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Review: Wacken Open Air 2016

Every year metalheads from all over the world travel to the Holy Land of Wacken. This year was the 27th edition of the world’s biggest heavy metal festival and like its slogan said, RAIN OR SHINE. Wacken and rain simply go hand in hand these days but that doesn’t make it any less fun.

Day 0 (Tuesday)
We started our journey from Hoorn (The Netherlands) at around 11.00 and after a five hour drive, we finally arrived at the Holy Land of Wacken. At this time, it was still sunny outside and we quickly pitched our tents. As part of the Wacken experience, we decided to pitch our tents at the “regular” camp grounds (instead of the Press camping but where’s the fun in that)

After some food, we decided to walk around the camp sites and share a drink with a few of the other early birds. So far, it was a good night with music coming from every tent/car/truck you can imagine. Some people even brought drum kits and amps with them and performed on the camping site. We even found a Lemmy memorial! All and all, a good day and we went to bed satisfied, waiting for the first day of live music from the festival.

Day 1 (Wednesday)
Waking up to the sound of rain is a familiar sight at Wacken but it couldn’t get in the way of our fun (at least that is what we thought.) After walking about 2.5 km through the pouring rain to get our Press passes, we were soaked and not happy at all. After we got our passes, we took a taxi back to the festival and started to feel better. It was a foolish mistake on our part as we had ponchos and raincoats but left them at the tent. After we changed, we made our way to the Wackinger Village for a specific piece of food that I had been craving for over a year (Zyklopenspiess) and watch Pampatut while we were there. We tried to watch Indian represents Elemental at the Headbangers Stage but to our surprise, they didn’t get on stage at that time (we later found out that due to unforeseen circumstances, they were not able to attend the festival.) After the food, we made our way to the beer-garden where we watched tuXedoo with their brand of “Alpencore.”

After tuXedoo were done, we made our way to the Press Section to see which bands would do a press conference and maybe find some wandering band members. We found out that Phil Campbell’s All Star Band was doing a press conference so we stuck around to watch the legend and his band take the stage. When Phil Campbell and his band came on, he informed us that the band’s name had been changed to Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons, which was pretty funny because three-fourth of the band members are his sons. We tried to watch the band later on at the Headbangers’ Stage but we were out of luck as the stage was packed and we were not allowed inside. We then made our way back to our tent through the already piling and slippery mud waiting for the second day of music madness!

Day 2 (Thursday)
After being woken up by the rain again, we decided we would go to the festival grounds earlier and see the Ireland’s representatives at the Metal Battle, progressive sludge band zhOra. We were quite interested in this band as we had seen them play in Dublin once and the energy at Wacken was amazing. After zhOra were done, we headed back to the press area to watch legendary NWOBHM act Saxon, who spoke about their new live DVD (which was recorded while they were the support act for Motorhead,) working with Lemmy and about a new album, at which point Biff jokingly said that he was writing a song about Wacken called Mud and Alcohol. The press conference ended with someone asking if they would play 747, to which they replied we will ask the audience what they want.

Photo by Rolf Klatt from www.wacken.com
Photo by Rolf Klatt from www.wacken.com

We went back to the festival ground to see the band Skyline open the Black Stage (as is tradition) and with that, the festival. Skyline, as always, played a few covers of popular metal songs but what was different this year was they didn’t have any guest vocalists (like the years before when they had Udo and Doro sing for them.) After Skyline, it was time for Saxon at the True Metal stage. Saxon were absolutely amazing and the only thing I can say about this gig is that you need to watch it yourself.

Thursday turned out to be a hell of a night for the classic fans as Foreigner, Whitesnake and Iron Maiden took over the main stages. Foreigner kicked off with Double Vision and rocketed to the sky from there on out and of course, they played their classics Cold as Ice, Juke Box Hero and I Want To Know What Love Is. It always makes me laugh when a band like Foreigner or Whitesnake plays a metal festival because you see the big metal guys screaming along with the ballads.

After Foreigner, Whitesnake hit the stage, fronted by the amazing voice of David Coverdale. This would be the 15th time I’ve seen this band live and they never seem to disappoint me. Starting off with Bad Boys, they took everyone to the magic ride that is called Whitesnake. This tour is called the greatest hits tour for a reason, and again the crowd reacted amazingly to Is This Love and Here I Go Again. But Wacken being Wacken, it started to rain like crazy just before Whitesnake playing, so we rushed over to the press area to find some shelter. When the rain finally stopped we went back to the main stage for Iron Maiden.

