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Big 69 : India’s First Metal Pilgrimage

Metalheads who think the scene is dying… there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! Mumbai is now ready to get its very own metal music festival, called BIG69. Supported by Pepsi MTV Indies and managed by BAJAAO Consulting and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., BIG69 will bring the biggest names in the rock music arena to India. In its very first year, BIG69 will showcase UK’s leading heavy metal legends Carcass and progressive metal act Sikth as the headliners. The festival will take place at the Richardson & Cruddas industrial compound in Byculla on the 17th and 18th of January, 2015 and the lineup includes Italian metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse and UK rap metallers Hacktivist along with some of the biggest Indian bands such as Bombay Metal Project and Joint Family, who will be reuniting for this festival after seven years of being defunct. Carcass is one of biggest influences in the death/grindcore and melodic death metal genre. After disbanding in the mid 90s, Carcass reunited in 2007 for touring purposes, but the reunion became permanent in 2012 with a new lineup as drummer Daniel Wilding and guitarist Ben Ash joined founding members Bill Steer and Jeff Walker. With a 2013 release ‘Surgical Steel’ the band sets foot in India for the first time this January. SikTh, who disbanded in 2008, have made a triumphant return in 2014 with a headlining set at the Download festival and are considered by many to be the godfathers of modern progressive metal. Vocalist Mikee Goodman said: “It has always been a dream to travel the world and play shows for myself and the rest of the band. It is an honour to be here right now. I heard some bands were recently coming to India to play. At last this chance has come for us and we are very excited to see and play in India!” Fellow headliners Hacktivist who are considered to be one of the rising stars of the UK progressive metal scene and Fleshgod Apocalypse from Italy will be the other two international bands performing at the event. This festival will also give a platform to some of our very own Indian bands who have been performing in this genre. These include Nepal’s Underside and Indian metal biggies Demonic Resurrection, Undying Inc, Zygnema, Kryptos, Devoid and Noiseware. There is also something that young aspiring bands can look forward to. Pepsi MTV Indies is conducting a band hunt to choose two promising bands who will get a chance to play at the festival. Apart from music, the festival will also have a special focus on art, with well-designed stages, art installations and the Indies KVLTure project – a special showcase of visual art, photographs and iconography associated with heavy metal. This will involve a number of collaborations with some of the finest artists and designers from the Indian metal scene who will create artwork and designs especially for the festival. Artists already on-board include Reuben Bhattacharya aka Visual Amnesia, Aaron Pinto, Avinash Jai Singh, Anirudh Singh aka Nuclear Puke, Gaurav Basu aka Acid Toad and Aaquib Wani. Limited edition prints of their artwork will be available for sale at the festival, along with special Indies KVLTure project merchandise and much more. Festival managers BAJAAO were the company behind the now-defunct cult underground venue B69, which is still remembered fondly by the city’s metalheads. BAJAAO, along with the festival’s promoters and partners, is very excited about this upcoming new event that is to be added to the city’s annual calendar. Festival promoter Ashutosh Pande said: “We’ve had a long association with the Indian metal scene. BIG69 is our effort to take metal to the masses and to fill the void that B69 left behind. We intend to replicate the B69 experience at a much larger scale by giving Mumbai its very own Festival director Himanshu Vaswani said: “Mumbai hasn’t had a big music festival in a long time and we’re very excited to be doing a metal festival on this scale. We’re making sure that everything – from the line-up and stages to the whole experience – is as big as it gets.” Early bird tickets are available at www.insider.in/big69 at Rs. 2500 for a two day pass. School and college students can avail of a special discounted pass at Rs. 1500. Find all the details at www.big69.in. Watch this space for updates!

NE OBLIVISCARIS to headline IIM Bangalore’s B-School of Rock 2015

Australian progressive extreme metal band Ne Obliviscaris have made their way to quite a few ‘Top 10 album’ lists in the last year. Now they’re making their way to India on January 30th. The band will headline IIM Bangalore‘s rock show B-School of Rock at their annual festival Unmaad 2015. The band grabbed attention in 2012 with their debut album ‘Portal of I‘ landing them a record deal with the esteemed French label Season of Mist Records. Their latest offering ‘Citadel‘ received a lot of critical acclaim the world over. Their live set is reputed to have a unique intensity to it with the presence of a permanent violinist in the line-up, reinforcing their eclectic songwriting. The band will be managed by Orka Networks. For more information, visit www.unmaad.com

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!

BLIND GUARDIAN release new lyric video from upcoming album

German seminal power metal band Blind Guardian have released a new lyric video from the upcoming album ‘Beyond The Red Mirror,’ to be released on January 30th 2015 via Nuclear Blast Records. This is the band’s first release since their 2010 release ‘At The Edge Of Time.’ “A story between science fiction and fantasy,” explains Blind Guardian vocalist & lyricist Hansi Kürsch. “The story begins with our 1995 album, Imaginations from the Other Side. The two worlds described therein have changed dramatically for the worse since then. While there used to be several passages between the worlds, there is only one gate left now: The Red Mirror. It has to be found at any cost.” Recorded at Twilight Hall Studio in Grefrath, Germany and produced by Charlie Bauerfeind (Saxon, Hammerfall, Helloween), ‘Beyond the Red Mirror’ includes collaborations with classical choirs from the Czech Republic (Prague), Hungary (Budapest), and the United States (Boston). Listen to “Twilight Of The Gods” here: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdxRHtNw940&w=560&h=315]

