2015

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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

 

A Legend Is Gone – R.I.P Lemmy Kilmister

The badass in heavy metal, founding member and frontman of Motorhead- Lemmy Kilmister, passed away today. He was 70 years old.

In a statement posted to Facebook, Motörhead wrote, “There is no easy way to say this… our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer. He had learnt of the disease on December 26th, and was at home, sitting in front of his favorite video game from the Rainbow which had recently made it’s way down the street, with his family. We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren’t words. We will say more in the coming days, but for now, please… play Motörhead loud.”

Apart from cancer, Lemmy had been suffering from a number of other health issues, including hematoma, which had caused the band to cancel a number of performances in recent years. The team at Headbangers India themselves saw Lemmy walk away from the stage at a festival, unable to continue his performance. Quite unlike the badass, but this was just one more hiccup in his career, which kept going strong till the very end.

Lemmy_RIP

Lemmy has been the founding member, vocalist, bassist and songwriter of Motörhead since 1975. The legendary band has released over 20 studio albums with sales of more than 30 million worldwide.

In an interview with The Guardian in 2014, Lemmy had said- “Apparently I am still indestructible.” He is also quoted to have said “As long as I can walk the few yards from the back to the front of the stage without a stick, or even if I do have to use a stick,” he would continue playing music.

The heavy metal world mourns your loss, Lemmy.

DEVOID and HALAHKUH announce member departures

Maharashtrian thrash metal bands Devoid (Mumbai) and Halahkuh (Pune) have independently announced partings with respective members in the same week.

Devoid announced earlier today that they were parting ways with their drummer Shubham Kumar via a Facebook post:

It’s with a heavy heart that we part ways with our drummer who now is pursuing his career in Dubai and we wish him the best of luck for his future endeavours. This admittedly puts a damper on things as the material that was almost good to start recording will now have to be put on an indefinite hiatus. We hope to be back but it seems life is catching up at break neck speed and to keep the spirit of Devoid alive is taking it’s toll. It’s during this time that a band truly needs its audience to shoulder some of our weight. Till we haven’t sorted things for ourselves Devoid is going to be put on hold.

– Arun

Halahkuh’s announcement of their parting with bass player Prakhar Soni was announced yesterday. The band also announced a temporary replacement in the form of Shubhrayu De from Pune band Dark Helm:

Well with a heavy heart we have to announce that our brother PRAKHAR SONI has officially parted ways with the band. It is painful for us and him as well to leave something that we have collectively started. He went against all the odds to make this band reach to a level where it is right now. The band will never forget his contributions be it onstage or off-stage.

We at Halahkuh respect his decision of moving on with his life and wish him all the best for his future endeavors. We will always remain to be the best of friends and the place that you have left is always yours, we will keep it safe..

Current scenario : Presenting to you the new overlord of bottom ends Mr Shubhrayu De from (Dark Helm) . Let’s welcome him to the Halahkuh family. He is one monster bass player who will be helping us with a couple of shows ahead.

 

 

HELLOWEEN announced as headliners for Hornbill Festival, Kohima

Announced on 25th August 2015, German power metal pioneers HELLOWEEN confirmed a headlining slot at the prestigious Hornbill Festival  in Kohima, Nagaland. The band is slated to play on the 7th of December 2015. They are currently touring extensively around the world in support of their 16th studio album My God-Given Right, released in May this year via Nuclear Blast Records. While this announcement hasn’t been made on either the band or the event’s website, a Facebook post via the band’s official page was how the announcement was made and one can only expect this news to be made official on those respective websites soon. If you ‘want out’, then Hornbill is where you need to be!

 

DEMONIC RESURRECTION announce flash Europe mini-tour

Symphonic metal stalwarts DEMONIC RESURRECTION, who recently played at Slovenia’s Metaldays festival, have just announced a quick mini-tour around 4 European cities before heading off to Czech Republic to play at the Brutal Assault festival, alongside fellow Mumbai metallers GUTSLIT. The tour kicks off on August 1st and the details regarding venues and cities are in the poster. Catch them live if you’re in any of these European cities!

DR-europe tour 2015 poster

Delhi mourns the loss of COLOSSAL FIGURES vocalist Govind Marodia

 

 

Delhi’s most prominent progressive metal outfit COLOSSAL FIGURES lost their bandmate and vocal powerhouse Govind Marodia today, on June 8th, following a brain haemhorrage caused by a road accident. The following excerpt from Rolling Stone India sheds more light:

Govind Marodia, the vocalist and founding member of Delhi progressive metal band Colossal Figures, passed away on July 8th following a brain haemhorrage caused by a road accident in Delhi. Marodia, 24, was admitted to a local hospital following the accident on Sunday night, and was in the intensive care unit on July 6th and 7th.

