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Skyharbor announces album release dates and artwork

“Skyharbor’s first album will be released in India, UK, Europe and Australasia on April 23 and in the USA and Canada on April 24. Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos will be available as a double disc with the first disc Illusion comprising seven tracks and the second disc Chaos comprising three.” Source – http://nh7.in/indiecision/2012/02/13/skyharbor-announces-album-release-dates/ You can find the album art and tracklist on their bandcamp page, along with a song from the album available for free streaming. http://basickrecords.bandcamp.com/track/illusion-maeva  

Why Indian Metal Bands Should Keep Doing What they Do…

  OK, it was in the year 1988 that Millennium were formed, igniting the first sparks of what would become a full-fledged underground music movement in the years to follow. Coincidentally, the writer of this note was born in 1988 as well, but that is of little consequence. It has now been almost 24 years ever since, and the number of metal bands playing original music in our country is undeniably large. But can this nation join the ranks of the UK, US and the other European nations as a permanent bookmark in the world metal atlas? I honestly believe it can. And here’s why:  
  • GIGANTIC NATION: By area alone, India is Asia’s 3rd largest and the world’s 7th largest nation. However, area matters little when there aren’t enough people. But India need not complain about that because its the 2nd largest in the world by population. Now, metal is an underground movement (something we patrons are very proud of) but consider this: if every 1 in a 1000 people in India is a metal head, and the last confirmed population of India being 1.2 billion i.e. 1,200,000,000/1000…that’s 1.2 MILLION metal heads in our country alone. A long shot you say? OK, let’s HALVE that number, shall we? That is 600,000 (or if you prefer the Indian place value system, 6 LAKH) metal heads in our country. And this is not including all the numbers of tourists who come by which could throw up a few metal heads as well. Bottom line: A lot of potential. The fact that you are a metal musician in a country of such statistics is a gift. Exploit it. How?
 
  • CYBER NATION: As futuristic as this may sound (and while India’s internet speeds are still quite low), India is quite well connected through the internet. There are, as of now 43.5 million Indians on Facebook (which BTW, ranks #2 in statistics by nation). There are tons of Facebook pages and groups about Indian metal. Websites like Headbangers India, Indian Rock MP3, Metalbase and Metal India E-zine are constantly revealing news about the happenings in the ‘scene’ (yes, a lot of us refuse to still call it that). So much so that it now becomes quite inane to see 50 entities on your FB newsfeed sharing the same thing. As a band, USE and ABUSE this gift. Look at Sahil Makhija of Demonic Resurrection as an example: the guy has not pulled any stops on Myspace updates, Google updates, Facebook updates, Twitter updates, updates on the website, organizing events, constantly reminding everyone about DR’s catalogue….you name it. He does it. If every band did the same thing, so as to keep the fans informed, it would do them quite a bit of good. The internet is a gift, and its great to see more and more bands perusing it.
 
  • TALENTED NATION: OK, this section is quite subjective and is a personal opinion but it would be a lie to say that a TON of others don’t share parts (or all) of it. INDIAN METAL BANDS ARE A TALENTED BUNCH. I see Amogh Symphony’s experimental fusion of tech-death,Indian fusion music and electronica as something that beats most modern-day tech-death metal bands to a pulp. When I hear Eccentric Pendulum’s crafty progressive metal, I immediately hear something I have never heard before from ANY band in the world. Kryptos is one of the few bands in the world that still plays traditional heavy/thrash metal, and DAMN do they play it well. All in all, when I hear a lot of Indian bands, I hear dedication to the music. I notice a desire to play and record and distribute their OWN music. One can safely say that the age of playing covers is almost GONE. Bands don’t hit the stage till they have practiced enough songs of their own, and that’s a GREAT sign. It is not always so and there is a ton of bands that I find extremely untalented but again, that is personal choice. But then again, if you love what you are doing but are objective enough to your own creations, you will get better and better.
 
