Artist: Escher’s Knot
Album: Tessellations [EP]
Label: Self-released
Release Date: May 2010
Upon my recent exploration of the Indian metal scene, I have stumbled upon a whole lot of bands, belonging to different genres, filled with a lot of skills, talent and zeal to metal up our asses. But one thing that is common with pretty much every band today is the profligate addiction to groove. Be it thrash, death or progressive, bands take the contemporary approach of welding themselves to groove for making their sound heavy and modern, often killing the crudeness of the song. But Escher’s Knot is a band that perfectly knows how to keep a balance between various elements of heavy metal music.
Escher’s Knot, the name inspired from the 1966 art piece by the genius M.C. Escher, is one of the few bands that maintain the austere nature of the track while still keeping the songs groovy. Hailing from Chennai (now based in Bangalore), Escher’s Knot is a supergroup which is constituted of members from the bands III Sovereign, Ston’d, Theorized and Blood & Iron, and is one of the very first metal bands to have manifested in Chennai. The band was formed in 2009 when the Abijith and Anshuman met each other while pursuing the course of sound engineering in SAE Institute. Soon after their formation, the band participated in various competitions and launched their debut EP, titled ‘Tessellations’. The current line-up of the band isAbijithRao on vocals, Anshuman Mishra on guitars, SiddhartRamachandran on guitars (not on the album), MadhavAyachit on bass and Manu Krishnan on drums
Citing influences from the likes of Gojira, Meshuggah and Textures, Escher’s Knot tailors its music with progressive riffs, demonstrating high amount technicality and fragmented tempos, frivolous basslines, impeccably laid drums and intense harsh vocals. Their music has high degree of complexity with weird time signatures, yet it pumps you up with the energy to headbang and mosh away to its intricate and aggressive sound. ‘Tessellations’ kicks in with an ambient, multi-dimensional instrumental titled as ‘Hyperspace’. The song exhibits beautiful clean guitar progression played with a large amount of delay which later on fuses with immaculate basslines and drums which guide you through to the heavy part of song. The track ends with a keyboard progression played with weighty guitar riffs, giving a perfect start to the album.
The craziness in the album picks up with the track ‘Anonymous Origins’ which is filled with heavy riffs demonstrating awesome use of a seven-string guitar. You will love the section with diminished arpeggios and the psychedelic interlude which has a beautiful bass line. The song is about alien abduction which is also illustrated on the album’s cover art.As I stated earlier, the record is filled complexly structured songs with odd timed riffs, especially in the tracks ‘Up For Nothing’ and ‘Mayan Calendar’. The quick changing drumlines will leave you awestruck and you won’t realize when the effervescent sections transcend into melodic bridges. Check out for the mosh-prone and Chennai’s favourite piece ‘Break The Cypher’ which is filled with catchy thrashy groove laden sections.
The EP ends with an ambient piece, ‘Saidapet Score’ which is nothing but a barrage of psychedelic noises. The work on guitar has been splendid throughout the album. We can witness some brilliant use of seven-string guitar. The riffs are very innovative and he has certainly got something new to offer. Vocals on the album are really commendable; we can hear two kinds of techniques, growling and screeching, both done very nicely. And finally coming to drums, they have been the highlight of the album. The songs display impeccable synchronization of hands and legs; and with this amount of technicality, I would say Manu totally nailed it.
Summing up, the EP is one of the best debut releases I’ve seen so far. Score some from Saidapet and listen to the songs; I’m sure you’ll love it.
