Reviews - 8octaves Music

September 26, 2013

September 26, 2013September 24, 2022 8octaves Music

Album Review – Kaleidoscope by The F-16s

Artist: The F-16’s

Album: Kaleidoscope

Release: Early 2012

Defining themselves are the children of eclectic indie and bold alternative, and second cousin to glitch hop and beer, The F-16s, born brought up in Chennai, have been carving their niche in the music scene in India since early 2012. Strongly influenced by the The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys and The Black Keys, the band that brought together the five boys just over a year ago released their debut EP Kaleidoscope in August. In the short time they’ve been together, Kaleidoscope in its seven tracks showcases the band’s diversity; from the upbeat, inspiring ‘King’s Dream’ to the mellow, bass centric ‘Light Bulbs’.

While their lyrics are clearly along the lines of rock and indie, the music is more of psychedelic electro. This interesting mix is steady throughout the album. From the soft yet sharp notes in the beginning and immediately followed by quick beats from drummer Vikarm Yesudas, ‘Prelude’ kicks off the album with style. Immediately followed by ‘Light Bulbs’, highlighted by the haunted, soothing vocals from Joshua Fernandez, the first two tracks in away hold what the rest of the album has to offer.

Their psychedelic influence is evident as every track begins in a similar fashion. However, the band has showcased its diverse skills every time you move on to the next track. In ‘Light Bulbs’, the lyrics ‘drinking couldn’t help you forget’ arrest the listener for a few second while guitarist ____ takes over. It is a stark contrast to the following number, ‘Avalanche’, which sounds way too generic to be part of a debut album, with nothing new to offer. While it isn’t the worst track that first timers could release, it is resonates with the kind of music one would play while going for a run.

At first glance, ‘King’s Dream’ doesn’t feel like it’s a part of the set, adding a streak of punk rock to the album. But as you pass the 10^th second, it becomes too similar to ‘Are you gonna be my girl?’ by Jet. Inspired by Martin Luther King’s speech, it has extracts and lyrics inspired by the same. Nevertheless, the riff is impressive, perfect for a sit-down head bang session. The vocals are a welcome change, the style being the kind bound to get the crowd singing along. ‘Who Robbed the Rogue?’ is one track that communicates through just the music. The lyrics are minimal though loud, but the track is dominated by the instrumentals. ‘My Shallow Lover’ though called a signature track by many fans, brings a feeling of déjà vu. Happy and upbeat, it is somehow musically empty compared to the previous tracks. ‘Nuke’ has an interesting beginning, a perfect blend of the guitar and keyboard. The drums soon catch up, adding to the feel good factor, making it one of the best tracks in the album. Slowing down at the first minute, and that coming back up again, ‘Nuke’ has some great riffs and a feel of celebration.

The F-16s have managed to capture an emotion in each track. Every number is bound to make you recall an incident in your life. Kaleidoscope is a good debut album to have, but it still a mini album. From the seven tracks released so far, The F-16 has a promising future. For those who enjoy taking the high road once in a while, each and every track in Kaleidoscope promises to make it a quite a trip. Top three: ‘Light Bulbs’, ‘Nuke’ and ‘Who Robbed The Rogue?’

– Bhavya Balakrishnan

September 25, 2013

September 25, 2013September 25, 2022 Varun Khatri

Album Review – Depths Of Despair by SystemHouse33

Artist: SystemHouse33

Album: Depths Of Despair

Label: Independent

Mixed & Mastered by: Akash Sawant

Release Date: March 26, 2013

The number of metal releases in our country has clearly increased over the past couple of years, which is a good thing because this clearly indicates that the culture is spreading out. But as they say quality is better than quantity, I have rarely experienced an album which weakened me in the knees, gave me Goosebumps or made me believe that the money I spent on the album was of total worth. When you listen to a particular band, you judge them with respect to the amount of uniqueness their music possesses and how different their sound is from their influences and trust me, amongst the myriad bands, there are only a few who score in this criteria.

SystemHouse33 is one such band which makes an effort to put something new on the table with its latest grind. Hailing from Nagpur in September 2003, SystemHouse33 infuses a considerable amount of groove and thrash elements in its strategically technical riffs and offers quite a new sound for us to hear. Being in the scene for almost 10 years now, the band shifted its base to Mumbai in their early years and has given us three studio albums and one EP till date. With Samron Jude (Sceptre) on vocals, Daniel DSouza on guitars, Leon Quadros on bass and Atish Thomas on drums, the band releases its third studio album, ‘Depths Of Despair’.

