releasing with the new lineup,” says Bryden.

The track has been mixed and mastered by Keshav Dhar, of Illusion Audio and Skyharbor.
Lead Vocal Recording has been done by Ayan De at Midicore Studios, Mumbai and editing by Hriday Goswami.

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JD Rock Awards 2014 at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai

Himanshu Rohilla

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How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You by The Down Troddence

There has never been a formula for success as far as a metal band goes more so for a band that is based in India. How do you make the average metal lover to take notice of your efforts? Does war-paint and crazy stage antics help your bands cause? Do you stick to the basics and play it the old-school way? Or do you try and incorporate the new sounds that are redefining the entire metal canvas? What exactly defines a metal band and the perfect metal sound in the metal hotch-potch that is India?

Bangalore-based The Down Troddence seems to have found an answer to the above question. A musical style that is a marriage of the thrash and groove metal sub-genres, and also having large dollops of traditional folk music elements from Kerala, seems to have worked wonders for the bands rise up the metal popularity ladder. The Down Troddence is one of the very few bands in the circuit who have successfully managed to incorporate Indian folk influences into their metal sound without it sounding either forced or cheesy. This is no surprise, since the band, having originally started their journey in Kannur (Kerala), are well acquainted with the folk sounds of their home state. The bands musical approach has ensured that they do not sound like the typical run-of-the-mill Indian metal act, and indeed, their style resonates strongly in their original compositions, many of which are showcased in their debut album How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You.

This is a commendable debut effort, and Keshav Dhars fine production and engineering is certainly a plus point for the album. The artwork, conceived by Abhijith VB, is interesting to say the least, and the artist has done a fine job in capturing the essence of the featured songs in his sketches. The overall album production and packaging get a big thumbs-up and based upon just these two factors, if you are a collector of albums from the Indian metal underground, then this is without a doubt an album worth purchasing.

It took one spin of How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You to convince me that The Down Troddence are indeed a band for the future. Their debut album, while not the most original piece of musicianship currently in circulation, indeed has its moments and luckily enough these far outweigh the clichéd elements that plague this otherwise fine effort.

The album opens with the acoustic ‘A.V.‘ and it is laced with some soothing South Indian influenced sounds. However this tranquil album opener gives way to some crunching guitar riffs and a barrage of power drumming to introduce the albums second track, ‘Hell Within Hell‘. The groove metal influences on this track hit you square between the eyes and the menacing vocals of front-man Munz also lends an overall dark feel to this track. An enjoyable composition indeed, but probably not the most original and you will definitely have heard similar sounds from countless other bands. The lyrics however add some depth to the track, and they talk about the politically motivated crimes that take place in their home-town.

‘KFC‘ is the next song and the band changes gear from groove metal to post hard-core. This track is an enjoyable listen no doubt, but it sounds way too much like a Scribe composition. This apparently clichéd approach from the band in the albums first few songs may disappoint a few listeners who might have been expecting something a bit more radical after being labeled by many connoisseurs as an experimental metal band. However, for those of you who enjoy modern metal this would probably not be too much of an issue.

‘Death Vanity’ is where things slowly start to take shape. One of the bands first compositions, this song too is heavily layered with both thrash and metal-core influences. The chorus section has a very rock-anthem like feel to it and it is one of the heaviest songs on the album.

The song ‘Nagavalli’ is a bone-crunching story of a woman who lets go of her suppressed anger to become the vengeful Nagavalli, a character from the film Manichithrathazhu. The religious chanting, the crushing guitar riffs and the top-notch drumming of Ganesh Radhakrishnan, make this a delightful composition and it is easily one of the best tracks on the album.

The moment you hear the hypnotic guitar intro on the song ‘Forgotten Martyrs’ you just know that Baiju Dharmarajan has lent a hand to this track. And indeed that is the case Baijus unique guitar skills are the main focus of this composition, and you find yourself taking a trip down memory lane, to the days when another band from Kerala, Motherjane, ruled supreme. ‘Forgotten Martyrs’ is most certainly the stand-out song on this album, and try as you might, nothing but Baijus surreal guitar work seems to register in your brain throughout the duration of this song.