5 reasons why you shouldn’t miss Harley Rock Riders this year

Harley Rock Riders November 15-16 at the Richardson & Cruddas Foundry in Mumbai The mayhem of music and motorcycles continues this year with the return of Harley Rock Riders – Season V. After 4 successful seasons, the iconic rock music festival is set to return with a power-packed line-up of some of the biggest names in Indian rock music, and headlined by the American Grammy-nominated rock band – MUTEMATH. So mark your calendars for the 15th-16th November, 2014 and get ready to witness this exciting rock music festival. Here is your quick guide to the 5 reasons why you shouldn’t miss Harley Rock Riders this year. 1. Witness the Grammy nominee – MUTEMATH set the stage on fire! Get set to rock as the Grammy nominated American alternative rock band takes the stage as the headlining act of the show. While they have performed in India before, this will be the first time they hit the Indian stage in a rock music festival. The band has toured extensively and built a strong fan base in India for their music, which fuses elements of alternative, psychedelic and post-rock. MUTEMATH is known all over the world for their unique style of performance. Their concerts often see Paul Meany (lead singer and keyboardist) indulge in crowd-surfing and piano-headstands among many other stunts. And our Indian bands- Undying Inc. and Devoid, among the others, are no less! You can rest assured they will break your necks too. Undying Inc 2. Rajputana Customs showcases the first ever Harley-Davidson Street™ 750 built by an independent custom bike builder in India image016 Motorcycle enthusiasts are in for a treat at Harley Rock Riders-Season V on November 15-16, 2014 with Rajputana Customs showcasing the first ever Harley-Davidson Street™ 750 built by an independent custom bike builder in India. Launched earlier this year at Auto Expo 2014, the Street™ 750 is an ideal motorcycle that provides a blank canvas to owners to customize it as per their own idea of personal freedom. The final bike will be displayed at the festival and motorcycle enthusiasts can expect to see an organic, old-school inspired custom version of the popular Street™ 750. Incidentally, this isn’t Rajputana Customs’ first tryst with customizing Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Vijay has previously customized a Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight and Harley-Davidson Iron 883. 3. Witness the coming together of hundreds of roaring Harley-Davidson Motorcycles! image017 If the music isn’t enough to mesmerize you, the roar of the Harley-Davidson motorcycles should do the trick. Hundreds of Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners from the Seven Island Chapter, Mumbai will be riding in to the event. One can also get to experience what is like to ride a Harley-Davidson through the Harley-Davidson jumpstart. 4. Watch music- rock and metal come alive on 3 stages! Devoid new lineup The culture of Harley-Davidson has been synonymous with rock music since its inception. And this year Harley-Davidson is taking it up a notch with 3 live stages. Brilliant bands taking up the stage include Zero, Scribe, Blackstratblues, Modern Mafia, One Night Stand, The Circus, Such Nice Boys (feat. Kanan Gill & Kenneth Sebastian), The Supersonics, Devoid, Blakc, Ravi Iyer, Pangea, Tough on Tobacco, Undying Inc, Reverrse Polarity, Duncun Rufus and Until We Last. 5. Richardson & Cruddas Foundry – this is where Legends are made When everything about Harley Rock Riders – Season V is iconic, why should the venue be less unique! Richardson & Cruddas Foundry was the first foundry to be set up in India and completed 156 years this very year! It later went on to become the largest structural and mechanical engineering company in Western India and have some classic airports and railway stations to their name like the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal Mumbai and the Kuwait International airport. Tickets are available for purchase online at Insider.in.  Harley Rock Riders – Season V November 15th – 16th, 2014 3pm – 10pm Richardson & Cruddas Foundry, Sri JJ Flyover, Mazgaon, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Bhayanak Maut streams single from new album ‘Man’

On 31st October, Bhayanak Maut dropped their brand new album on their website www.bhayanakmaut.com, without warning! Man---Album-Art-Web The band is now streaming the first single “Now, Creation. Forever, Destruction” on their Soundcloud page. Stream the song here: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176208752″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] The band has also released a video talking about the origins of the song. Watch that here:

Demonic Resurrection release new song online

Demonic Resurrection, who recently released a brand new music video for their song “Death, Desolation and Despair” have released another single from their latest album ‘The Demon King’. Listen to it here: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176182710″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] The album was released worldwide on July 15th on Candlelight Records and Universal Music India. The band also played at Wacken Open Air and Sonisphere Festival this year as well as doing their own headline tour in the UK and supporting legendary thrashers Onslaught. Watch their recently released video here:

Mortar call it a day

Kolkata thrashers Mortar have called it quits or rather an indefinite hiatus as the band themselves put it. The band which made nationwide waves with their debut release Ground Zero two years ago, have come a long way and have contributed their fare share to a scene that otherwise can boast of very few thrash acts. Here’s the band’s official statement:   “With a heavy metal heart, as of this moment we announce that Mortar, in its entirety, is going on a long hiatus. So long that our fans will have kids and they will probably listen to post techno edm new age thrash metal. Every time when life will show you the middle finger, Mortar will be there in your headphones and souls. We will be there to show you that your frustration and anger can be put to a better use. Dani, Nilabja, Arijit, Sayak, Soumick, Soham, Aniruddha and Spandan, you guys have been part of something epic which might make you ready for life. We promise the next time we return, might not be the same members or the ‘proper age’ but we will have the same aggression, that is for sure. For the last time, Cheers and beers. \m/”