Frank had never seen Iron Maiden before, so he was in for a treat. Iron Maiden finished their ‘Book of Souls’ world tour at Wacken this year after a massive world tour on Ed Force One. Unfortunately, I wasn’t happy with the sound coming from the stage and PAs. The sound faded and Bruce’s voice was sometimes buried in the mix; luckily for the people at home, they had a livestream of the concert and when I look at this, I realised that the sound was better than in the field. Personally, this wasn’t my favourite Iron Maiden show, so I made the choice to go back to the tent just before the encore. totally forgot about the Lemmy tribute after the Iron Maiden gig (stupid mistake), but I was too tired and upset to stay around.

Day 3 (Friday)
The first thing I did on Friday was finally watching Henry Rollins as I really wanted to see him perform his spoken word act. The thing about Henry is that he always tells exactly what you need to hear, if it’s political or just stories about him travelling to Antarctica and listening to Raw Power by Iggy Pop while sleeping on the ice.

After Henry Rollins, we decided to go to the Betontod listening session where we were served Betontod beer which was all kinds of awesome. The album sounded good and you could see that the guys were really excited about this one.

After Betontod, the Metal Battle winners were announced, with Zombies Ate My Girlfriend from South Africa taking the grand prize in the country’s very first win. I rushed back to the Black Stage for Entombed AD and I’m really glad I didn’t miss them; the energy from the Swedish death metal outfit was coming right at you from the beginning of the show. It’s always a pleasure to see this band live and when I looked at the audience from where I was standing, I could see that I wasn’t alone. Axel Rudi Pell took the True Metal Stage next but he couldn’t keep me there for long. His guitar playing was great as always but for me, the rest of the show was too far out of reach and I made my way to do some record shopping. We caught a bit of the folkish sounds of Eluveitie from the Black Stage, which was still a feast for the eyes and ears with guest frontwoman Liv Kristine. We walked around the festival site, drinking a few beers and counting the minutes to Blind Guardian; one of Wacken’s favourite bands. They remain one of Germany’s biggest names in power metal and they always gives me goose bumps when they play The Bard’s Song.

Al Jourgensen and his band of misfits in Ministry took the Black Stage after Blind Guardian and owned it from the first minute. The band was truly amazing and blew me away at 00.15 in at night. The energy and raw power was intense and seeing Al Jourgensen tearing it up on stage was just a treat for the eyes. These industrial metal legends surprised me with their show and remains one of the best shows from Wacken Open Air 2016.

Photo by Rolf Klatt from www.wacken.com
Photo by Rolf Klatt from www.wacken.com

But the night wasn’t over with Ministry, as American thrash metal legends Testament stampeded all over the diehard fans who were still waiting to see them at 01:45 in the morning – when most fans were already drunk and/or in bed. Testament blew the top off Wacken and having missed the band in Holland a few weeks, earlier, I was glad not to miss it. Absolutely worth staying up so late.

Day 4 (Saturday)
It’s always hard waking up to the last day of the festival because of the partying we did the day before but we pulled ourselves together and walked back to the festival ground. We missed Dragonforce but we could hear them play as we walked over (they played Through The Fire And Flames which always makes me smile and think about Guitar Hero 3 – what a bastard of a song that was). We arrived just in time to see Symphony X take the stage. I personally didn’t like it very much that early in the afternoon but they went on and did their thing, which meant Borknagar was up next. They had a few troubles earlier that day at the airport but finally everyone and everything got on stage just in time. The progressive death metal band from Norway set their mark at Wacken with an awesome performance and I’ll be looking forward to watching them again!

Metal Church followed up the True Stage but since I saw them two weeks earlier, I walked back to the Wendy Dio press conference. She spoke about the new Dio boxset and told us to make sure we caught the Dio Disciples show later that night because there would be something very special about that show. When the press conference was over, I walked over to Wendy and she said what everyone now knows, that there would be a hologram of Dio!

I made sure I found my way to watch the ultra-violent, wrestling themed band Eat The Turnbuckle. The stage setup was a wrestling ring with a referee on stage, and the first thing they did was cut each other up with a pizza cutter! It’s not surprising that this band has been banned in some places because of the violence and the blood, but it made for a good show. After four songs and two band members hurting each other, it was time to go over to the True Metal Stage for Steel Panther. It’s hard to describe – going from people hurting each other to four guys dressed like girls but goddamn, I sure loved it. Steel Panther’s music is a mix of sleaze and hard rock/80s metal. If you have seen them live, you know you’re in for a party and half naked women on stage and in the audience.

It wasn’t the best show I’d seen from the band but they were a nice warm up for the last German show of Twisted Sister later that night. We caught the last half-hour of Tripytikon which was okay but we were excited to see Twisted Sister on the “40 And Fuck It” tour. Earlier this year, they announced their retirement as a band with Mike Portnoy filling in for the late AJ Pero. I’ve seen Twisted Sister on many occasions and like every time, from start to finish, you got what you would expect from a Twisted Sister show. The raw power the band has and the electrifying energy that is Dee Snider made the stage look small. I had some tears in my eyes when they did their final song because this felt like the end – no more Twisted Sister at Wacken and last tour in Europe. Luckily I had tickets to see their final show ever in Belgium at the Alcatraz Festival but it did feel like a final goodbye at Wacken. We missed Arch Enemy to say our goodbyes to our friends and journalists at the Press Section but came back for Dio Disciples with Tim “Ripper” Owens and Oni Logan on vocals. It was an amazing experience to see them perform the classics but the best surprise was when the stage went black with a video on the screen. When the video ended, standing there in the middle of the stage was a hologram of Ronnie James Dio singing “We Rock.” I never thought I would see this but it was an amazing thing to see. With a tear in my eye it was time to go back to the tent for some much needed rest and say my goodbyes to Wacken for this year.

dio-disciples

Headbangers India will be back at Wacken Open Air 2017, RAIN OR SHINE!!

Top 13 Tracks of 2015: Headbangers India staff picks

The year is new again. It is time for use to look back on the year that was in terms of metal and release another staff pick list. This time, we chose to have everyone pick 13 tracks instead of albums because while the experience of a good album is undeniable, there are often songs that stand out so tall that one keeps wanting to go back to them instead of sitting through the remainder of the album. We also managed to get opinions from the founding couple of this website and that’s a big deal because they usually like to stay low key. So without wasting further time, here are our lists. Click each track name to enjoy it and see what the fuss was all about.

 

Subhramani & Vilasini

 

Madhav Ravindranath

 

Adarsh Ravichandran

 

Manaswi Gundi

 

Ishaan Kumar

 

 

 

* Song unavailable for online streaming
Original image from www.pixabay.com|Edited by Ishaan Kumar

 

Karnivool to perform at Saarang- IIT Madras

Keeping up with their tradition of bringing down top notch rock and metal acts every year, IIT Madras recently announced that the 2015 edition of Saarang will be headlined by prog rock/ metal act, Karnivool. This will be Karnivool’s first time in Chennai.

This Australian act has received major critical acclaim for establishing the Australian rock and metal movement. They are considered to be amongst the few in Australia’s rapidly growing music industry to still be bringing new and refreshing material to their catalogue. The five-member band consists of Ian Kenny on vocals, Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking on guitar, Jon Stockman on bass, and Steve Judd on drums.

Tickets are now on sale on Book My Show. To pick up your tickets, CLICK HERE.

Date: 10th Jan 2015
Venue: Open Air Theatre(OAT), IIT Madras, Chennai

Stay tuned for updates as Headbangers India continues its successful association with Saarang for another consecutive year!

Insurrection V.3 – A review

After months of anticipation and last minute changes, the third edition of Insurrection finally took place on Sunday, 15th June, at Bak Bak Bar in Bangalore. Organized by Sound Awake, the gig promised a diverse line up including an international headliner- Underside from Nepal. It was an exhausting gig, in a positive and negative sense, but mostly worth our while.

After a two hour delay, the show started with Analyzed Consequences getting on stage and struggling with technical glitches. The opening backing track kept stopping because of the loose connections and the unstable stage. That got them off to a (literally) shaky start, but they powered through their set. Though labeled a djent act, they were more modern progressive metal. Despite being an instrumental outfit, they managed to keep the audience just as involved. Unfortunately, the brilliant guitar solos were almost inaudible to those away from the stage, and the china cymbal was too loud, often drowning out the rest of the instruments. But Analyzed Consequences was one hell of a tight act, and surely is a band we need to watch out for.

Bad Taste went up next, and left a bad taste in all our mouths after their set. The bass was out of tune, and the band as a whole seemed unrehearsed. I was expecting something better from Charlie and his new lineup, but was disappointed. Thankfully, Grossty followed, and as always, they were so much fun! Sudden surprises with “Rasputin” and ‘koothu’ beats added the entertainment quotient to the evening, but even their regular stuff livened up the venue, with the audience shouting “TV is full of crap” along with the vocalist. They got my vote for band of the evening, for sure.

Sound glitches continued during Djinn and Miskatonic’s soundcheck, delaying the already delayed show by a few more minutes. Drummer Siddarth capitalized on this and kept the audience entertained with a couple of drum solos. It was great to see Djinn back in action, but I felt that they shouldn’t have been made to go on stage soon after Grossty. The two bands are at the far two ends of the spectrum when it comes to energy levels (in terms of genre, and not performance). Organizers should have considered this when putting the running order together.

Next up was Threinody– Bangalore’s very own old school thrash band. Theirs was a short and tight set with a mix of their popular originals like “In Extremis” and “Surrender to the Blade” along with a cover of Kreator’s “Phobia”. Guitarist Josh has been replaced by Siddarth Kamath, and though the latter did a fab job, I missed the guitar richness that Josh added to Threinody’s sound. Siddarth Naidu is a great frontman, and though very casual, he always makes it a point to personally thank some people in the audience, and this time, even called bassist Narayan on stage to wish him for his birthday!

Mumbai’s Albatross were up after Threinody, and also had a very short set. There were technical glitches again, and the speakers kept going off and on, causing quite a bit of distraction midway through their performance. They’ve played a couple of times in Bangalore, but somehow, have always been restricted because of a lack of time. They again had an abbreviated performance of only about four songs, and that was very disappointing. And it probably angered me a lot more when the band after them, Final Surrender, got to play for almost an hour! Though I do understand that the concept of favoritism shouldn’t exist between local and outstation bands, I expected there to be fairness in terms of time allotted to all the bands too. Final Surrender brought out some decent metalcore, but did not work on how they sounded on the P.A. The drums were ridiculously loud, and the bass occasionally competed with that. Though the people immediately near the stage seemed to be having a blast, the band sounded unbalanced outside.

Underside ended the night with a set that mostly comprised of their originals. They wasted no time in between, and were high on energy throughout. Sadly, people started trickling out by the end of the night, but that didn’t stop the band from delivering.

On the whole, Insurrection was a decent gig, but with very bad time management. I expected there to be chaos because of the last minute change in venue (from Ion Bar and Kitchen to Bak Bar Bar), but things seemed to be going smoothly. Sound problems seem to have become a given at most gigs, so it would help if there were fewer bands and more time allotted to each. That way, each of them gets to play for a decent amount of time, and in case of issues cropping up, nobody compromises too much. The turnout was fairly good (236 attendees, to be precise) and it was a relief to see that things aren’t looking that bleak just yet. Finally, three cheers to Sound Awake for keeping the scene alive, without the genre bias!

Watch out for the new ‘Videos’ section on Headbangers India! Footage from the gig and more… Coming soon!

Ten from Twenty Thirteen

My top 10 metal singles released in 2013

 

While the rest of the metal world goes into virtual war arguing about the best albums released over the course of the year, I decided to get a little more specific. I’ve listed down ten songs that I think were among the best to be released in 2013. And I chose to do this particularly because I found certain gems hidden in albums that could overall be branded just about average, and that wouldn’t be fair, would it? So here goes.

10. Soilwork- “The Windswept Mercy”

Album: The Living Infinite

There’s no denying that ‘The Panic Broadcast’ was a masterpiece, and living up to the glory of that isn’t an easy task. But instead of keeping it simple, Soilwork unnecessarily took things one step further and released a double album. The result- An overdose of mediocrity. A majority of the songs carried the same formula of the previous release, and it almost seemed like the band was giving its fans the leftovers of a feast, and urging them to enjoy that too. But without being too harsh, I must admit that there were certain tracks on ‘The Living Infinite’ that really deserved more attention. “The Windswept Mercy” was one of them. It stays true to the Soilwork sound, with the fantastic vocal melodies that they are best known for. The guitars and drum work also carry it through, and make it rise above the barrage of average and disappointing melodic death that the Swedish metallers offered us this year.

9. Black Sabbath- “Loner”

Album: 13

This was Ozzy’s first full length release with Black Sabbath in 35 years! This was enough to get some old fans excited about what the band would have to offer! Some traditional old school fans refused (and probably still refuse) to digest that this is the real Sabbath, minus Bill Ward. The truth is, ’13’ is no ‘Master of Reality’, but hey… Any new music is also welcome! “Loner” is quite reminiscent of “N.I.B” and it’s good to see that the riffmaster, Mr. Tony Iommi, still has it going for him! This is definitely one of the better songs on the album. Thankfully the band chose to neither over-produce the release, nor keep it too raw. In all, it works well and the fans (at least a few of us) are quite happy!

8. Queensryche- “Open road”

Album: Queensryche

If you’ve been following the gossip section in metal tabloids, you’d probably know by now that there are two Queensryches. One, with Geoff Tate and the other with most of Queensryche’s original lineup, led by the powerful new vocalist Todd LaTorre. The album that people have been talking about is by the latter group, i.e. minus the controversial Tate. It’s one of the best releases the band has had in years, and we know someone who wouldn’t be too happy about that! The song I chose to highlight from this same release is the ballad “Open road”. Why a ballad in an album full of guitar laden solos and juicy heavy metal, you might ask. The truth is, we’ve been missing the glory of real metal ballads in quite a while, and if someone does this well, it’s got to be Queensryche! This is the track where I fell in love with LaTorre’s vocal ability. The rest of the members, including the particularly young guitarist, shine on this song, bringing out a perfect blend of old school Queensryche and modern heavy metal. This will surely go down as a classic in the years to come.