The next track ‘Muck Fun Mohan’ is a song about the plight of the common man, and it is another well thought-out composition, especially on the lyrical side. Musically, it is yet another amalgamation of the different metal sub-genres that feature heavily on this album a mixed bag of sounds, but an interesting listen nonetheless.

The next track ‘Ortniavis’ takes the listener down the religious route bell chimes and chants in a tribal Malayalam dialect feature heavily on this track, and this composition acts as the perfect intro to The Down Troddences massively popular ‘Shiva’. A brutally heavy song, ‘Shiva’ is sung totally in Sanskrit. As in ‘Ortniavis’, the bell chimes and religious chanting feature heavily on this track as well. The metal-core riffing and the breakdowns manage to blend in with the traditional sounds with sumptuous ease, and without a doubt the band are at their experimental best on this composition.

The Down Troddence closes out their debut effort with ‘Chaapilla’ another effort in experimentation. The sonic layers that have been created here provide a distinctly ethereal effect to the song, and this all builds up until everything seems to come crashing down under an avalanche of guitar riffs towards the end of the track. Literally translated as dead foetus, ‘Chaapilla’ is a statement about the hopeless state of our countrys youth. The lyrics of this song are masterly, but this goes for all the featured tracks on this album lyrically The Down Troddence is no flash-in-the-pan.

All in all, How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You does indeed hold up as far as the music goes. Few bands these days make a conscious effort to produce an album that is complete in all respects, so to see this young band trying to achieve all-round perfection in this, their debut effort, speaks loads about the band, their dedication and attitude. The Down Troddence can indeed be proud of their album and a thousand eyes and ears will be on them, waiting for their next piece of work. Expectations and standards have indeed been set high and the band should only blame itself if their next effort fails to appease their metal hungry fans.

Prasanna Singh

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Myths & Fables by Jester

Bharath Kumar

With the advent of amazing music recording and production technology, lots of bands are putting out “albums” easily, and quite fast. Having seen the bad side of Indie bands albums, I wasn’t very excited to hear about the launch of another local band’s album. Id never had the chance to see Jester play live, and had no idea what to expect from them. I hit play, with some excitement, and touch of skepticism.

Right from the first track I was blown away! This had all the makings of a spectacularly produced and well thought out album, as I would later come to realize, is the case.

The album opens with ‘Primer’, a beautifully produced electro intro, setting the mood and standard for the rest of the album. Evocative delay-ridden synth plinks transition almost seamlessly straight into the next track, plainly named ‘Sepia’. The second track, as the name suggests is a song about memories fading over time. I fail to hear most of the lyrics unless I try really hard. I wish the vocal levels were just a touch louder. The guitar work, and the changes through the song are quite notable – exciting stuff.

The next track, ‘La Questa‘, opens very elegantly on the same thematic stage setup by the previous tracks. The vocalist has great texture, and comes out with an amazing range in this in-your-face love song. Up next is ‘Harlequin’, and finally, the rhythm section of the band comes out front and center – very tight and driving. A great plus, great tones all around.

‘Broken Arrow‘ opens with a very But It Rained(Parikrama) like refrain. The whole song was very reminiscent of the early Parikrama sound in many ways. This is probably the most old-school sounding indie-band song on the album. Yet, it managed to hold its own and sounded fresh.

‘Big Bad Wolf‘, their most popular single so far, sadly didn’t live up to its place in the album. It just felt like a perfect place to put a generally high-energy track. While I see the makings of a great high-energy track here, it just feels like something about this track is off. I’m going to write it off to a lower volume level for the rhythm section, which probably killed it for me.

Surprisingly, the next track picked up the energy a touch, though I felt that that the tempo could’ve been a bit higher at least for the album version, if not the live version. In many ways this is a great final track. As it brings great changes, and a variety of sections, keeping things very interesting.