  • OUTSIDERS KNOW US A BIT BETTER NOW: FACTS: Demonic Resurrection have played in Norway and Czech Republic. Eccentric Pendulum have played at Wacken 2011 and will play in France, Spain and Portugal this year. Blind Image have toured Australia and are all set to tour South East Asia. Both Skyharbor and Albatross have collaborated with artistes like Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) and Niklas Stalvind (Wolf) respectively. OTHER FACT: So far, 66 international metal bands have played in India since 2007, out of which at least half are of great international repute. With shows like Bangalore Open Air and the supposed Judas Priest and Saxon double bill lined up, things are only going to get better. BOTTOM LINE: People from across the world have heard (of) our bands. With the internet, this info can spread wider. Again, if bands keep updating people online and making their music available to be heard online, more and more people from across the world will like your music and would want to see you live in their respective countries. More and more internet radio stations and podcasts are already playing Indian metal bands on their roster regularly. Also, a few internationally signed bands does not hurt either.
 
  • DEDICATED FAN BASE: 5 years ago, the author of this note would not have written this paragraph. However, after seeing a lot of examples of purchases being made of Indian metal CDs, I would say that the number of people willing to buy music, merchandise and pay for gigs is rising. It is still low, but it is rising. And that’s a good sign. A VERY good sign. Another good sign is that fans are becoming critical of Indian metal. Not worshipping it blatantly. This helps the band(s) in question to know what is wrong with their music and change things accordingly. I am based in Singapore right now and while I don’t want to badmouth another country, I have seen the low support that bands here get (and metal fans here acknowledge that). Unless they are Rudra or Impiety, its mostly friends and ‘friends-of-friends’ buying albums and merch. Again, we are a Gigantic Nation, so spreading awareness can only be a good thing. The number of event management and artist management companies here is also seeing a slow but steady rise so things are definitely looking up.
  Yes, there are still the ‘downloading bastards’ and the ‘free pass’ snatchers. Yes, there are the snobbish and deluded bands who believe they are just too amazing to listen to anyone else. Yes there are still venues that won’t pay you, labels that will screw your happiness and gigs that will get cancelled or have next to no crowds. In short, we still have a long way to go. It will need time and awareness. And more and more people are giving it the former and getting the latter. I personally believe that while we still can’t call it an ‘Indian metal scene’, we are definitely inching towards it.   To all bands: There are a million reasons to stop doing this. There are a lot of uphill struggles but there is also this fact that this is what you LOVE doing and won’t settle for much else. Keep the faith in yourselves and your music and, as Warbringer put it: wake up…DESTROY!!!!

Dark Helm Release Music Video

Pune-based Deathcore/Experimental band Dark Helm have released a music video for their song ‘Origins II (Endings)’ that features on their debut full-length album ‘Persepolis’. The band is internationally signed with the label Itchy Metal Entertainment. Watch the video right here on Headbangers India: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAmAk3EPL9s&w=560&h=315]

Kryptos release new single ‘The Mask of Anubis’

Bangalore-based heavy/melodic death metal band Kryptos have released their first single off the new album ‘The Coils of Apollyon’. The song is titled ‘ The Mask of Anubis‘. The album is set to be released in 2 weeks’ time at Bangalore’s Kyra pub on the 18th of February 2012. The release will see live performances by both Kryptos and supporting act Bevar Sea. The band is currently signed with Iron Fist Records.