Starting off with ‘Abstraction’, Systemhouse33 is yet another Indian band which goes forward with the idea of starting their album with an ambient electronic instrumental before they give us the real deal. It is followed by a track called ‘Depths of Despair’, which pushes in with odd-timed thrash/groove riffs and goes into a long section of breakdown. The track, being a treat for the technical fans, offers pretty interesting riffs which stream with a great flow. ‘Death Wish’ is more on the thrashy and straightforward side rather than embracing technical sections. The track features fairly innovative progressions which are power packed with a lot of grooves, a thing you’ll always find about the bands in Mumbai. However the guitar tone is pretty muddy and this makes the riffs, not only in this song, but most of the songs, pretty obscure.

The next two songs ‘Stark Revelations’ and ‘Courtesy And Protocol’ have a quite good construction when compared to other songs on the album. The songs offer us a perfect balance between technical sections and straightforward sections. The drum lines have been laid perfectly on each riff, which are rather innovative and catchy. Though, the vocals are a bit disappointing as the screams seem to be a pretty austere and crude. ‘Resistance’ adds an element of variedness in the album as it is mostly based on a low tempo and is comparatively quite melodic. Besides the skull-pounding breakdowns, the song offers pretty catchy riffs and melodic portions which have been crafted perfectly. Samron has added a bit of darker tone to the album with his growls put over the main riff and breakdowns, which sound much better than the screams which we hear in the rest of the album.

The production of the album is just about average. As stated earlier the guitars sound a bit muddy, obscuring some good riffs with less amounts of chugs. Besides that the tracks lose dynamics at some places, but the overall sound is satisfactory. The work on guitars is quite good; I won’t say that it offers something totally new but it appears to be quite fresh when the compositions are put together. However, a better take on the sound of the song as a whole would definitely help the album be more innovative than it currently is.

So the verdict is that the band’s music is definitely something new and exclusive but what keeps this album from being an excellent album is the tiny lack of innovativeness in its sound, which I believe won’t be much of an issue for a band that has been in the scene for 10 years.

Buy the album here

September 25, 2013

September 25, 2013September 25, 2022 Amrutha Ananth

Album Review – Veena in Vienna by Punya Srinivas

Artist: Punya Srinivas

Album: Veena in Vienna

Label: Purple Note

Mixed & Mastered by: Shanti Shekhar @ Krishna Digi Design

If you are looking for something fresh from the world of classical and fusion, you have stumbled upon the right album. Veena in Vienna is the first offering of Chennai based veena virtuoso Punya Srinivas. This humble looking lady has completed over 5000 recordings on the veena, displaying complete control over the instrument alongwith several of her own developed skills.

This album is a rendition of a number of compositions written especially for the artist by 7 composers except two tracks, Veena in Vienna is by JS Bach and Mad Mod Mood Fugue by Ilaiyaraaja

Veena in Vienna as the title suggests is a syncopated alliance of Indian and western influences with supportive collaboration from some excellent musicians, composers and technicians. Though the main focus of this album is on the veena some interesting platters have been presented with other instruments as well. A special mention also needs to be made of the work done by the various guitarists on this album. The arrangement done in the album is vague to profound. The number of arrangers and musicians used on this album could be the reason behind this.

‘Global Gear’ composed arranged by Stephen Devassy is the first track to the album. A wonderful track that has diverse related elements flowing through a number of segments of the track. This forms the body with the Venna orchestrating the melody that chains this all together. Apart from fantastic work on the veena, Punya also displays her ability to dispense ragas with as much ease.

‘Hot Winter’ is composed and arranged by Sharreth. The track is a ballad of a number of melodies put together going through various twists and turns. The constant shift in the groove of the song makes it sound like a movie soundtrack and less of a song.

‘Veena is Vienna’ – E major Sonata composed by JS Bach

This track is the best track of the album. Veena is a classical traditional instrument with 7 strings with 4 used for playing and 3 for drone. As indian music is mainly based on vocal tradition, there is a reliance on only those octaves that is achievable vocally hence the third and fourth’s string use is minimized. In western music, written form of composition has allowed used of a more diverse pitch range. Punya Srnivas has tried to integrate this aspect into the veena by adapting and performing the violin part of the western music great JS Bach. She has been quite successful in doing so too.

