Upon hearing that Slain was about to release their debut album Here and Beyond in an exclusive concert, I cancelled all my (imaginary) appointments for 19th November and made a mental note to attend it. The concert, christened Beyond Live, was held at Alliance Francaise – a perfect place for music, of any kind!
We reached the venue fashionably late but surprisingly, bang on time! By the time Slain took stage, the small auditorium was already packed with fans. Backed by an ensemble of goth chicks and the Concordia Choir, Slain started with ‘Soldier’, the first song of the new album. I loved this song, and thought it was very symphonic and beautiful. Judahs tone has become a trifle harsher and it sounds great! The vocals were a bit low on volume, though. Concordia Choir complemented the overall sound of the band perfectly well. After a couple of songs, Naveen Thomas and Tony Das came on to the stage to do the official ribbon-cutting for the album amidst some banter and words of praise. Two lucky chaps walked away with free autographed copies after their pass numbers were announced on stage.
After the applause died down, it was back-to-business as the band played out ‘Superhero’, ‘Spread Your Wings’, ‘Angel In the Sky’, a set-list covering all the new songs. Brydens solos were better than ever and the highly energetic drumming by Jared was icing on cake! The vocals were low throughout the concert which proved to be the only spoiler.
Ruhee, from the Concordia Choir, joined Judah for ‘Prodigal’ – some extremely good singing with an excellent range. The entire album was played in order, culminating in the operatic ‘Here and Beyond’. After much cajoling by the fans, for old times sake, Slain played one of their most popular tracks ‘More Than Conquerors’ the last one for the evening. At this gig, Slain reaffirmed the fact that its currently one of the best bands in Bangalore. These guys have indeed come a long way since clinching NLS in 2007.