I was expecting another track after this but its a great choice to have stopped here. The album lets off on a high, and has a slight feeling of incompleteness that wants you to come back and listen to the whole thing again. As a side note, Blackstratblues is a wonderful album to playlist immediately after this.

Something that most local/indie bands forget to realize is that an album isn’t merely a collection of songs. One doesn’t have to go to the extreme of making every album a ‘concept album’, but there always has to be some semblance of a single body of work, laid out in a meaningful and artistic manner, and this is what makes a legendary album. And this is what makes the compilation of an album, an art form. Jester and Keshav Dhar, have nailed it on all these fronts. I’m going to be listening to this album for hours now. It could easily turn out to be one of this years best albums, and hopefully a future standard for other bands to strive toward. This album is going on my iPad, my phone, and all other devices, I’m going to be recommending it to all my friends. That’s something that I can’t claim for many indie bands’ albums.

Bharath Kumar

Bharath Kumar, besides being a full-time geek, is a keyboard player and music producer. He runs his own studio, Minim Sound Labs www.minimsoundlabs.com, and is an active volunteer in various charities.

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Words to Epilogues by Heretic

Sidharth Mohan Sidharth Mohan Sidharth Mohan Sidharth Mohan

The idea that stems from the ill-begotten notion that Indian rock/metal bands just cant sound like international acts: the sound quality, the mix, everything is always to be a notch below what we hear on (insert international band’s name here)s songs, is something that Heretic shatters with delight. The general sound itself is simply put: pleasing. Heres a band you want think of and say: They need to make it. They deserve every accolade they get for the jewel that is Words to Epilogues.

Echoes from a Canvas is a prelude that belies the ensuing aggression in the album, but lays a clear foundation of depth in the bands music, which you dive straight into with Reprise.

Reprise gives you a riff-based hook filled earful. The first thing that strikes you is the quality of the mixing: theres a crisp and distinct drum sound, perfectly mixed cymbals, (dont forget the drool-worthy snare sound), and a perfectly underplayed almost inconspicuous bass-line by Benjamin Thomas on this track. The twin guitar solo followed by a Porcupine Trees Trains-like acoustic transition highlights the bands focus on the melodic element of their music. The growls keep you rooted to the aggression that the band channels.

After listening to the first track, one might lean towards turning the EQ off/setting it flat: Heretic have given a lot of attention to their portrayal of themselves on a non-live platform.

Choice is a 100kmph (200bpm?) foray into the technical realm. This track is a drummers delight, and Kevin Paul Prichard seems to revel in this glory. There is never any (mindless?) repetition on this track, but the hooks are succinct and played frequently enough to stay in your conscious memory long after the music has stopped, without sounding cheesy, lending breath and breadth to the song. The classical gamagas on the vocals are signature Heretic, and one will find oneself keeping an ear out for just those. Theyre done beautifully, and the band plays to Akhil Unnikrishnans vocal skill. However, one is inclined to feel that the clean vocals carry the song well enough that the growls can, sometimes, be done without. The growls feel a little reedy at worst, and the demand on the singer due to the progressive, eclectic nature of the song makes one wonder how reproducible this music is live. The vocal ending on this track is a testament to Akhils prowess as a singer. Hareesh Kumars and Abhijit Namboodiripads guitars dominate the vocals sometimes on this track, but thats a technicality that only a cynical sound engineer will complain about. At almost six minutes long, the band risks boring the listener after 5, but having said that, the guitar solo is slick, devoid of nonsensical overplaying, and the rhythmic phrasing is hits the sweet spot, which can be used to argue that it just took that long to build the song up. Fair enough.

Slaves and the System is dark, and if youre angry (right now, or as a person), you will resonate with this track. Three tracks into the album, and Heretic makes its impression on the listener: they love being in-your-face and their music is instantly gratifying. Lovers of riff based heavy guitar work: rejoice. This music is hook-fest at worst! The vocals on this track, like the rest of the music, are wet, filthy, and glorious. One might argue that the vocals here just work, while simultaneously leading one to wonder: what would it sound like with more vocal harmony, considering that the chorus/verse structure is almost begging for it? Or, will more growls throw the music into a darker, angrier place?