‘Piece for Punya’ composed by V.S.Naramsimhan and arranged by Navin Iyer & Bharanidharan. This track has a traditional Indian groove playing alongside some funky breakbeat style beats. An orchestra of instruments such as flute, saxophone and guitar accompany the veena on this one. ’Metamorphosis’ – symphonic Variations composed by vivekanand. This track has an mystic atmospheric gloomy overtone created from the veena and orchestra.The main theme is a group of six notes with which the composer has created the track with symphonic treatment. The centre section of the movement is built on atonal and tweleve note serial languages.

Next is a chillout tune with a reggae rhythm composed and arranged by Nivas Prasanna called ‘On Cloud Nine’. Punya Srinivas is wonderful in adapting to the change and has complimented with well. It is interesting what moods and emotions are presented with fusion of diverse styles and cultures. It helps break the associative moulds to catch the glimpse of the other or not ‘know’. ‘Mad Mod Mood Fugue’ is composed by on of the renowned musicians of India Ilaiyaraja. A rock rendition of the track gives an upbeat feel to it. Fans of the growing folk rock scene in India check this one.

All in all a fresh vibrant album. A must listen for connoisseurs of the new and different.

September 24, 2013

September 24, 2013September 24, 2022 Shravan Bendapudi

Album Review – Hot & Heavy by Filharmonix

Artist: Filharmonix
Album: Hot & Heavy
Label: Independent
Mastered at: L R Studio
Release Date: 18th July, 2012

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Everyone loves dumping on the eighties. Especially its rock: to be fair it is quite easy to – the old guard from the 70’s was fast descending down a spiral of “big whoop” while they desperately tried to cling on to their heyday glory with technical skill and thirty minute solos while the new guard – punk – declared themselves with swagger but little grunt to carry them far. Then there was the biggest culprit of all – glam metal. Much to the chagrin of metalheads everywhere, metal suddenly became party music, became nightlife music, and worst of all, became mainstream music. And if that wasn’t bad enough – out of the glam woodworks came the rock ballad: sappy songs that took record sales through the roof. But while Whitesnake’s greatest legacy might be “Is This Love” (ughh), they still kicked major ass – a point reinforced while listening to songs like “In the Still of the Night” or “Judgement Day”.

And Filharmonix, with their debut album Hot & High, seem to aim to remind us of just that. As you look at the album cover and hear the singer wail “heavy metal cowboys …riding horses made of steel” you realize that in spite of the bad rap glam gets……. it is fun. The band does seem to have a good formula – Whitesnake, Guns N Roses and even a bit of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden thrown into the mix for good measure. And god knows that today, with the overbearing thrust on djent, technical grindcore, progressive and even doom metal, we need a band to lighten the mood a little and allow us to let our hair down (figuratively in my case). And although we want them to be, Fillharmonix falls just short of being that band.

The album does start off quite well with the aforementioned “Heavy Metal Cowboys” and does manage to keep the fun quotient going through the 8 tracks. The songs themselves follow the tried and tested formula of Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Solo1-Solo2-Chorus and while that doesn’t allow for any surprises on the album, there’s nothing wrong with it. Of the material, the two slower songs, No No and Anaa Inside, are probably weaker than the rest of the tracks and you’ll probably find yourself reaching for the skip button there.

The band themselves are a capable bunch – they play their instruments well throughout the album and they do sound tight, but only just about. There are several points on the album where it becomes apparent that the members aren’t necessarily listening to what the other is playing and things don’t quite fit well (a little something for the drummer and bassist to think about). The guitar solos as well probably need more work in terms of composition seeing as they are intended to be one of the highlights of the album. There are several catchy hooks and riffs through the album, but none memorable enough to warrant repeated listens. I have no doubt that the material plays really well live with its sing-along choruses, crowd-pleasing riffs and upbeat vibe but recording and putting out an album is a whole different ball game.

The big question: should you get it. On a scale of “Hell Yes” to “For the love of God No”, I’d go for a “why not” – it is cheap (if the price mentioned on the cover is anything to go by) and it is fun – like a plate of momos in a Jorhat marketplace. Did I mention these guys are from Jorhat? Funny how that worked out…..

Fillharmonix are:

KK – Guitars

Anurag – Guitars

Ved – Bass

Purab A – Vocals

Sami – Drums

September 21, 2013

September 21, 2013September 23, 2022 Varun Khatri

Album Review – Lapse Into Delirium by Corrode

Artist: Corrode

Album: Lapse Into Delirium

Label: Self-produced

Mastered and Mixed By: Ankit Suryakanth of Theorized (confirmation required)

Release date: August 2012

Forming a band, composing songs, playing gigs and above all sustaining oneself while doing that is not an easy process altogether, especially in our country where fan base is so little that often these bands find no motivation to move forward. Our tradition has always placed music as secondary and no individual (except for Sahil Makhija) builds his career on it alone. Crafting of quality music requires patience, dedication and money and with people doing jobs and going to colleges, it really becomes a tough job. Hailing from our country’s own metal haven, Bangalore, is a Melodic Death Metal Band called Corrode, which was incepted in the industry in 2007, but it was not until 2012 that we saw a release from them.

