Artist: Devoid
Album: The Invasion
Label: Independent
Produced and Engineered By: Arun Iyer
Release Date: February 3, 2013
Thrash Metal and Death Metal go back a long way and people have always believed that the latter has evolved from the former after bands like Death and Possessed, taking in influences from Slayer and Venom, decided to scream their throats off on some downright heavy music. Obviously the lyrical themes and atmosphere were a bit different and that has led to creation of a totally separate wave of music. But being a Thrash and Death fanatic that I am, I’ve always looked for Death Metal bands which sound a bit thrashy and finding a Thrash/Death metal band in India is simply awesome.
Devoid is a Death/Thrash Metal band hailing from the financial capital of the country, Mumbai. Formed in 2005, the band cite their influences as Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Deathchain, Witchery, Vader, Metallica, Hypnosia etc. and was one of the very few metal bands around that time. They drew a lot of attention after winning Campus Rock Idols in 2006 which was followed by a lot of gigs around many towns and a brilliant debut album in 2010 titled, ‘A God’s Lie’ which was released via Demonstealer Records. The band also nailed the opportunities of opening for the likes of Cradle Of Filth, Decapitated and Sybreed.
With insane amount of aggression and absolute thrashy death metal music, Devoid strikes yet again with their latest grind called ‘The Invasion’. The current line-up of the band is: Arun Iyer on vocals and guitars, Sanju Aguiar on guitars, Abhishek Kamdar on bass and Shubham Kumar on drums. ‘The Invasion’ conceptualizes the uncanny theme of alien invasion on Planet Earth. And yet again, like most Indian releases today, it starts off with a short instrumental, ‘Prelude’. Maintaining a gloomy and wicked atmosphere, the song displays brilliant acoustic guitar melodies accompanied with heavy orchestrations, giving a perfect start to the record.
The ferociousness kicks in with the title track, ‘The Invasion’ which is chock-full of pure headbangable riffs. The downright destructive number features a lot of heavy ear-spitting progressions accompanied by killer drumming and brutal grunts. It transcends to a slow melodic section which features a brilliant guitar harmony and a beautifully constructed solo. ‘Pandemonium Is Now’ and ‘Brahma Weapon’ continue to exhibit the total unruly nature of the album with splendidly crafted thrash riffs, which are connected with flawlessly tailored bridges. The last track on the EP is ‘The Grand Design’, which is slower than the rest of songs and features more number of guitar melodies. It kinda becomes monotonous as it progresses but it gives an apt ending to the album with the outro, which is reminiscent of ‘Prelude’.
The work on guitars is simply amazing throughout the album. The progressions are nicely hewed with a perfect balance between melody and aggression; the thrashy riffs demonstrate swift transitions between palm-muted notes and power chords. Sanju Aguiar has done wonderful work with the leads; check out the astounding solos on tracks ‘The Invasion’ and ‘Pandemonium Is Now’. The drumming is truly magnificent and I was totally awestruck after listening to the fills on ‘Pandemonium Is Now’. We can also witness some gut-wrenching shrieks by Arun Iyer, whose work on the album is also marvellous. The coordination between each member is just too great for that pace of the album and simply displays how skilled this lot is.
The production of the album is great, given the eight years of experience the band possesses. The guitar patches have been nicely set; the panning of instruments is perfect and the tracks have nice amount of dynamics. The only drawback I felt was that sound is the over-processed, which I have always felt about bands from Mumbai. It kinda loses the cult and raw feeling which we get in a Death or Thrash Metal track
Summing up, I have used way too many superlatives in the article now, so you better go, get the EP and let the aliens invade your laptops and iPods.