Words to Epilogues is reminiscent of Periphery. Heretic does their best to keep the music fresh, which, generally speaking, is always a challenge. The bands collective thought processes reflect a desire to always address the technical element of the music, yet never depart from the realm of easy, almost palatable listenability even in a song that is 7 minutes long. This song is a vocal and guitar delight off the bat, but 1:30 minutes into the song, none of that seems to matter. One is inclined to think it is fitting that this is the title track, and one may like for this to be the signature song of the band, if there ever was one; but one might also be biased towards Thoughts (video), which has the advantage of creating a visual impression, in addition to being an auditory bonanza. Words to Epilogues requires ones careful attention; if there ever was a labour-of-love for this band, this might just be it. The conclusion of this song is a staunch reminder of the excellent quality of the production (Keshav Dhar, Skyharbor.)

Alone is the bands departure from the complexity and the depth of the early tracks. The layout of the songs reflects a live set-list like ensemble of tracks. Having said that, one might be disappointed with this track because of the departure from the more progressive earfuls that delighted one not five minutes ago.

Bleed to Heal follows with a welcome tone change, and the quality of the mixing only seems to improve with every track that Heretic have put on their album. This track almost cries for more vocal harmonies. Thoughts displays a Words to Epilogues-like tone (guitar-wise and on the whole), and if one isnt convinced of Heretics ability to tap into what seems like its members fantastic musical facilities, then replay this album from start to finish.

Thoughts sounds like a farewell that the band does not want to make the angst rises to a crescendo, and then descends into a Ring of Colours, which reflects the sheer intellect of the band in that it can induce a sense of auditory déjà vu, and subsequently bids the listener farewell until the next time she pushes play.

Give Heretic a listen, and find yourself nodding in approval.

Sidharth Mohan

Sidharth Mohan is the founder of Whats The Scene and a biophysicist. A musician in his own right, he started WTS while still a part of a local band in Bangalore. When not working with gloves and a lab coat, he spends his time travelling, swimming and jamming.

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The Jack Daniels Rock Awards 2013

The eighth edition of the annual Jack Daniels Rock awards was held on the 22nd of February at Mehboob Studio amidst little hype and no fanfare. The invite-only event hosted by Sameer Malhotra and The P-Man (Rohit Pereira) saw successful rock bands from the scene, across genres, being feted for their musical efforts over the past one year, by people who had little or nothing to do with the scene.

Bombay punk rockers, Blek kick-started the evening performing songs from their debut album, Hexes + Drama & Other Reasons for Evacuation to an audience of around 100 people. Their half hour long set included some of their popular songs like Minus the Makeup and Fog + Strobe which was also nominated in the best song category. Bleks set was followed by the first set of awards which saw Shantanu Hudalikar win the best producer award. Advaitas The Silent Sea and Swarathmas Topiwalleh shared honours for the best album art while The Blue Frog, Mumbai was adjudged the best live music venue. The emcee then made Michele Obamas virtual presence at the Oscars seem less random by calling upon a Bollywood designer along with an eye-candy model to give away the next set of awards Blek were back on stage to collect their award, after being declared the best emerging band of 2012. The next award handed out was for the best keyboardist which was shared by Jason Zachariah (Jason Zac Band) and Zubin Balaporia (Indus Creed). The designer-model duo then gave a priceless tip of advice in fashion to the musicians gathered (who, judging by the vibes, couldnt care less), before handing over the best drummer award to Jai Row Kavi (Indus Creed). Bombay Jam band Something Relevant was up next on stage, playing a half hour long medley of songs from their second album, We Could Be Dreaming which was released last year.