Drawing inspiration from Children Of Bodom, Dark Tranquility, Arch Enemy, Insomnium, Lamb Of God and Omnium Gatherum, the band’s sound amalgamates elements from melodic death metal and metalcore. Since its year of formation, Corrode has played in many events from college fests to professional shows like Riff ‘Em All and Brute Fest, has been through several line-up changes, got endorsed by Steve Clayton and released an album titled ‘Lapse Into Delirium’. The current line-up of the band is: Aditya Rajan on vocals and guitars, Vinay ‘Goldy’ Ganesh on guitars, Nikil Kumar on bass and Ashwin Alexander on drums.

‘Lapse Into Delirium’ deals with the phase in which a man dissolves into distress and emotions, a bit which everyone goes through in his/her life. The album starts off with the title track, a beautifully crafted, sorrowful and slow instrumental. This requiem dawns with gorgeous clean guitars laden with a stunning bassline and keys in background and transcends into a distorted harmony which is reminiscent of the clean guitar progression, giving a magnificent start to the album. The next song up is ‘Laconic’ which starts off with a nice groovy melody supported by a nice bass track. The song has got a nice essence of tunefulness except for the bridge which is kind of dull and muddy and the solo which is pretty mediocre.

‘Casting Shadows’ starts off with a heavy riff braced with a lead and growled vocals and merges into a thrashy yet melodic section followed by the dulcet tone of the chorus. The song is pretty pleasant sounding if you ask me but it doesn’t offer much variety and gets kinda monotonous as you proceed towards the end. The fourth song in the album is the self-titled track, ‘Corrode’. The track has a very gloomy and chaotic kind of atmosphere which doesn’t suggest that it is from a melodeath band. It incorporates use of dark and shadowy scales in its progressions and creates a black metal-ish environment, especially with high pitch screeches appearing halfway through the song. The song is also pretty progressive in nature and has many changes. The song may be unfitting but certainly is a good one to hear.

The album ends with a metalcore number, ‘A Place Called Death’. The song begins with a fast riff in the verse but chorus gets a bit dull and tedious. The slow down after the second verse contains a nice section filled with effervescent bass progression and an easy on ear guitar harmony but the solo following is a bitter disappointment in my opinion. The work on bass has been splendid throughout the album, which is really a rare thing to see in India. The compositions are, frankly speaking, are just about average, although there are some good bits in each song but on a whole, they are pretty ordinary. The production is also below standards; each song has been excessively layered and instruments don’t gel together.

Summing up, the album is a good effort by the band but with more effort, they would certainly kick some ass.

Facebook | Official Website

September 19, 2013

September 19, 2013September 23, 2022 Amrutha Ananth

Album Review – Limit Zero – Gravestone Constellations

Artist: Limit Zero

Album: Gravestone Constellations

Label: Unsigned

Mastered by: Keshav Dhar (Skyharbor)

Release Date: September 2012

Limit Zero guitarist Shreyas introduces the band as “The idea behind Limit Zero was to unify various genres and sounds to create one melodic soundscape with a hint of brutality, and a concept that focuses on Space, Gravity and other interstellar uncertainties.”

Limit Zero is a metal band from Bangalore, India .Limit Zero present their debut offering this september, ‘Gravestone Constellations ‘. Another work of art to add to growing metal scene in India. Raised in Bengaluru, the hub for rock scene in India since the past few years now, Limit Zero is an amalgamation and Deviance of this very viscous environment.

The band calls this music to be along the line of Experimental and Progressive Metal and have been inspired by bands like In Flames, Soilwork, Meshuggah, Deftones, Textures. The band’s music too is tilted toward this style in comparison to the general metal sound. Some aspects characteristic of this style are double bass drumming, heavy distorted guitars and a combination of singing and growling. Since the EP release couple of years back the band’s sound has become more professional at the same time has not lost all its teeth and rawness.

The album covers a range of different styles or moods and sub-moods .Though a definitive Limit Zero signature sound is not apparent in the album the music has kept it within certain lines to keep the listener intersted.

