Album Review – Mark Of Teja by Scribe

Artist: Scribe

Album: Mark Of Teja

Label: Independent

Release Date: 2010

There are some bands which restrict themselves to a certain crowd and, by keeping their sound raw and unadulterated, develop a cult following. Such bands tend to focus on the purity of their music and their performances are often ordinary and less industrious, nonetheless fans love them. And there are some bands which target a huge audience and they deliver performances which totally pep up the audience; no matter you like such music or not, you just love their gigs. Scribe is one such band, which simply knows how to get to people’s heads and pump them all with a bottle of Gatorade.

Hailing from Amchi Mumbai, Scribe successfully went from being just an underground metal band in the city to a nationwide headlining phenomenon. With Vishwesh on vocals, Prashant and Akshay on guitars, Vaas on bass and Viru on drums, the band has pocketed n number of achievements in just 6 years of their career; three blockbuster releases, four Rolling Stone Metal Awards (India), supported the likes of Megadeth, Lamb Of God and Periphery, performance at the massive Inferno Metal Festival in Oslo, Norway, just to name a few. Currently the band is in process of releasing their third studio album, titled as ‘Hail Mogambo’.

Now I am not a fan of Hardcore or Alternative but when I saw these guys perform for the first time, I was totally blown off by the amount of energy they maintained, their stage presence and above all Vishwesh’s off-the-wall crowd interaction skills, which was simply killer!

‘Mark Of Teja’, the band’s second full length album, has elements that will make you headbang, throw you in a mosh and make you roll on floor laughing on some really bone-tickling lyrics. With ‘Mark Of Teja’, Scribe bagged four awards at the first ever ‘Rolling Stone Metal Awards’ – ‘Best Metal Album’, ‘Best Metal Band’, ‘Best Metal Song (DemonPra)’ and ‘Best Metal Vocalist (Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy)’ in the year 2010. So let’s see what has the album got to offer!

The record starts with an ambient clean guitar instrumental piece titled, ‘The Seed’ which is followed by madness-packed number, ‘RSVP’. The song is filled with downright groovy sections hinged together with a melodic bridge featuring beautiful harmonies on guitars. ‘DemonPra’, ‘Judge Bread’ and ‘M-Power’ are similar tracks, only a bit more technical, with complex progressions and more melodious choruses. If you are in for djent-ish stuff with a lot of breakdowns and high amount of technicality, check out ‘Kamla’s Back’ and the instrumental title track, ‘Mark Of Teja’ and if you’re into straightforward, catchy and diabolically heavy numbers with absolute witty lyrics, then ‘I Love You Pav Bhaji’ and ‘1234 Dracula’ are the tracks for you.

We can see the softer side of Scribe in the alternative tracks ‘Dum Hai Toh Aage Aah!’ and ‘Street Archana v/s Vice Varsha’ and the ambient instruments like ‘Heidi’, ‘Don’t say’, ‘The Seed’ and ‘M-Pyre’. The highlight on the album would be Vishwesh’s matchless peculiar vocal delivery in the tracks, ‘I Love You Pav Bhaji’, ‘1234 Dracula’ and ‘Judge Bread’, where fires the recipe of pav bhaji (I Love You Pav Bhaji) and blabbers in Mumbaiyan language “Goonda banne ke liye, danger dikhna maangta” (to become a crook, you need to look dangerous; 1234 Dracula).

The work on guitars has been really brilliant throughout the album. Right from slow clean melodies to complex and aggressive chugs, the compositions have been impeccable. To match the level set by the vocals and guitars, drumming has been equally good. We can witness some fine synchronization of flawless basslines with odd timed progressions. And finally the production of the album adds a cherry on top of the cake with its grade A quality.

Summing up, the album is pretty badass and is a must for all kinds of heavy listeners. Now let’s just wait and watch if Mogambo beats the hell outta Teja!

Buy the album here.