metal in india

Every one of us has gone through a Cradle of Filth stage in the phases of heavy metal education. For some, that stage graduates to other sub-genres, and for a good many others, it stays on. And it looks like there are a hell of a lot of those who belong to that latter group, because Cradle of Filth is apparently the most successful British heavy metal band since Iron Maiden!

So the group at Spotlight Events and the Indian Music Conference decided to make up for the Cynic mess and brought down Dani Filth and the gang to Bangalore to perform at the Palace Grounds. There was heavy rain in Bangalore for the previous few days, so we kept our fingers crossed and luckily, it was a sunny afternoon during the soundcheck.

The first opening act- Blind Image, went on at around 5PM, and played a good set. They have played a couple of shows in Bangalore earlier, but this had to be one of their tightest so far. Their was some flavour added to their set when they were joined by Divine Heresy vocalist Travis Neal for “More than Human”. The band was decent and played mostly originals, but I really felt the LoG cover could’ve been avoided.

Next on-stage was Bangalore’s Inner Sanctum. This band has been getting progressively better with each gig, and by far, their performance at this show was the best I’ve seen in a while. Their stage presence was nothing short of explosive, and thankfully, the sound was decent, and that’s the least a band can ask for. Their set-list consisted of some older stuff from the ‘Provenance’ EP, as well as a couple of new tracks. Inner Sanctum was mind-blowing, to say the least, and luckily for them, the rain gods seemed to have waited for them to finish because just when they got off stage, the skies opened up.

This was not so lucky for Devoid, who were supposed to go on next. Rain is manageable, but what we were stuck in the middle of was a thunderstorm. There was no shelter, and the mass of black t-shirts stood under those ferocious open skies, chanting “Cradle of Filth” and “Start the fucking show”. Though Thor seemed like he’d show everyone the middle finger, the metalheads withstood the downpour, waiting for more music (live music, not Motherjane tracks from the CD).

So, it seemed like the show would go on, and Devoid started their set. The rains, the music and about a thousand drenched headbangers- it couldn’t get more ‘metal’ than that. Devoid was super tight, but unfortunately for them, the sound on the P.A. suffered the wrath of the rains. They played most of the tracks from ‘A God’s Lie’, like “Battle Cry”, “Possessed” and even squeezed in “Black Fortress”. The highlight of their show was when Gaurav Basu (Inner Sanctum) joined them on stage for “Beersong”. These acts are proof enough that Indian metal is no longer amateur and can in fact, kick some serious ass!

Just as Devoid got off stage, the rains subsided, and Cradle of Filth got ready to come on next. Their soundcheck took a while, and in the meanwhile, the crowd kept itself entertained by examining (I’ll be politically correct here) all the destroyed painted faces and messed up make-up of the CoF fans. It continued to drizzle continuously, and finally, almost forty-five minutes later, the dry-ice took effect, and the band made its appearance dramatically. Quite expected anyway, since it was Cradle of Filth! They started off immediately, and there was not too much of interaction with the audience. This could’ve been because the drizzle was steadily getting heavier and the band may not have wanted to waste too much time with useless banter. But Dani Filth did take the time off to get the crowd to chant “Fuck police brutality” as the Bangalore cops started beating up people in front, near the barricade. The barrier collapsed after a while, and it was chaos. But the moshing continued as the band continued to play to the frenzied crowd. Sadly, the sound was pretty bad, and there were times when the guitars, keyboards and backing vocals were not audible at all. Cradle of Filth is a great band live, but the sound wasn’t at all in their favour that night. They played a mix of old and new songs, like “Humana Inspired to Nightmare”, “Lilith Immaculate”, “Her ghost in the fog”, “Nymphetamine” and “From the Cradle to the Enslave”.

On the whole, it was a great show, despite the rains and sound issues. IMC has certainly earned its name back, at least partially! We definitely are looking forward to more shows from their end, and at the next one, let’s throw the men in khaki right in the middle of the circle-pit, shall we?

Check out a video of Inner Sanctum’s performance here: