So, I finally got to go to the Great Indian Rock the 13th , Delhi Edition. It was slated to be a two day trainwreck of a gig. The lineups were sending chills down the spines of every metalhead in Delhi NCR, and well, i was stoked.
Day 1:
The gig kicked off with Rabbit is Rich, an upcoming metalcore group from Delhi. Obviously, a very big stage for them, and they didnot disappoint. With covers of Lamb of God’s Descending, As I Lay Dying’s Through Struggle and a few of their own comps, they brought the festival to a good start. The drummer was commendable and the vocalist Dhairya, with his screeches, reminded me of Randy Blythe from the first few albums.
A few rock acts later Undying Inc. were up. The crowd started growing a little restless…they were greeted with a brutal scream and one of the most anticipated acts of the evening started with a boom. They belted out their originals like Breeding Gods and had the crowd in a frenzy. From up close, the presence and the aura created by the band in the act was awesome. But technically, the guitars and the drums did sound a little muddy. Shashank’s scream range and presence was amazing, the riffage was pretty brutal, I got banged up by some of the dudes who kept flying out of the mosh, but overall
they’ve had better days….
Finally there was the international act, Benea Reach from Norway. Coming from a land where black metal governs the scene, their brand of Progressive Metal/ Mathcore (as wikipedia describes it) is less popular. The crowd had grown to about a 1000 odd guys by then. And when the band came on…lemme tell ya…Benea Reach from Norway were greeted by a scream that would put a cricket match to shame. The band was simply phenomenal. Their unique blend of time signatures and heavy breakdowns with a lot of ambient and synth sounds provided by Espen had the crowd beserk. The live lights, in coupling with the riffage and awesome stage presence provided for visual asswhooping as well. “Dhanyavaad”, they said, and signed off thier godlike set with “Im gonna tell my friends back home, India knows how to f**king rock.” \m/
Day 2:
The metal acts lined up for Day 2 in GIR ’09 in Delhi were Bhayanak Maut and Scribe from Mumbai. Both of these acts have stuck around longer than any other groups trying to make it in the Indian scene…and the hype was sky high. The theater was jampacked, numbers reaching to around 2000+. Bhayanak Maut, arguably the best metal act in India, had the crowd expecting a lot from them, and they brought their game. New seven stringers and the two vocal to and fro of Vinay and Sunneith were a dosage of absolute brutality. The mosh got so nasty, that there was blood being drawn. The played an amazingly tight set, and ignoring the shouts of “Lamb of God” played all the originals from their new album, the most kickass being Ungentle.
They were followed up by Scribe,who came out and tore the place apart. They caught the crowd by surprise, by easily overshadowing BM’s performance, and playing one of their best shows ever. They started their set with a spot-on cover of Sikth’s “Pussyfoot” and moved on to their originals. Vishwesh, on vocals was mind blowing in his presence and crowd interaction. With his and Akshay’s wisecracks in between the songs, they landed their unique blend of madness, brutality, and technicality. Prashant was in brilliant touch with his riffage, and the moshpit broke the barricades in front of the stage. Seriously.
The last act was Intronaut , a sludge/jazz/death metal act from the States. Their set was a little low energy, but undoubtedly very technical. The set remained largely instrumental, and they even played an Indian piece in the middle where the guitarist took on the tabla. Worth mention is the drummer Danny Walker, whose performance was phenomenal. They used a lot of sci-fi samples in their act, which were sorta harsh on the ears, but cool nonetheless.
Verdict? Kick………wait for it………. ass.