‘Kingfisher Presents Summer Storm 2012’: A review

Usually, when I sit down to write a post-metal gig review, I’d be struggling to hold my neck up straight thanks to the after effects of headbanging. But now, quite surprisingly, I’ve watched Opeth and their sober, yet surreal concert has only caused a hangover with a less physical aftermath. After bringing down Lamb of God to India for the first time in 2010, Overture scored again in 2012 with Opeth at Kingfisher Summer Storm 2012 in Palace Grounds, Bangalore. Honestly, like most other fans, I didn’t know what to expect from the gig. ‘Heritage’, though a brilliant album, stands apart from the rest of the band’s discography. Also, recent setlists gave me a feeling that Mikeal doesn’t growl anymore, so I went expecting a very mellow show. But what we eventually got was one hell of a surprise! Gates opened at around 4PM, and the first band up was Theorized. It’s been a while since they played live, and a majority of their set was comprised of new songs. Any opening band faces a battle with the audience, a section of which always come only to watch the headliners. But frontman Madhav tackled the chants cleverly, and kept the show going. The band has gotten tighter, without doubt, but they should have included a mix of the older stuff, like “Venomous Tormentia” and “Blackout” along with the new tracks for audience recollection value. The band has also released t-shirts and special edition ‘False Hope of Tyranny’ CDs, which you can get here. Eccentric Pendulum was up next, and kicked off their set with “Sepia Drown”. Unfortunately, they were missing one guitarist, so their sound lacked the fullness it usually has. But despite that, they were spot on. Their setlist mainly comprised of songs from ‘Winding the Optics’, which you can get here. The only drawback about both the Indian bands was that they were not loud enough on the P.A. We’ve seen this earlier at G.I.R. and many other gigs, so I’m hoping that the organizers and sound engineers responsible for this would make sure that this is not a recurring problem. Maldivian heavy metal band Nothnegal took over the stage after Eccentric Pendulum. They were definitely the surprise of the evening, and were quite impressive. They were followed by the German Celtic metal act Suidakra, who were pretty mediocre, but had the crowd amazed because of their bagpiper! The mere inclusion of the folk element had the audience dancing (very unlike what you’d see at a metal gig) for their songs. They cashed in on the excitement and teased the crowd with the “Raining Blood” riff. The band even started off another of their own songs, and faltered majorly on stage less than a minute after they started. In short, Suidakra was just about average. After a short and not-so-painful wait, Opeth came on stage at 8PM sharp. The lights were still on around the venue, and the very Indian classical sounding backing track started playing when they walked on stage. They kicked off the show with “The Devil’s Orchard”, the first single off ‘Heritage’. This led into “I feel the dark”, and it was only after these two songs that Mikael started the talking. He introduced the next track as one from the ‘Still Life’ album- the first record to feature bassist Martin Mendez. And that’s when the surprises began, with “Face of Melinda”. The entire audience was standing still, almost like they were mesmerized by Åkerfeldt’s voice, which sounds nothing short of heavenly live. Mikael then went into his trademark rambles, and spoke of how he’d noticed that it was cool to have a moustache in India. He also mentioned how Mendez “is too chicken-shit to have only a moustache” and how he has a beard to cover up his double-chin! He introduced the next song as being a tribute to Ronnie James Dio, and that led into “Slither”- a track that he said was very typically influenced by hard rock and heavy metal. No Opeth show is complete without Mikael’s jokes, and he continued to talk about how the band had been around for 22 years, and how he still looks like he’s 22- young and handsome. After that, it was time for “Credence” from ‘My Arms, Your Hearse’, followed by “To rid the disease” from ‘Damnation’. All through the show, Mikael was getting the crowd to shout out “Fuck you Mikael”, and he finally gave us a little reason to actually do so- He messed up the order of the songs! After saying how contrary to what people think, they still love death metal, and partly ruining the suspense about them playing some of the heavier stuff, he revealed that he had mixed things up a bit. So it was back to ‘Heritage’ with “Folklore”. But after that, they progressed into the heavier side of the set with “Heir Apparent”. Next, it was time for some ‘Ghost Reveries’  with “The baying of the hounds”. Åkerfeldt then spoke of ‘Blackwater Park’ and introduced the song that was coming up as a hit single of sorts from the same record. They started off with “The Drapery Falls” which had the audience in frenzy.  Ten minutes later, they said their ‘Thank you’s’ and went off-stage, only to come back for the final track, the encore. If you’d been to the previous gig at IIT Madras, you’d remember that they started off this song the same way, with the strumming that eventually led into “Deliverance”. Midway through this, they lost their timing a little bit, but jumped back on track and made it a mind-blowing end to a fantastic show. Overall, I’d say that Summer Storm 2012 was very well organized, and it was nice to see how everything was on time and running smoothly. The only minor detail that had been missed out on was trash cans, the lack of which resulted in the venue becoming quite filthy by the end of the day. In terms of sound- as I mentioned earlier, Theorized and Eccentric Pendulum could have been louder. When Opeth started off, the volume was quite low, but it eventually picked up. There were complaints about how this gig wasn’t as loud as Metallica, but it would be unfair to compare the two. Opeth, as a band, is not as loud as Metallica, and their sound is all about concentrating on the finer details, like Axe’s jazz touches, Mendez’s bass licks and of course, Mikael’s voice. The setlist was packed with surprises, and most of the songs that they played were what we would have least expected them to! But I have no complaints. On the whole, however cliché it may sound, Kingfisher Summer Storm 2012 was an experience we will never forget.   Pictures by: Subhramani