Actor Suchitra Pillai was then accompanied on stage by Ken Ghosh (Bollywood director) to give away the next set of awards – Tony Guinard of the Ska Vengers tipped my personal favourite Roop Thomas of Blakc to win the best bassist award. Thermal and a Quarter frontman Bruce Lee Mani deservingly bagged the coveted best guitarist award, having being nominated alongside other stalwarts like Keshav Dhar, Baiju Dharmarajan and Mahesh Tinaikar. A clueless Mandira Bedi then walked onto stage to hand over the awards for best male and female vocalists – Vivienne Pocha won the award for the best female vocalist scoring over equally good singers Samara C (Ska Vengers) and Suman Sridhar (Sridhar/Thayil), while Angaraag Papon Mahanta overpowered the likes of Uday Benegal, Rabbi Shergill, Bruce Lee Mani, Gareth Dmello and Vasu Dixit in a star studded list of nominations for the best male vocalist.

The Rolling Stone all-star jam that followed, showcased artists from bands like Something Relevant, Split, Goddess Gagged and Colour Compound, recreate the magic of some of Indias most popular rock songs from Siddharth Basrur and Gareth Dmellos duet take on Them Cloness Zephyretta to Rachel Vargheses cover of Junkyard Grooves Imagine, Saba Azads cover of Orange Streets Candywalk to Gareths beautiful delivery of Lucy by Zero, Suman Sridhars horror screams and deafening screeches on Workshops Pudhe Sarka to Rachel Vargheses rendering of Trapped by Indus Creed, the wonderfully selected set list for the jam had something for everyones taste and gave the attendees a lot to cheer about.

The Rolling Stone jam session was ensued by the last set of awards that saw Keshav Dhars Skyharbor bag the recently introduced – best metal band award before Papon made it two for the night after Boitha Maro Re was adjudicated the best song, overshadowing some splendid tracks like Maeva (Skyharbor), Fog + Strobe (Blek), Dissolve (Indus Creed) and For the Cat (TAAQ). Former Miss India, Yukta Mookhey was then called out of oblivion to hand over the last couple of awards – Advaitas The Silent Sea won the top honours bagging the best album award, however it was Indus Creed who won the bragging rights and took home the 5 lakh rupees prize money after being adjudged the best Indian band for the year 2012.

Despite oddities of the award presenters, a no-show by most winners and a kitty cat on the loose, the award show at large went off smoothly, thanks (largely) to the free flowing Jack at the event.

Ishan Vartak

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The Rolling Stones Metal Awards at The Blue Frog, Mumbai

The third edition of The Rolling Stones Metal Awards took place at The Blue Frog, a venue that has supported this initiative of celebrating the Indian metal scene by giving bands due credit for the efforts they’ve put in over the year. The event had a total turnout of around 600 people and one could safely say that they all had an amazing night.

Rohit Pereira, popularly known as the P-man, was the emcee for the night who tickled everyones funny bones with his comical antics and witty one-liners. The first band to take to the stage was Pangea the progressive metal band from Bombay consisting of Akshay Rajpurohit, Shadaab Kadri and Kuber Sharma on guitars (all seven string guitars). The band was joined by the awesome duo, Jai Row Kavi and Rushad Mistry of Indus creed fame, on the drums and bass respectively. Despite the fact that the band was playing its first gig ever , they sounded very professional on stage and performed songs from their debut album Snails Are When I Was Young. The band may not have won any award that night but made all the right noises with their debut gig and with their layered, melodic and almost ambient metal tunes. They are surely a wonderful addition to the already exciting metal scene in the country.

Next up on stage was Providence, clearly the stars of the night. This metalcore band from Bombay, was playing with their new vocalist Karan Pote (ex- Noiseware and Abraxas) after Sunnieth quit the band last month and went on to win five awards that night. Pote seemed to have fit into Sunnieths shoes with consummate ease as the band got the moshpit going with songs from their album Vanguard. The band was joined by Sunnieth on stage for their last song Prosthetics. The teamed growls from Sunnieth and Karan threw the crowd into frenzy – certainly one of the highlights of the night.

The award ceremony kick-started as Keshav Dhars Skyharbor won the award for the Best Emerging Band, while Providence bagged the award for Best Album Art for their album Vanguard. Taz James of Chaotic Years won the award for Best Keybordist while Arun Natrajan and Vibhas Venkatraman of Eccentric Pendulum bagged the awards for Best Bassist and Best Drummer respectively.

After this, Karan Pote was back on stage with his metal band from Pune, Abraxas. The band continued from where Providence left off and with the twin guitar attack of Abhimanyu and Vinay shredding away to glory, ably supported by Naman on drums and Kenneth on bass, the band got the circular pits going at certain points in their set. A lot of people from Pune had specifically driven down to catch Abraxas live and the band didnt disappoint one bit as they played some of their most popular tracks like Deviation, Eyes of Disgrace, I Remember among others to get the crowds really going before winding up their set with another crowd favourite, Sweet Sufferings.

The next category was Best Guitarist which was bagged by Keshav Dhar of Skyharbor. While Sunnieth Revankar of Bhayanak Maut won the award for Best Vocalist for his work with his former band Providence, while defeating himself for his own work with Skyharbor, which was also nominated in the same category.

The next set of awards was for the Popular Choice category. Skyharbors Maeva won the award for Best Song, and Providence bagged the next two awards for both Best Band and Best Album for their album Vanguard.

Bangalore-based metal band Eccentric Pendulum who had a very successful night themselves, took to the stage next. The band, fresh from winning awards for Best Drummer and Best Bassist earlier that night, put together a very tight set playing songs from their album Winding the Optics, while also playing some of their new songs like, Resisting the Equation.

The next set of awards was for the Jury awards category. Maeva by Skyharbor won the award for Best Metal Song, while Eccentric Pendulum picked up the award for Best Metal Album of the Year for Winding the Optics.

The last award for the night was the coveted Critics Choice Award for Best Metal Band, which was bagged by Goddess Gagged from Bombay. The closing act for the night was the mighty Zygnema, who will be representing India at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany later this year. The energy that the bands frontman Jimmy brings into every performance is phenomenal and Sunday night was no different. Add to that the genius of Sidharth Kadadi on guitars, the brilliance of Mayank on drums and Ravi on bass, and you have all the ingredients for an explosive performance! The crowd went berserk as they broke into a huge circular pit in front of the stage, while the band belted out songs from their album Born of Unity, including crowd favourite 59(which has almost become an anthem now) along with some newer tracks like Endangered.

To say the night was phenomenal would be an understatement. Watching the pioneers of metal in India and all their fans under one roof celebrating the growth of the Indian metal scene was testimony to their love for metal and its success India.

Ishan Vartak

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Nokia aLive feat. Lamb of God and Skyharbor at Clark’s Exotica, Bangalore

May 26^th, 2012 as many diehard metal heads had predicted was brutally EPIC. You would have had to be extremely daft to expect anything less from a lineup that read – Escher’s Knot, Bhayanak Maut, Skyharbor and finally Lamb of God. Thanks to the new government rule which prohibits Palace Grounds from hosting any further gigs, the concert took place at Clarks Exotica, which looked like a rather serene resort till the Metal gods took to the stage and tore the place apart. The venue was by no means a letdown but comparing it to the Mecca of heavy metal in India, Palace Grounds, would be extremely unfair (to both Palace Grounds and Clarks Exotica). The location being 30 kms away from the city didn’t seem to pose a problem to the 6000 plus people that showed up but mineral water bottles being sold at an exorbitant fifty rupees a litre did. Unwilling to move from their vital vantage points, the water shortage soon turned into a mini crisis for the fans upfront. The enduring fans however were soon rewarded as the guys from Bhayanak Maut were kind enough to throw their own bottles to the thirsty crowd.

First up on stage (starting sharp at 5 pm) was the experimental metal band from Chennai Escher’s Knot, who played an extremely tight set, playing a lot of their new songs including ‘Reciprocity’ which seemed to have struck a chord with the crowd. It was a pity a lot of fans had to miss out on this enlivening opening act as most of them were either waiting to get inside or were stuck in Bangalore’s famous traffic jams. From playing in the pre party gig for the Lamb of God concert in 2010 to opening for them in 2012, this band has come a long way and is destined to scale more heights.

