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The Great Metal Year of 2012: Top 10 albums

The List

Blut Aus Nord – 777 – Cosmosophy (BaN – Epitome XIV)

One of the most important bands in black metal today, BaN finally ushered in an age of black metal that is now visible as an admirable bunch of bands attempting to innovate and experiment within the framework of the genre. But the reason why this band remains at the apex is that it does not recognize a framework. Cosmosophy, like most great music, is the culmination of a personal vision, namely a thematic exploration which is the 777 trilogy. As cosmic as it is visceral, and as grand as it is subtle, I refrained from reviewing an album to which I could not do proper justice given time constraints. Beware of trip-hop moments and other unexpected elements.

Deathspell Omega – Drought (EP) (DsO – Salowe Vision)

This won’t be the only EP in the list. My review for it can be found in the review section. Another black metal act that continues to evolve and consolidate its sound on every release, Drought received much less attention than it should have. A perfect monsoon release for us in the Indian subcontinent.

Eryn Non Dae. – Meliora (END. – Hidden Lotus)

Solid composition, a bleak and modern sound and a mature melodic structure has made this a treat to listen to. Another criminally underrated band, read my review for a slightly premature impression which should in spite of it’s hasty concoction convince the reader to give it a shot.

Kayo Dot – Gamma Knife (Kayo Dot – Ocellated God)

To quote the most interesting man in the world, Kayo Dot aren’t always metal, but when they are, you still can’t say for sure. Gamma Knife is a mix of heavy-as-fuck riffing, free jazz saxophone solos and certain indescribable moments that can only stem from the recesses of Toby Driver’s mind. This was released independently on bandcamp where it is available as an online stream in its entirety. Do pleasure yourself.

Spawn of Possession – Incurso (SoP – Apparition)

Though lacking the inhuman consistency of the band’s masterpiece and undoubtedly the pinnacle of technical death (or for me, any) metal Noctambulant, Incurso has its moments. And those moments will haunt you for quite some time. Be it Bryssling’s painfully exact technique, Muenzner’s impressive soloing or Erlend’s slap-happy bass (Rondum should’ve stuck to drums, Schonstrom is great but doesn’t come close), songs like Bodiless Sleeper, The Evangelist and the beyond-epic Apparition are way ahead of their time. With the promise of composing for a full orchestra on the next record by Bryssling, I would really like to see a band that can come anywhere close to such a full and cerebral sound.

Krallice – Years Past Matter (Krallice – Years Past Matter)

Krallice have always received mixed reactions, ranging from ‘oh-so-kvlt’ to ‘boringly repetitive’. Bridging this divide with a release that had song names as bad as the music is good (the song titles are all composed of the letter I, all capital), Mick Barr, Colin Marston and Lev Weinstein have created an aural juggernaut. This isn’t black metal anymore. Seeming more and more like Mick Barr’s chaotic vision of formative tremolo picked madness that is Orthrelm, Krallice have tempered aggression with structure, and a modern attack with traditional sensibilities, all of which makes it an incredibly dense record.

Bosse-de-Nage – III (Bosee-de-Nage – Cells)

I was drawn to this band initially upon seeing their track titles for the previous album – Marie Pisses Upon The Count, Van Gogh Cooks His Hands… something charming about the way they seemed to be going about this whole S&M thing. This album forgoes theatrics for pure musicianship and has given them a rightful place of their own on the borders of metal, if not within the capital where the junta congregates and worships its ageing and irrelevant Gods.

Amenra – Mass V (Amenra – Boden)

Sometimes, the painfully slow can be palpably exquisite. Amenra isn’t that well known a name in metal perhaps, but definitely one of the towering giants of the sludge scene. Returning after four long years to release a full length with just four songs to the fans’ initial disappointment, the intensity and merciless doom-tempo sonic attack spanked the living fuck out of doubters, and added new members to the ‘Church of Ra’.

Solar Deity – The Darkness of Being (Solar Deity – Towards The Horizon)

Initially ambivalent to this sneakily experimental approach to black metal, this was a grower. A major one. Though by no means a perfect release, this is the kind of egoistic output that merits attention and not impatient refusal, though it will stand its ground irrespective of what ensues. ‘Towards The Horizon’ is one of the best things I’ve heard in Indian rock music this year. The bassline kills it br0.

Gorod –  A Perfect Absolution (Gorod – Birds of Sulphur)

Smart, quick and ruthless, this album is a cornucopia of demented melodic riffing. You cannot possibly ignore the unrelenting grooves, the effortlessly executed sweeps and the insanely catchy melodic lines acting as strong and stable leitmotifs. Tech death done right. Are you listening, progenitor of Autotheism?

Honourable mentions:

Limit Zero – Graveyard Constellations (managed to impress highly in spite of personal bias against djent while reviewing, must be really fucking good)

Nachtmystium – Silencing Machine (managed to finally release an album I really liked)

Ihsahn – Eremita, Enslaved – RIITIIR, Gojira – Explosia (I haven’t listened to these enough)

Review: The Indian Metal Festival, 2012

The great metal weekend has just wrapped itself up. In a once in a lifetime occurrence, two major international bands headlined two major metal festivals, happening in the same city and at the same time, at different venues. Some headed for Testament at NH7 Weekender in Bangalore, and the rest, like me, chose to attend the Indian Metal Festival, headlined by Gojira.

As soon as I reached the venue, I had an intuition that I’d made a mistake. Two wheeler parking was about half a kilometre away from Manpho Convention Centre, and was priced at an exorbitant 100 rupees, with no security guaranteed. A man in a suit was handing out parking tickets, which was ridiculous in more than one way. But that unpleasant surprise was just the beginning. The venue was shoddy, with no impressive backdrop or even a stable looking stage. I felt a tinge of embarrassment to think that a band as huge as Gojira would have to play up there! But we all just kept our fingers crossed that the sound would make up for it.

