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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!

 

RECTIFIED SPIRIT announce sophomore progressive/power metal album ‘The Waste Land’

Rectified Spirit- The Waste Land

The announcement from Guwahati‘s RECTIFIED SPIRIT will bring cheer to those yearning for something more theatrical from India. ‘The Waste Land‘ is the title being given to this progressive/power metal album, the 2nd full-length from the dormant band slated for release on September 10th, 2015. The distribution will be carried out by Transcending Obscurity, who already have been prominent in the promotion of distribution of music by bands like Against Evil, Albatross and Heathen Beast. Label owner Kunal Choksi is also responsible for the band’s logo, with the artwork having been done by Mayur Saikia. ‘The Waste Land’ is thematically inspired by T.S. Eliot’s poem with the same name. The production, mixing and mastering have been done at Zorran Mendonsa Productions in New Zealand.

As if that’s not all, the band has released a single from the album as well titled ‘Winter in Thine Eyes’. Enjoy it right here!

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

SYCORAX announce debut album, reveal artwork

sycorax artwork

 

Darjeeling extreme metal band Sycorax have announced the release of their debut full-length album Sycotherapy and have set June 2015 as the planned month of release. They have revealed quite a fantastic piece of art as their album cover, created by Jean Michel. The band is currently touring the North-east so make sure you catch them in a city near you!

ELUVEITIE announce double headers in India

 

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Swiss folk metal gauls Eluveitie have announced a return to Indian shores with 2 headlining performances at NIT Calicut and IIT Roorkee. The former will take place on the 27th of March at NIT Calicut‘s annual cultural festival Ragam while the latter will take place on the 29th of March at IIT Roorkee‘s annual fest Cognizance. In 2010, the band had headlined IIT Guwahati’s Alcheringa.

Eluveitie will be performing on the back of their 2014 release Origins, the band’s sixth full-length release. Their massive eight-member line-up include a violinist, a hurdy gurdy player and a flautist. They will be managed for this India tour by Orka Networks, the same folks who are bringing Xandria down to India and have also been responsible for managing other artistes like Gojira, Bloodshot Dawn and Hacride.

 

KRYPTOS to tour Germany with DEATH ANGEL

Kryptos Death Angel tour 2015

Bangalore’s old-school metal torchbearers Kryptos are continuing their sorties of Europe. This time around it may just be their biggest announcement yet. They have now confirmed a tour of Germany with thrash metal superstars Death Angel, from the United States. This tour comes on the back of a highly successful tour with Italian melodic black metal band Graveworm last year and another Europe tour prior to that which included performances at Wacken Open Air and In Flammer Open Air metal festivals. The tour begins on 17th July in Weisbaden and ends on the 11th of August at Essen. From the Headbangers India family, we wish the band all the best as always and congratulate them on returning to Europe again and again, stronger every time.

XANDRIA to headline BITS-Pilani Hyderabad’s Pearl

German symphonic metal band Xandria will be headlining the annual cultural festival Pearl at BITS-Pilani‘s Hyderabad campus on 14th March, having previously been headlined by acts such as Dark Tranquillity and Decapitated. The band will be managed by Orka Networks during this time, the events company that brought Gojira and Bloodshot Dawn to India, among other bands. Xandria released their 6th full-length album Sacrificium last year, to extremely positive reviews. As a stroke of absolute coincidence, their 3rd full length from 2005 was titled India. Whether that was due to having visited the country before or as a vicarious step we are not sure, but we at Headbangers India are glad that they can finally visit the namesake of that release.

SHEPHERD release second single off ‘Stereolithic Riffalocalypse’

After the release of “Bog Slime” to generally positive reviews, the Bangalore based stoner/doom band Shepherd releases their second single titled “Turdspeak”.

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The band will be part of the Indie March series of gigs at CounterCulture, Bangalore, alongside stoner/doom band Bevar Sea, and post metal new comers Pangea, on the 7th of February. The band will follow this up with a listening party along with a launch show on the 6th of March in Bangalore.

Preorders for the album ‘Stereolithic Riffalocalypse’ will start on February 1st, through Bandcamp. Physical copies will ship on the 7th of March.

Previously released single “Bog Slime” can be streamed here.

DEVOID to play at Resurrection Fest, Dubai

resurrection fest dubai 2015 poster

Mumbai’s thrashmen Devoid have secured a spot at Dubai‘s Resurrection Fest, showcasing the rising stars of the various countries across Asia. The band will be playing alongside Stigmata (Sri Lanka), Creative Waste (Saudi Arabia), Maticrust (Philippines) and Smouldering in Forgotten (Bahrain). The event will take place on Friday the 13th of March at the Music Room, which has hosted several metal shows in the past and has had bands such as Krisiun grace it as well. We wish everyone in the band all the best for this show!