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The Festival III ft. Nothnegal, Hacride, Bumblefoot, Point of View at Nazrul Manch, Kolkata

The Festival Chapter III: Moshpit Mayhem (held on the 15th of June, ) promised so much for the metal-starved community of Kolkata. However, the events extremely low turnout has seemingly rung the death knell for future metal events of a similar nature in Kolkata.

It had been hoped that the 3rd edition of The Festival would finally put Kolkata on the nation-wide metal map, with its anticipated success leading to more event organizers and international metal acts willing to jump onto Kolkatas so-called metal band-wagon in the future. However a below-par turnout (less than 250 by my count) was a downright rejection of the laudable efforts of event group E365 Media Solutions to showcase some very decent acts, the likes of which Kolkata rarely has the opportunity to witness. The lack of attendees was a major sore point – especially at a venue the size of Nazrul Manch – and towards the initial stages of the show the number of backstage personnel and photographers far outnumbered the actual audience count.

This lack of attendees proved a big a problem for the opening act Nothnegal. Kolkata was the last leg of their Indian tour, and while this melodic death band from the Maldives had hoped to go out with a bang, the lukewarm response from the crowd made them seem almost apologetic to be up on stage. Nothnegals setlist featured songs entirely from their debut album Decadence and the first song they played was the albums opening track Salvation a great song to start the evenings proceedings. And it probably would have gotten the crowd in a tizzy if there had been enough metalheads in attendance. Other songs from the album that were performed were the very atmospheric Sins of Our Creation, Singularity, and their far more heavier tracks R.A.D.A.R., Janus, Claymore and Armageddon. Interspersed within these songs were two stand-out displays of musicianship the first one a drum-solo that genuinely managed to wow the reticent crowd. The second was an awesome guitar solo by the Nothnegal lead guitarist Hilarl that actually got a few people to stand up on their seats. But these moments were few and far between and, unfortunately, the Kolkata crowd made it a point to sit quietly and politely applaud the efforts of this melodic death metal act. And so, after spending less than an hour on stage, the Maldivians gave way to the French progressive/technical death metal band Hacride.

Despite the indifferent response to Nothnegal, these French metallers were raring to go from minute one. However their gig was interrupted more than once, thereby throwing their entire game plan out of the window and making the evenings proceedings resemble scenes from Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events. Things did start out rather well though with the band storming on stage and wasting no time in pummeling the audience with a wave of sound and vocal ferocity that has rarely been witnessed in The City of Joy. Egged on by a group of 20 to 30 vocal headbangers, who had magically jumpstarted into life, Hacride proceeded to lay down a full frontal assault on the dumbstruck Kolkata crowd with their performances of Introversion and Strive Ever To More, songs from their latest album Back to Where Youve Never Been. Vocalist Luis Roux in particular was a monster on stage and it didnt really seem to matter to him that the audience was so miniscule, he growled his heart and screamed his lungs out. Likewise, drummer Florent Marcadet, guitarist Adrian Grousset and bassist Benoist Danneville played like beasts possessed and it took little time for their energy to transfer to the small headbanging cluster standing in front of the stage.

However just as things were getting really heated up, a young volunteer got up on stage and stopped Hacrides performance midway during their third song in order to make a fervent plea for help from a group of molesters who had also injured her and her friend just outside the venues premises. After much hullabaloo Hacride picked up from where they started but the interruptions were far from over. This time it was the turn of the Kolkata Police to play party pooper. During their fourth song To Walk Among Them, the guardians of the city decided it was time for them to show some muscle, and threatened to stop the show if the volume levels were not decreased. After another short delay, Hacride continued from where they had left off, but it was clear that these interruptions had disrupted their momentum. And so after just a short setlist of 5 songs the French band pulled the plug on their gig and bid adieu to the Kolkata crowd, much to the disappointment of the headbanging faithful. Hacrides was a performance that had the potential to deliver the kind of brutality that Kolkata has seldom been witness to, so it was a shame that things fizzled out. Their gig was akin to attending a sumptuous wedding feast but leaving after just having the appetizers.

By now though the crowd seemed to have finally woken up from their slumber, and this was evident from their enthusiastic greeting of The Festivals final act, Dubais Point Of View. POV got straight down to business and wowed the crowd with a whole range of tracks from their debut album Revolutionize the Revolutionary, which included Chainsaw, Third Eye, Set Me Free, Unreal and the title track of the aforementioned album. Besides handling his vocal duties with aplomb, Nikhil Uzgare also tried hard connecting with the erstwhile passive crowd in between songs with some light-hearted banter, his attempts attaining a modicum of success. POV as a unit were extremely tight, and while they were definitely not metal, yet their brand of 90s influenced hard rock was a sure-fire hit with the Kolkata crowd. Rohit Joseph and Royden Mascarenhas in particular shone throughout with their impressive guitar work. POVs drummer, homeboy Chirodeep Lahiri also played his heart out, and some of the biggest cheers of the evening were reserved especially for him.

Despite all the fun they were having, POV knew that Kolkata was dying for Ron Bumblefoot Thal to make his much anticipated appearance on stage. The moment finally did arrive and as guitarist Mascarenhas played the theme tune of the film Pink Panther, Bumblefoot made his much-awaited entrance and he was greeted by loud cheers from the same people who didnt bother to even clap for The Festivals opening artistes barely two hours ago. The atmosphere within the venue had all but transformed by now and the party had finally started! And although the numbers inside were still far from impressive, the crowd did not let go of the opportunity to show Bumblefoot who the true star of the evening was. Totally drenched in their love and energy, Bumblefoot made sure that the crowd experienced an evening they would not easily forget. Apart from accompanying POV on a few of their album songs, Bumblefoot made it a point to perform a few Guns n Roses ditties, including Used To Love Her from the GNR Lies album. In fact, he not only played but sang as well and quite impressively too! The rendition of Knocking On Heavens Door was the standout moment of the evening, where apart from Bumblefoot and the two POV guitarists, Krosswindzs very own Vikramjit Tuki Banerjee also joined them on stage and their four-pronged guitar jam was both a visual and aural treat. The crowd was going wild by now and it was only apt to end the evenings proceedings with the classic GNR tune and crowd favorite, Sweet Child O Mine the audience could not ask for anything more and for the next 6 minutes there was much jumping and headbanging and lusty screaming in the house. It was the perfect paisa vasool moment for the crowd, many of whom had been vociferous in their complaints of the so-called high ticket prices (the passes were for Rs. 500 and Rs. 900 only.)

And so the curtains came down on The Festival: Chapter III and a glorious end it was despite its extremely tepid start. However despite the events firecracker of an ending, a bunch of questions do come to mind. For instance, has The Festivals poor turnout discouraged the organizers to the point of bringing this event to an end for good? Are they still willing to risk attempts to bring down international rock and metal performers to The City of Joy? And would any event team in the country now be willing to risk hosting a metal gig in Kolkata after such a poor attendance? These and many more such questions need to be asked although at this moment their answers can only be speculated upon. Whatever these answers may be, E365s brave effort to bring Kolkata onto the nationwide metal map did not go in vain at least in the hearts of the 200 odd attendees that evening. Getting to view Nothnegal, Hacride, POV and the maestro Bumblefoot live was something they will not forget in the years to come. And hopefully E365 will be able to take heart and build upon this mini disaster so that future events such as these can happen with more success.

Prasanna Singh

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Bumblefoot, Hacride, Point of View, Nothnegal at The Festival, Kolkata

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Rajdeep Chandra

Rajdeep Chandra is a photographer and bassist who likes to keep his girlfriends jealous.

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Summer Storm Festival 2012 headlined by Opeth at Palace Grounds, Bangalore

The fact that the Metal scene is exploding in India is pretty well known. Over the past half a decade, an unprecedented number of international metal bands have played at various music festivals in the country. Back in 2010, a hitherto unknown entity called Overture India got Lamb of God down, much to the Indian metal crowd’s joy. After a year’s hiatus, they announced that Opeth would be headlining the second edition of Summer Storm on 5^th February, 2012 (which isn’t exactly summer, but we wouldn’t hold that against the organizers). Foreign bands Suidakra from Germany and Nothnegal from Maldives, as well as local metal bands Theorized and Eccentric Pendulum from Bangalore, were added to the lineup before the festival.

Palace Grounds in Bangalore has turned into a Mecca of sorts for the Metal fans in India, since most of the big Metal festivals are held there. On the day of the concert, all roads leading to Palace Grounds were thronged by kids in black t-shirts from all over the country, as well as neighbouring countries. The venue had all the usual food and metal merchandise stalls, although booze was nowhere in sight! However, it was heartening to see that adequate supply of water was maintained throughout the concert, since at most gigs fans get desperate to find water near the end of the gig.

The gig started on time around 4 p.m., with thrash band Theorized opening the proceedings. They had released an impressive debut EP, False Hope of Tyranny, a couple of years back although their setlist for the gig consisted of only two songs from it – ‘Dark Incarnation’ and ‘Raise The Dead’, while the rest of the set consisted of new originals. Theorized has improved by leaps and bounds, in terms of tightness on stage, crowd engagement and interaction, in comparison to the only time I saw them live 2-3 years back in Mumbai. The band plays new age thrash with tons of groove, which a section of metal fans appreciate well.

Progressive metallers Eccentric Pendulum were next up on the stage. Now this band is really progressive, unlike the plethora of metalcore bands that use djent to masquerade as progressive metal. Searing thrashy riffs accentuated by cleverly crafted guitar solos and intelligent progression typifies their music. However, their sound during the gig lacked the “fullness” since a guitarist was missing from their lineup. They played mainly from their debut full-length Winding The Optics and managed to get the crowd into a frenzy when they played the impressive ‘Mathematicians of Ambient Waters.’ Both, Theorized and Eccentric Pendulum, had their merchandise for sale at the gig, which included t-shirts and CDs.