Infernal Wrath call it quits

One of India’s finest ever death metal projects, Infernal Wrath from Mumbai, made this announcement on their Facebook page on 4th February 2012:

“We are disheartened to announce the discontinuation of the band as everyone in the band has decided to take their own paths in their personal as well as musical life. We thank each and everyone of you who has been part of Infernal Wrath’s journey through these 6 years and has shown a never ending support. Our deepest thanks to everyone at the Infernal Wrath Crew. We shall update you in case if there is any information on the band’s front. We have few limited copies of the Infernal Wrath album Inside of Me’ with us. Kindly email admin@mixtapelive.in if you wish to order.”

Therefore, as of now, the band has called it quits. Headbangers India’s crew wishes each and every member all the best in their respective individual endeavours.

 

Opeth arrives in India

One of the most awaited concerts of the year is almost here. Swedish metal giants Opeth, who will be headlining the Kingfisher Summer Storm Festival 2012 on February 5th in Palace Grounds, Bangalore, have just arrived in India. The band met the press and answered a few questions, excerpts of which are below. Did any foreign bands encourage you to come to Bangalore? Opeth: No, to be honest. We haven’t talked to any other bands about being here. Have you heard about the Bangalore music scene? It’s known for it’s rock and metal scene. Opeth: Yes, we’ve been told that this is the place to be if you’re a hard rock/ metal band. Since early on, we’ve had plans to come here. People told us that we should come play Bangalore, and now we’re here! Talking about ‘Heritage’, and it’s reception by fans… Opeth: The reception for all our albums has been pretty good, including for the new one too. But I think the new one has been more of a watershed record. Maybe more so than the ‘Watershed’ album that has been dividing the fan base. Some people absolutely hate the new album and some people absolutely love it. We probably lost a few fans and probably gained a few fans. But we’re not one of those who likes to keep it safe and keep our career going. We’re in this for the love of music and the career is always secondary to our love for experimentation and our love for music. How do you deal with the availability of downloads and piracy in music? Opeth: That’s a reality that musicians have to cope with. We tour a lot to make up for that. We’re not staying just to touring, but I do feel that it will be great to spend more time with the greater side of being in a band and writing music. I know how to download porn, but I don’t know how to download music and stuff. I’m one of those guys who likes physical copies of stuff. What makes me happy is to see the return of vinyl… You know, people are buying vinyl these days. So we still have hopes for the future. We’ve never been a big selling band anyway. We fortunately still enjoy touring! You’re doing a North American tour later this year with Ghost and Mastodon, which are very different styles oof music. What’s your take on that? Opeth: It’s a tour, you know. Mastodon is one of the first few bands that I’ve been interested in. And Ghost is Swedish and they’re kind of hyped and stuff like that, you know. I like them… they sound a bit like Mercyful Fate. This tour is, as far as I understand, is a big thing in the U.S. I like the bands, but for us, it’s just another tour. We don’t go out on tour thinking it’s great being with all these bands. We go there to promote ourselves, you know, first and foremost. I was a bit wary of this tour, actually, because I can’t see the connection. But I’ve warmed up to it since. It’s going to be a nice tour. You played in Chennai in 2009 at IIT Saarang. What are your expectations this time, as opposed to last time? Opeth: We’ve got pretty high expectations. It was something that was