7. Amon Amarth- “Warriors of the North”

Album: Deceiver of the Gods

Amon Amarth is one of the most consistent bands in metal. They never promise to surprise you with experiments, and all they do is replicate their signature sound. Yet, they do so without sounding stale. ‘Deceiver of the Gods’ was another proudly Viking metal release, and “Warriors of the North” was the highlight of the album. Eight minutes long, it brings together catchy riffs, a play with tempo- from a gallop to a trot- but without losing the engagement of the listener. As someone rightly said, the song summarizes what Amon Amarth is all about. And of course, Johan’s death metal vocals take this song to a whole new level of greatness.

6. Motorhead- “Heartbreaker”

Album: Aftershock

This was Motorhead’s 21st album! Doesn’t that say a lot by itself? Especially knowing that this is another band that doesn’t brag about surprises. But we will continue to listen to them simply because they are Motorhead! This is the band we turn to when we want something speedy, raw and energetic.  “Heartbreaker” is one of the better tracks on ‘Aftershock’. It’s still very rock and roll and formulaic, but it’s got the badass quotient that by default, makes it awesome. Moreover, it’s what we want, and it’s what we’ve been getting. Lemmy sounds old though, and after the Wacken episode, we sure hope all the JD and the ciggies aren’t catching up on his mortality!

5. Suffocation- “Cycles of suffering”

Album: Pinnacles of Bedlam

We all know Suffocation as the pioneers of death metal, and this was one of the most eagerly looked forward to releases of the year. But the album received a lot of mixed reviews. Older fans compared it to ‘Pierced from within’ and when placed side by side, ‘Pinnacles of Bedlam’ definitely doesn’t grab the limelight. The absence of Mike Smith has evidently impacted the band’s sound, but change is inevitable! I picked “Cycles of suffering” simply because it is one of the less-technical tracks on the album. The solo (which is quite a rarity to find on the other songs) also takes it one notch higher from the rest of the tracklist.

4.  Kylesa- “Unspoken”

Album: Ultraviolet

I’ll be blatantly honest here. I discovered this band with this album, and had to press the rewind button to figure out more about Kylesa’s discography. I’m also not particularly a sludge guru, but like any other music lover, you know the good stuff when you’re exposed to it! “Unspoken” starts off slow, with eerie slow guitars, and suddenly breaks into a crushing chorus. The best part about this is that it is beautifully juxtaposed with the mild female vocals- a thoroughly winning combination. This track mingles elements of stoner rock and sludge, groove and rhythm. The album, as a whole, leaves you with the blues by the end of it, but I assume that’s something this genre usually does to you. However, there is no denying some hidden gems in the runtime of forty-odd minutes.

3. Dream Theater- “The enemy inside”

Album: Dream Theater

Mike Portnoy was awesome. Nobody questions that. But Mike Mangini proves he’s not just second best! Dream Theater is a bunch of musicians who take talent to a whole new level, and on this song in particular, Mangini walks away with the crown. “The enemy inside” is a work of genius by Dream Theater who have retained their musical gymnastics, without letting it get too complex for casual listening. Apart from the drums, Petrucci with his heavy rhythms, and LaBrie’s vocal skills come together for a winner. Initially, I wasn’t very excited about this release, but this particular song changed it for me.

2. Ghost B.C.- “Monstrance Clock”

Album: Infestissumam

“If the Devil really does have all the best tunes, he’s loaned a few of them to Ghost B.C. ” – Kerrang magazine

You might argue about whether Ghost B.C. is metal, Occult Rock or just progressive rock, but genre classifications aside, it’s a brilliant album, and that’s all we really care about. This troupe of anonymous masked musicians make Slipknot look like idiots. Ghost B.C. have put forward some heavy metal with a vintage touch, and a generous sprinkling of all things Satan. Why did this song get my attention? Simply because it’s nothing like what we hear these days. “Monstrance Clock” reminds me of Blue Oyster Cult, with an evil touch. And the chorus… well, it’s going to be a while before we hear something like that in a while!

1. Carcass- “Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System”

Album: Surgical Steel

‘BLOODLUSTMORD!’ and you get a rush of “Yes! Carcass is back!” Every metalhead around the world has been raving about ‘Surgical Steel’ since its release. It was almost like the band was saving up all their ideas and strokes of genius for this one release! With a fantastic album like this one, it’s very difficult to choose just one song to call a favourite, but what I would call the flag-bearer of death metal excellence in this masterpiece by Carcass, would be the track “Cadaver Pouch Conveyor System” . The meaty riffwork (quite ironic that I need to use an adjective like that to describe the music from a band with a not-so-subtle animal rights motive) and the solos, along with the tinge of thrash, makes this one of the best tracks on ‘Surgical Steel’.
There were quite a few bands who I thought would easily make the list, like Children of Bodom, Protest the Hero and Megadeth, for example. Though all of them didn’t necessarily disappoint, some didn’t live up to the mark. But here’s looking forward to 2014, and tons of more good music to break our necks to!


Disclaimer: This is a personal selection of what I consider to be good, and it, in no way, reflects the opinion of the website, as a whole, or any of the other writers. There is a good chance that your favourite band has been left out of this list, simply because picking 10 out of thousands of metal releases is not an easy task. So be reasonable before you start flinging dung all over the place.

Architects to headline IIT Saarang 2014

It’s the return of metalcore at live shows the coming January 2014, as Architects will headline IIT Madras’ festival Saarang 2014, at the ‘Rock Show’.

Though the Brighton boys are primarily a metalcore band, they don’t stick only to that genre, and some of their songs evidently have influences from mathcore and also the punk influenced hardcore. The band is currently on a 100-day tour that will be filmed and released later in the year.

Headbangers India will also be continuing our association with Saarang, and promoting the festival that has been supporting metal for all these years. Right from Opeth to Hammerfall, to Pain of Salvation, Vildhjarta and Anathema, this festival has always made metal more accessible to us, without compromising on the quality of delivery.

Watch this space. Lots more updates to follow!

Check out the promo for the event here:

Threinody releases music video for Existential Schism

Bangalore thrash metallers Threinody, who recently made a massive comeback at Evilution, have just released a music video for their single “Existential Schism”. Though the track by itself isn’t very new, and previously featured on their E.P. ‘Trimetallicthreinonide‘, the video footage seems to be more recent. It has been filmed at live shows and in their studio, and doesn’t feature their newest member- Josh Daniel.

Watch the video here:

Evilution: Gig Review

It suddenly seems to be gig season in Bangalore, with four continuous weeks of metal gigs happening in and around the city. The latest of these was the much awaited Evilution. The USP of this gig was that it was the comeback show for many older Bangalore bands- Threinody, Neolithic Silence, and also in a way. Bhoomi.

Killers Breed1

The show was to begin at 5PM, but earlier in the day, the Facebook event made an announcement about a surprise opening act- an Iron Maiden cover band, who were to begin at 4:30. So after hurriedly scurrying to the venue, which was again Ion Bar & Kitchen, most of us managed to make it on time for the first act- Killers Breed. Sriram from Djinn and Miskatonic, who also played guitars for the band, was supposed to do vocals as well, but throat issues forced him to step aside for a bunch of guest vocalists to take over. Killers Breed started off their set with “Wrathchild”, with Bharad (Witchgoat) and Mahesh (Shepherd) joining in for a dual growl attack. Sujay (Bhoomi) took centre stage during “Trooper” and boy, was he good! I started looking forward to Bhoomi’s set even more after this particular performance. The Iron Maiden cover band then decided to cover a Slayer song as a tribute to Jeff Hanneman. Bharad came back for their rendition of “Seasons in the Abyss”- a song that finally got the crowd pumped up. Killers Breed wrapped up their set with Biprorshee Das (Albatross) joining in for “The Evil that Men do”. Though he seemed like the perfect choice for the track, it was a tad bit disappointing. However, on the whole, Killers Breed had a great debut. The covers were well done, but the crowd reaction was poor. I didn’t expect such a weak response to an Iron Maiden cover band.

Neolithic Silence

Next up on stage was Neolithic Silence. I hadn’t watched them since the days of March Metal Mania, so I was eager to see what they had to offer. And cliché though it may sound, I was far from disappointed! The band is back, sounding very different from their earlier avatar. Their introduction was powerful, and once they started, I noticed that they had taken on an all new thrash sound. Suraj was particularly good on guitars, and Anthony’s drumming was super tight! Surprisingly, theirs was a covers-heavy set, with some Kreator and Sepultura thrown in. Siddharth (Threinody) came in for the Slayer cover- “South of Heaven” this time. His vocals were a little off time though, but on the whole, it got the audience headbanging and finally showing some life at the gig! Neolithic Silence suffered some sound issues however, and I don’t know if it was this that made Jayant’s vocals almost inaudible at times. But it was good to see Neolithic back in action, and better, by leaps and bounds, than they were before!