By the time Bhayanak Maut (who were up next) took stage a sizeable crowd of close to 5, 000 had gathered, and in true BM style they brought it that evening. Their set was a healthy mix of some old and new songs – their brand new song ‘I am Man’ along with with some of their older songs like, ‘Perfecting the Suture’ and ‘Ranti Nasha’. The guttural twins Sunneith and Vinay were specially brutal and with the double guitar attack of Aditya and Venky, teamed with Rahul on drums and Swapnil on bass they prepped the crowd perfectly for the mayhem to follow (though Sunneith’s vocal levels on the PA was quite low for most part of the set) It took them no time to get the crowd going, and the two gigantic circle pits on either side of the stage were testimony to it. Randy Blythe in particular seemed to take a liking for the band, he was spotted clicking pictures of the band whilst their set was on and later went on to make a personal dedication to them when Lamb of God was playing.

Next up on stage was Keshav Dhar’s much anticipated live act with his band Skyharbor; going live for the first and probably (hopefully not) the last time with Daniel Tompkins. Though Lamb of God was the headlining act, I personally know a lot of people who came down just to watch Skyharbor’s set. The band has been creating a lot of buzz, for all the right reasons post the release of their first album earlier this year, Blinding White Noise: Illusion and Chaos, which also features Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) in a couple of songs.

After the insanity of BM, Skyharbor was an invigorating change with their breezy vocals and intricate guitar riffs. You’d be forgiven to think that the recently moshing crowd was replaced by an opera audience (dressed in black metal t-shirts and combat boots though). Their set featured songs from Illusion and their sound was awe-inspiring to say the least. Keshav was his usual legendary self, and it was so refreshing to watch him just stand there smiling at the crowds while playing some of the most mind-boggling stuff on his guitar effortlessly, while Devesh Dayal from Goddess Gagged supported him beautifully. Dan’s poignant vocals melted perfectly with the sound of the band and it’ll truly be a pity to not watch him sing a ‘Celestial’ or a ‘Catharsis’ live again. Although I must say, it would have been awesome to see Sunneith on stage creating some ‘Chaos’ with the band, considering he was just around the corner.

Up next on stage for the second time in Bengaluru was the headlining act from Richmond, Virginia, Lamb of God. They came on stage to thundering applause and started their set with ‘Desolation’ and ‘Ghost Walking’ from their brand new album, Resolution after which the entire crowd of 6000 plus metal heads walked with Randy in Hell. The band thankfully played a lot of music from their earlier albums which had a more raw sound compared to the polished sound of ‘Resolution’.

The crew filming for Lamb of God’s upcoming movie must have, without a doubt, got some spectacular shots of wave after wave of head banging metalheads I literally had goose bumps when the entire crowd sang Something To Die For’ along with Randy. The band followed it up with crowd favorites, ‘Hourglass’, ‘The Undertow’ and my personal favorite, ‘Omerta’ which all led to two of the most massive and wicked circular pits I’ve ever seen. (People moshing had nothing to worry about; there was an ambulance on standby!)

They belted out some more classics like ‘Contractor’, ‘The # 6′ and another crowd favorite in ‘Laid to Rest’ before going off stage for a bit giving the audience a chance to comprehend the insanity that had just hit them. But before any sanity could sink in, the band was back on stage with some of their most characteristic songs like ‘In Your Words’ and ‘Redneck’ before sort of calling a premature end to the night (considering it only 9:30) with yet another crowd favorite ‘Black Label’, arguably their most popular song till date.

The party however wasn’t over for the 6000 plus metal heads who had gathered at Clarks Exotica just as yet, as Overture India decided to play Santa Claus to them by announcing that, “the booze is on the house”. That pretty much sums up how epic that night was. Was the concert better than Lamb of God’s first coming on May 15^th, 2010 at Palace Grounds? Well, you don’t compare two great concerts; you just have to be there to enjoy them.

Ishan Vartak

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