still talked about- “do you remember that” and this and that… It was a good experience, a bit surreal for us. We were also judging this music contest, which was a bit strange. Like fucking Simon Cowell… you know. But, it was a great experience. The show was great, and as you know there’s a couple of things about the show that wasn’t so great. But we had a really good experience. We’re happy to come back to India. It’s great to interact with the fans on a personal level. It’s one of those experiences that you’ll never forget! Tell us more about your side projects… like what’s happening with Steven Wilson. Opeth: We’d recorded a record, called Storm Corrosion. He bought a new house, and he basically wanted me to show me his house. He’d said he has a tennis court and I was like “I’m going to kick your ass”. And I just went there to hang out. We’d become friends, and I guess we both knew that we’re going to write music together, because we hadn’t in such a long time. We’d sit down in the studio and we’d both great drunk. We’d drink a lot of wine. We didn’t have any idea of what we wanted to do, and we didn’t have any licks and stuff. We just started from scratch, and luckily we ended up sounding nothing like Opeth and Porcupine Tree, which I like to think is something new. It’s coming out on April 16th. About Per’s departure from the band… Opeth: Well, Per was fired from the band after we finished the ‘Heritage’ record. Even if I say “fired”, it was more or less a mutual thing. He didn’t really want to be there. It was a stressful relationship in the end for the band for personal reasons. He’s no longer in the band and I haven’t talked to him since he left. Just the other day we went out for a couple of beers and we saw Per, it was great to see him. He was happy. We were never on bad terms, but I think now we’re back on good terms. About Lindgreen and Lopez… Opeth: Well, I don’t talk to Lopez. Not that I avoid him or anything, but we just kind of drifted apart. We were never friends when he was in the band either. He disappeared from the scene for a while. But now he’s back. As far as I know, he’s doing fine. But none of us really keep in touch with him. What are the roots of your music? Opeth: Well, it’s metal. Very simple. The first record I ever bought was an Iron Maiden record and I got sucked into that whole scene at a very early age. And once I started writing my own songs, I got into the whole death metal and grindcore scene. We used to write improvised versions of grindcore songs, and cover songs by Napalm Death. That was our roots. Somewhere also the way, I discovered progressive rock. After that, my interest in the metal scene seemed to fade away a little bit. Some of the metal bands- it’s hard to tell them apart. In the 80s, you never mixed up Judas Priest with The Scorpions or Iron Maiden. They all have their own identities, which in the 90s, a lot of bands just sound very similar to each other. Which is why I started looking elsewhere for new music, I guess. To Axe : The two albums you recorded, i.e. ‘Watershed’ and ‘Heritage’, you had the freedom to do what you wanted. How do you feel about playing the older stuff, which Mr. Lopez had played, especially the groovy/ jazzy bits? Opeth: It’s fun playing the older stuff, but I feel more connected to the newer stuff, of course. After the interaction with the band, they once again proved that no matter how big and successful they are, humility is something that they never forget. They obliged fans for pictures and autographs, and also threw some hints around about the set-list (‘Deliverance’, hopefully?). They also signed a guitar to go up on the wall of Hard Rock Cafe. This was the first time an International band visiting India donated their guitar to Hard Rock Cafe. We look forward to a killer gig at Palace Ground today. Watch this space for an exclusive interview with Opeth, a review of the gig and more!