new year gig

When the rest of the country brought in the New Year with laptop-produced beats and mindless disco beats, Unseen Underground gave metalheads a chance to celebrate the way they like it best. On New Year’s Eve on the 31st of December, 2010 at Geoffrey’s Pub, Chennai, people saw a host of great bands from across the country come together to bring in 2011 with music… real music.

Unseen Underground in association with HMI Guitars, Roland, Chennai Live & Explocity has created history in Chennai by organizing a live rock show through the night- Unseen Underground Ragnarok ‘10, The show featured 7 bands from across the country. And no surprises, the crowd was something to be proud of! With six hours of unadulterated rock and metal, why wouldn’t the attendence be great!

Chennai’s home band Crypted went on first. They are a progressive death metal band and were a great start to the show. It was hardly a couple of minutes into the gig, and the headbanging and the moshing had begun. Armour Of God went on next, and this gig was a significant one for these guys, as they had been on a break of sorts for a while and were reuniting for this. Their last show was at the Unseen Underground Pub Fest in September 2009. Armour of God may have been out of the gigging circuit for a while, but they proved they were back, and put up a fairly tight show with some of their originals and their trademark- Children of Bodom covers.

Stitch, an Alternative punk band based in Delhi did not take too much time to introduce themselves to all who’d come to watch. After the initial dose of metal, Stitch was a refreshing change in the line-up of bands, and had good energy and a nice brand of punk tunes. After this was when Djinns Lament came on. They are a progressive / melodic death metal band from Chennai brought people back to the headbanging mode. They made the place seem fuller than what the organizers expected, and were on stage when the clock struck 12. They created just the perfect atmosphere to welcome 2011 with “Demon Of The Fall”, the Opeth cover. A perfectly metal start to the year, right?

Alternative rock group Borrowed Halos went on next, and with the general spirit of cheer all around, these guys added to the overall good mood. TWKC (Thundu Beedi Water Packet Kuchi Ice Curd Rice) , another metal band, came on next. These fellows seem to have quite a fan following in the city, and played an original heavy set and had the crowd in their highest spirits, pun intended. Old school thrash metal band Zealous from Mumbai went on next, and though everyone was well in the mood for their music, (especially because Chennai has a derth of these brand of metal bands), they ran out of time. It was almost 3 AM, and the show had to be stopped.

But on the whole, the gig was a great way to welcome 2011. It also was a great start to the year for Unseen Underground, which only promises to keep metal alive and bring you more live shows through this year and the rest. To keep yourself up to date with what’s happening at Unseen Underground, visit http://unseenunderground.blogspot.com/