The second shock came our way when the gig, which was supposed to begin at 1PM, was pushed to 4PM. And as expected, the opening bands had to cut down their time on stage. To make things worse, Escher’s Knot and Agnostic did not play at all. Gutslit started things off at the Indian Metal Festival, but they struggled with sound issues, and despite it, put up a good show. Eccentric Pendulum also went up for a hurried 20 minutes, (in place of an hour, as they’d been promised earlier). At this juncture, I would like to pose a question to all gig organizers around the country. Why do you always compromise only when it comes to our local artists? Do you realize the amount of practice, among other things, that these bands put into making a good show? Why do you always make them pay for your lack of good organizational skills? It’s about time that Indian artists get the same quality of sound as international acts, and also, the same amount of time on stage. If your gig is running late, then work things out, but without making our artists be the ones to give up on something.

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Now, continuing with the review… After not watching Agnostic and Escher’s Knot, the international co-headliners, or opening acts… however you’d want to address them, came on stage. Flayed Disciple went up next, and they killed it! They were the second highlight of the evening, after Gojira. Tight and super heavy, they played a set that roughly lasted 40 minutes, ending with their death metal version of ‘Angel of Death’. Bloodshot Dawn took over after them, and were fairly good too- especially their drummer/ vocalist. They won over the crowd though, and the band members showered the audience with t-shirts and high fives. Xerath followed, and though their dramatic opening was followed by an unsatisfactory beginning, (due to some sound issues, again), they settled in quickly and put up a tight set. The vocalist couldn’t help but remind many of us of Soilwork’s ‘Speed’ Strid.

After they wrapped up, Mario’s drumkit was unveiled, and Gojira’s set up began. Thankfully, not much time was wasted, and the French prog/ death metallers invaded the stage. They sounded powerful as they opened with “Explosia” from their newest album L’ Enfant Sauvage. They played a perfect mix of the old and the new, and here’s a picture of their setlist:

Gojira setlist

But the band didn’t stick to this, and surprised us with a couple of unplanned songs like “Love”. Another highlight was the fantastic role-switching act, when frontman/ guitarist Joe Duplantier took over the drums, and brother Mario Duplantier took over guitars and vocals. They didn’t seem out of place at all, and had the audience in a happy frenzy during this little interchange. The drum solo, the dedication to Pt. Ravi Shankar, their energy on stage, their interaction with the crowd and the “shukriya”s, and of course, their tightness as a live act showed us why Gojira is currently one of the biggest metal bands around the world. No goof-ups, not a single sloppy second… very few bands can brag about this!

It was a mind-blowing performance, and Gojira saved the day for IMF. If not for them, and probably Flayed Disciple, I’m pretty sure that angry fans may have torn down the venue.

The organizers- Sweet Leaves Events, also fucked up with issuing media passes, by making some webzines (like ours), purchase tickets, when letting in their friends and some other media companies for free. Favouritism? Well… when asked about it, the organizer says “I don’t know why I did that”. They also lashed back at criticism on Facebook by sending out an apology:-

To all Indian Metal Festival Attendees,

Firstly,However it was, we hope you enjoyed the gig! We’re sorry for the mediocre management. Involvement of many fucked up people who were more concerned about money than music led to many unavoidable problems.

For the bands who couldn’t play, we are more sorry than we could express.Agnostic,we had called them all the way from the north east because we wanted to expose the brilliant metal scene up there.We could have got well-known metal bands too to increase out footfalls,but we wanted to g


All in all,we understood where we went wrong,and we shall definitely put up a better gig the next time.ive you guys a chance to go on a big stage to show your talent.To show the obnoxious metal scene how you guys are so passionate about the ‘metal’.But the situation and the politics that happened at the last moment,we were just helpless.We hope you forgive us and we shall surely try to get you guys a bigger gig the next time.

Up the horns \m/

P.S. For the critics, it’s easy to criticize on a social networking site,but it’s really tough to do something like the Indian Metal Festival.

See the post here.

IMG_9932If it’s “really tough to do something like the Indian Metal Festival”, then why attempt it in the first place, do a bad job, and then point fingers at others and play the blame game? It only seems like the team behind IMF tried to bite off more than they could chew, and then pushed the blame on others, without taking the onus for whatever happened as one crew. Rumors float around about how the international acts, including Gojira, cut down on their setlist to accommodate the Indian bands, and if true, it’s amazing that they did that. We wait for the day when event organizers here learn a lesson or two in professional event management, and learn to respect our artists, the fans and the media, because without them, you wouldn’t have an event to run in the first place. IMF scraped through thanks to the bands and the decent turnout, but dear organizers… learn this. If you don’t get your act together, you’re going to lose the little support that you’ve been getting. And if you think you are a blessing to the Indian metal scene… well, we’re sorry to burst your bubble, but you are not. Bands and fans can stand together, like they always have, and do a better job than you have been doing.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY: Subhramani S.

Gojira to headline Indian Metal Festival this December

French progressive-metal outfit Gojira are set to headline the Indian Metal Festival on December 15, Bangalore. Although the venue hasn’t been finalized yet, it is most likely that it shall be the same as that for the LoG gig, i.e. Clark Exotica.

The day-long event will be co-headlined by Cerebral Bore (who have visited India previously), and supported by Lebanese thrashers Inner Guilt, British thrash metal band Flayed Disciple, Xerath (progressive/symphonic/groove/djent) and the Portsmouth based melodic death metal act Bloodshot Dawn. Closer to home, the festival also features Mumbai’s slam grinders Gutslit and Agnostic (death metal) from Guwahati.