The band’s drummer Rijul Victor told us that Marodia’s condition had improved on the night of July 7th, but succumbed to injuries the next day. Victor, who joined Colossal Figures in 2010, a year after the band members got together, posted on his Facebook page today, “Govind Marodia is no longer with us and has rested in the Lord! Pray for his soul and his family in the grievous hours!”

Marodia, who studied law and was also a theater actor, played his last show with Colossal Figures at the Rolling Stone Metal Awards in March in Mumbai, although there were plans to perform in Bengaluru. The vocalist will be best known for his dynamic range of vocals, exhibited on their 2014 debut full-length album Clockwork Dilation – from the crisp clean vocals to the harsh growls that perfectly fit into the prog metal sound of Colossal Figures. Marodia led the band through some of their biggest performances, including the Hornbill International Rock Contest in 2013 in Nagaland and at NH7 Weekender in Delhi NCR in 2014. Vocalist Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy, formerly of Mumbai hardcore band Scribe said in an online post, “I met him just once right after Colossal Figures got off stage after playing a blistering set at Blue Frog, Bombay earlier this year. I can’t get over what I’ve just read. I just cannot imagine what his brothers and family must be going through. Peace be with you, brothers. The indie metal community stands with you. Farewell, Govind Marodia. You were one of the finest vocalists in the scene.”

Delhi tech/groove metal band Undying Inc.’s frontman Shashank Bhatnagar also mourned Marodia’s passing. On Facebook, Bhatnagar said, “Met him quite a few times, he was a gentle and kind guy, with a great voice. This is such a horrible news [sic].. Can’t even imagine how people will cope with such a young & talented loss. More strength to his family & bandmates. Music scene’s lost a gem today.”

While the band was in the process of writing new material, it is still uncertain whether Colossal Figures will carry on as a band.

All of us at Headbangers India are with  Marodia’s family, friends and fellow bandmates in these darkest of hours. It is certainly a sordid moment in the metal scene for the entire nation and we hope for everyone associated to be able to make it through it.

AGAINST EVIL announce debut full-length album

Against Evil -Final Assault

 

Vishakhapatnam‘s newest thrash sensation AGAINST EVIL have announced their debut full-length album called ‘Fatal Assault‘. The album’s artwork features the 4 band members fighting through, well a fatal assault of zombies. The album will released via Transcending Obscurity‘s India division, headed by Kunal Choksi. The album will be limited to 300 copies only and is available for pre-order.

The album’s tracklisting is as follows:

1. Battle Call
2. The Enemy Within
3. Speedbreaker
4. Wings of Steel
5. Bulletproof
6. War Hero

Against Evil are:

Siri – Vocals, bass
Sravan – Vocals, rhythm guitar
Shasank – Lead guitar
Noble John – Drums

JUDAS ANCESTRY undergo massive overhaul

Guwahati’s Judas Ancestry, who have been silent for the past few months after releasing a few symphonic black metal tracks in the past, have just gone through a massive reshuffle of their line-up. Here is an official announcement via their Facebook page:

This is to inform everyone that Hillol Choudhury, Rohil Talukdar, Sumon Saikia, Rhittick Gogoi & Shantanu Baishya have choose to part away due to conflict of interest. The album that was due to be released in June this year would be released by them under a new name. Furthermore, Sandeep has decided to relocate his band to New Delhi as he currently recides there.

After creative differences between vocalist Sandeep Sarmah and the rest of the band, a new line-up has been announced that is now based out of New Delhi:

Sandeep Sarmah – Lead Vocals (2010-Present)
Abhishek Kumar – Lead Guitars (2015-Present) {ex-Chaotic Mantra}
Sushmit Mazumdar – Bass (2015-Present) {ex-1833AD}
Suraj Mishra – Keyboards/Synths (2015-Present) {ex-Chaotic Mantra}

The announcement of a drummer is slated to take place soon in the near future. In case some readers are still uninitiated, here is a track released by them about 2 years ago.  Watch this space for more updates regarding the band’s progress.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/55095532″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

INNER SANCTUM announce all-star guest appearances on ‘Legions Awake’

Bangalore’s Inner Sanctum are really compensating well for the past few years of musical silence. After releasing what was probably the best lyrics video ever made for an Indian metal band and playing at INFERNO Festival in Norway, the band have announced the following names of guest guitar players on their upcoming album Legions Awake:

inner sanctum legions awake guest guitarists

No doubt the band is going all out in creating quite a rumble before what is building up to be a very promising album. This list of star performers is definitely doing its part in upping the ante. Look out for it in late April!

HEATHEN BEAST refuse to let anyone forget ‘The Carnage of Godhra’

Mumbai’s seemingly slumbering black metal enigma Heathen Beast have today released their new music/lyric video for the title track of their upcoming EP The Carnage of Godhra.  The video contains media clips about the horrific communal riots that took place in 2002 in the hitherto peaceful Gujarati city, emphasised further by brutally honest lyrics. Watch the new video and keep an eye out for more details about the EP.