Dark Desolation

Black metallers Dark Desolation came up next, with some of the members adorned with face paint and spikes. It is a general tendency to instantly judge a band like this, but the band makes sure that the jokes take a backseat once they start playing. They are currently one of the tightest bands in the country and do perfect justice to their brand of atmospheric, speed-driven black metal. The vocalist of Dark Desolation stands behind the rest of the band, and though that takes getting used to, it throws the spotlight on the dexterity of the guitarists. They started off with some of their originals like “Dark Desolation” and “Apostatical misanthropy”, and moved on to more mood driven stuff like “Suicidal Ritual” (Besatt cover), “Incestuous catacombs” and “Cathecatical Somniloquence”. In my opinion, Dark Desolation was one of the best performances of the evening.

Bhoomi

It was time for Sujay to get back on stage with the rest of the guys from Bhoomi in tow. They have always been one of the few bands to play some good old fashioned heavy metal, but even their set at Evilution brought out their new, more prog-influenced sound. Unfortunately, they took a while to set things up, so they didn’t play for too long. But it was a set of all newer songs, like “Obsession”, “The Last Resort” and “Illusion”. The band seemed to have quite a female fan following as well, with girlie squeals ringing in the air every time guitarist Tony played one of his solos! Sujay’s vocal range is truly amazing, and even the instrumentalists in the band are in full form. Bhoomi was fantastic, and I really think they should start playing more often now. We’ve had a long enough silence from them all this while!

Djinn and Miskatonic

Djinn and Miskatonic went up next. Quite a few of us had watched them just the previous week at Sonic Doom, but to many in the audience, their newer, heavier sound came as quite a surprise. In my opinion, they didn’t fit in well with the rest of the line-up, and this, primarily because their sound is not high on energy unlike the rest of the names on the bill. If you’ve heard Djinn, you’d know that their music is chunky, rhythmic and heavy, and this is perfectly complimented with the vocal style. Though they might have been out of place in terms of genre, they put up a good show nevertheless.

Threinody

“Thrash is alive!” “Thrash is back!”-  This was the gist of how people reacted to the band that performed next. I’m talking about Threinody, the act that most of us were really looking forward to that evening. I have even lost track of when I watched them last, but they are far from rusty! They are now a four-piece band, with Josh Daniel joining Premik and Siddharth on guitars, and Shreyas Kamath taking over drum duties. Threinody now sounds fuller and heavier than they did earlier, and it was great to have an out-and-out  thrash band on stage, ready to pack the punch into the second half of the evening. They started off with their originals, including the popular track “In Extremis”, and the crowd went berserk. Just after that, it was their turn to pay tribute to ‘Uncle Jeff’, but… the power went out. People shouted “Jeff is here!” and for a few minutes, people waited, chattering. But slowly, that died out, and people started trickling out. Apparently, the generator wires had been chewed up by rats, and we were all left at the mercy of the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company for us to continue what had so far been a power packed (puns intended) Sunday evening. Soon, more than half the crowd had left, and only a few of us remained, waiting and hoping that something would happen. And thankfully, it did! The electricity came back, and Threinody stepped back, despite not having completed their set, to allow Albatross to perform in whatever little time was left. That was mighty awesome of them, and though we were all really disappointed that we didn’t get enough of the band, we’re hoping this will only be an excuse for them to play again, really soon!

Albatross

It was almost 11 o’clock, but I think arrangements had been made to push the deadline a little bit because of the power failure. That was when Albatross went up to conclude the evening with a short set, again. They don’t play in Bangalore too often, but they surely seem to be becoming a better live act with every passing gig. They managed to squeeze in a cover of “Holy Diver” soon after they began, and the vocals had me floored! Ronnie James Dio would be proud! Both guitarists- Vignesh and Nishith, were phenomenal, and the drummer Jay was also supremely tight! Bassist Riju also was dressed in his bloodied lab-coat and stood making menacing gestures at every break in and in between songs. “Uncle Sunny at the Tavern” seemed to be a crowd favourite, and if “Holy Diver” wasn’t enough to bring the few people from the bar up front, this did the trick. The thing about outstation bands is that you don’t get to watch them too often, and when you do, you certainly don’t want them to go off stage after a few songs. But circumstances were beyond the organizers’ control, and I think we just have to be happy about watching them perform!

In all, Evilution was a good gig. Sound issues were recurring though, and this became a little distracting after a while. Though the tickets were priced at an affordable 500 rupees, the turnout was lower than I expected, and I think the rain was an important factor in that. The power issue was unforeseen and one hell of a bummer. I wish that venues would be better equipped for this sort of an emergency, especially in a city where power cuts are rampant! But metalheads- guys and girls, you really need to start showing up for gigs! Don’t be there just to “support the scene”. Be there for the music, and become a part of the community! Don’t sit back, not involve yourself and then complain about the “scene” dying. Show up! And headbang!

We’ll see you next at Doom Over Bangalore!