The Indian bands finished playing by 6 p.m. after which the first international, and pretty unknown band, Nothnegal came up on stage accompanied by appropriately dark ambient synths. It was very mysterious that despite hailing from the tiny atoll called Maldives, Nothnegal had somehow managed to rope in drummer Kevin Talley (ex-Dying Fetus and ex-Chimaira) and keyboardist Marco Sneck (ex-Kalmah) who were part of bigger and much better bands. But what perplexed me the most was how a band with members from good bands managed to be so mediocre. To be honest, the first part of their set was above average, although the guitar soloing ability of the frontman is questionable. This was the part of the set where they had harsh vocals, metalcore-ish chug-chugging riffs ably supported by the impeccable keys of Mr. Sneck and tight drums of Mr. Talley. It was during the last two or three songs that the band threw a huge curveball by introducing a different singer with clean vocals. That was when they dipped below the waves of mediocrity and I headed to grab some of the Kaati rolls.

The Celtic metallers from Germany, SuidAkrA, took to the stage next. They are Celtic not by the sole virtue of having a bagpiper in their midst, but they do incorporate Celtic tunes and themes in their songs, and their evidently Celtic costume. They started off with the incredibly catchy ‘Pendragon’s Fall’, which was probably the first time many people, who had missed Eluveitie, heard a Celtic metal tune. They went on to play songs culled from almost all their albums, like ‘Wartunes’, ‘Dowth2059′ and ‘The IXth Legion’. However, they had to cut short ‘Stone of the Seven Suns’ because the mandolin was out of tune. SuidAkrA’s set was characterized by the highly infectious, energetic and upbeat Celtic tunes, which got the crowd suitably primed for Opeth. However, their set was marred by a mishap when a barricade collapsed on a poor guy’s foot who had to be carried off from the spot and SuidAkrA even stopped between two songs to enquire about him.

Opeth took a while to come onstage, which they did around 8 p.m. to a backdrop of the album art from their latest album ‘Heritage’ and ambient strains of ‘Through Pain to Heaven’ (a Popul Vuh track). They straightaway launched into playing two songs from Heritage, ‘The Devil’s Orchard’ and ‘I Feel The Dark’, back-to-back. The incredible proggy-ness of The Devil’s Orchard was too much to even properly nod your head to! The diminutive Martin Mendez has to be one of the best bassists in Metal at the moment. The groovy low notes he plucks from his bass are nothing short of exquisite!

Mikael introduced the next song as one from Martin Mendez’s first album with the band, before he started with the hypnotizing fingerpicking intro to ‘Face of Melinda’ from Still Life. Next, they played ‘Slither’ from Heritage again, as a tribute to Ronnie James Dio. With trademark self-deprecation Mikael introduced the next song as the only album he played bass in and not too well at that. The soothing cadence of ‘Credence’ from My Arms, Your Hearse and the one that followed it, ‘To Rid The Disease’ from Damnation, was made more mesmerizing by the haunting atmosphere and keywork provided by the “new kid on the block” Joakim Svalkerg.

As is the case with almost all Opeth concerts, Mikael, the standup comedian that he is, reserved his most biting ribbing for Mendez, calling him “chickenshit” for sporting a moustache like us Indians but hiding it in his beard. At this point, Joakim was facing some problem with his keyboard and Mikael fumbled with the order of the setlist too, provoking him to ask the audience to shout “F**k you, Mikael”, something he had been asking the audience to do all evening! After playing ‘Folklore’, from Heritage, he obliged the expectant crowd by revealing they were moving on to the heavier part of the set.

They chose ‘Heir Apparent’ from Watershed to start the Death Metal proceedings. I felt truly blessed when they next played one of my most favorite Opeth tracks ‘The Baying of the Hounds’ from Ghost Reveries, a song they don’t play live very frequently. The endearing part of this song is that it has all the Opeth ingredients in equal parts – the brutal part suddenly switching to mellower portions accompanied by heavenly ambience! Every great band has a crowd-sing-along track, and for Opeth, it is ‘The Drapery Falls’ from Blackwater Park, which they played much to the crowd’s frenzied joy. Coming back for encore, Mikael played the starting lick of ‘Deliverance’ joking all the while that Slash had stolen it from him! It was a fitting finale with its long drawn out, frantic headbang-inducing outro.

Many were apprehensive before the gig, about Mikael Akerfeldt’s ability to growl anymore and whether the set would be dominated by songs from Heritage, which had got mixed reactions from the Opeth faithful. All those fears were put to rest over the course of the evening, as Opeth probably played one of the best sets ever, with songs from all the albums, except the first two.

Overall, Summerstorm 2012 lived up to almost everyone’s expectations. The sound was decent for most parts, although it could have been better during SuidAkrA’s spell. The organizers were diligent enough to ensure that everything progressed smoothly. My only grouse is that there could have been a good mix of Indian bands from across the country much like the first edition of the Summer Storm Festival, and Nothnegal could have been avoided altogether!

Summer is miles and miles away, but Summer Storm is here to stay.