Sonic Doom: Gig Review

It’s been a while since Bangalore saw a gig with a line-up as diverse as what we got in Sonic Doom. This happened at Ion Bar and Kitchen (the new metal venue in the city) on Sunday, 26th May. Apart from the variety of genres among those performing, there was also artwork on display, and a stand-up comedian who was part of the event as well.

Aamer Peeran- the opening standup act, was not as entertaining as we would have liked him to be. He could have been funny, but instead, turned out to be quite a joke himself. Maybe stand-up and metal gigs mix only as well as oil and water do, so I will give the guy a thumbs-up for his attempts to keep the audience engaged, and leave it at that.

Crypted was the first band for the evening, and what a way to start! Though they struggled a little with sound, they managed to pull off a very tight set. Their brand of technical death metal was the adrenalin shot to get the audience geared up for what was coming up for the rest of the evening.

SETLIST:

1.Inside The Outsider
2. Distorted Thought Association
3. You Are All Diseased
4. The Age Of Hostile Interdependence
5. Flesh Eater
6. Entropy

Witchgoat, who seemed to be a crowd favourite, were up next. Thankfully, sound issues had settled by the time they went on stage. Though they were missing Avinash on guitars, they didn’t allow their sound to suffer. They played a mix of covers and originals, with a decent blend of thrash and black metal. They were heavy, in-your-face and loud! Bharad Ravi surely deserves a special mention for his fantastic vocals.

SETLIST:

1. Intro
2. The Old Rugged Cross
3. Sacrifice (Bathory cover)
4. Apostles of Baal
5. Tormentor (Kreator cover)
6. Goatspawn Militia
7. Black Magic (Slayer cover)
8. Into the Black

Orchid
After some outright, riff-heavy material, things turned a little too technical with Orchid. They are possibly the new Eccentric Pendulum, and are definitely a band to watch out for.  Midway, the drummer had some issues with his bass pedal, but that was just a minor hiccup in their set. Despite however complicated their compositions sounded (much to the dismay of many other traditional metalheads around), they were great. The vocalist can be quite distracting, especially when he’s clambering all over the monitors on stage, but I guess it’s what added to the liveliness of their set.

SETLIST:

1. Calypso
2. Shift
3. Gaian Hypothesis
4. Slaughter
5. The Observer

Djinn and Miskatonic debuted their new line-up… Um, rather… their new member Sriram at Sonic Doom.  They sounded fuller than they did as a 3-piece, and that’s only a good thing for their type of music. In my opinion, it was their best gig so far.

Djinn-Siddarth

SETLIST:

1. Mortal Science
2. Seven Year Witch
3. Book of The Fallen
4. Weird Tales

It was also good to see Escher’s Knot back in action after Djinn. Many of us were watching them after quite a while, and it’s awesome that they still sound as crisp as they did some time ago. They too debuted some new material, and also stirred the moshpit up in quite a big way!

SETLIST:
1. Hyperspace
2. Anonymous Origins
3. Humiliative- Meshuggah cover
4. Reciprocity
5. Recoil
6. Grand Design
7. Convolution
8. Mayan Calendar

EschersKnot

Finally, it was time for headliners Shepherd to take the stage. Unfortunately, the crowd had thinned out by the time the band started, but too bad for those who missed out! Honestly, I was wondering if the pace of the evening would change after a high energy set by Escher’s Knot made way for the sludge kings, but I was wrong. The headbanging continued and probably also intensified when the band began. I’ve never watched a bad show by Shepherd, and every time they play, they only seem to get better. They were the perfect way to end the evening.

SETLIST:

1. Bogslime
2. Spite pit
3. Wretch salad
4. Sacrifice
5. Underdog god
6. Crook
7. Turdspeak
8. Armageddon
9. Stale bait

Mahesh-Shepherd

In all, Sonic Doom was a great gig- I loved the variety, and every band on the bill was far above average! The turnout was more than 150 people- definitely higher than what I’ve seen at shows for quite a while now, and organizers- you possibly can learn from this! Next stop for Bangalore metalheads- Evilution! We’ll see you there!

Bevar Sea releases lyric video for Motorhead cover

Stoner/ Doom metal band from Bangalore- Bevar Sea, have just released a lyric video for their cover of Motorhead’s “Turn you round again”. The video is reminiscent of the formula they used for their track “Universal Sleeper”, but no complaints!

Watch it here:

Bevar Sea – Turn You Round Again (Lyric video) from srikanth panaman on Vimeo.

This is the first single to be released from the Motorhead India – Tribute Album. The compilation features other bands like Millennium, Dying Embrace, Witchgoat, 1833 AD and Shepherd, among others. The album is slated for a May 2013 release.

Watch this space for updates!