The work done by Keshav Dhar on the album in terms of production is marginally below the mark. Point to be considered is the variation in Skyharbor’s music compared to Limit Zero. Excellent drumming on Gravestone Constellations by Vatsa. His style is neat as well as versatile. He is able to create the shift in scene giving depth with multiple drum pattern sets in each song.

“Galaxies Bleed” is the first track of the album. This track is a good introduction to Limit Zero and the 3 years that went behind making this album. “Approaching Infinity” is one of the best tracks of the album. The synchronic bass guitar layers aptly compliment each other to add effect across various twists and turns of the track. This track along with “Focus” also features on the EP previously launched by Limit Zero.The album charters all which is dark and finds layers and versatile pathways within these known and unknown region

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Started out in 2008, Shreyas Skandan’s project evolved over time with gain in momentum With Sachin Rajmohan on board. They released a free EP with 250 cds and got a decent amount of attention in Progressive Metal/ Djent community. Shiv,Arjun and Vatsa picked up Bass,Guitar and Drums duties respectively and completed the band by 2010. Crisis struck Limit Zero. Sachin left the band for personal reasons. The band searched quite a bit nationwide for apt vocals for their ensemble. Sunnith Revankar ( Bhayanak Maut ) came into the picture since then and has been doing a good job too. A massive musician mashup is occuring in the music scene with several musicians playing in several bands apart from their ‘base’ band or what they started out with.

This album apart from Sunneith also features Siddharth Basrur (“Pulsar”), and Trevor Marks from Toxic Grind Machine (“Gravestone Constellations”) on guest vocals. The Band has been playing live gigs at various venues in Bengaluru and also some festivals. With so many new bands coming into the scene, it is not known what will stop them from withering away into oblivion once again.

Buy this album here

September 18, 2013

September 18, 2013September 25, 2022 Varun Khatri

Album Reivew – An Exordium To Contagion by Plague Throat

Artist: Plague Throat

Album: An Exordium To Contagion

Label: Incanned Productions

Release Date: August 8, 2013

ReverbNation | SoundCloud

When it comes to rock and metal in India, these people from North India have constantly proved to be quite talented and skilled. Be it the frisky essence of blues or high-tempo paced agony of death metal, they master it all, from engineering brilliant riffs to selection of guitar tones. One such band hailing from the rock capital of India is Plague Throat.

Plague Throat is a three piece death metal band from Shillong, consisting of Nangsan on guitars and vocals, Iaidon on bass and vocals and Malice on drums. They played their first show at PowerPlay, a local metal show held at U Soso Tham Auditorium in Shillong on August 8, 2008 (08/08/08) and after exactly five years from the day, the band released its first EP, ‘An Exordium To Contagion’ on August 8, 2013 with the same line-up as it was on the day of their first concert, which is quite brilliant.

‘An Exordium To Contagion’ is a rather perfect example of how death metal in the North-east is: heavy and downright brutal. Clocking in at just under fifteen minutes, the EP has only four songs; yeah, quite short but heavy enough to throw you into the pit. The first track, ‘The Pretentious And The Deceived’ pierces in through a ferocious drum line, the drums though being quite prominently programmed. The song has excellently constructed sections, graced with thrashy riffs played on low tuned guitars. The riffs in bridges, especially, are quite organic and pounding as opposed to the ear-splitting tremolo-picked riffs in choruses.

I loved the flow and ferocity present in the song although the theme seems to be a bit disappointing. Now I don’t have the lyrics with me and obviously I couldn’t comprehend what was being sung but from the title, it appears that the song is about the pompous nature of our society, which in my opinion kinda doesn’t fit. The sound is too brutal and vicious to be talking about a social issue. Anyways, the second track, ‘Burn’, is another swift, short-of-breath and heavy as hell piece composed mainly of thrashy riffs which sound just brilliant with the guttural vocals given by Nangsan. When it comes to mosh-provoking, aggressive death metal, Plague Throat doesn’t disappoint.

‘Present Chaos’ is a pretty famous song which has been featured in many compilations like ‘Brutal Pokhara: Occult Science of Metal’, ‘Putrid Ascendancy: Ascending True Indian Metal’, ‘Brutal Pokhara: Build On Chaos Field’ and ‘Metal Spree: New Year Killing Spree’. And no doubt the song has been engineered brilliantly with a variety of astounding progressions which are connected by fantastic bridges, strikingly typifying the steel-toed American death metal sound, the kind you generally find in bands like Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus etc.

The last song would be the longest and apparently the most whimsical on the album. The song travels through a lot of variations and offers us quite a mottled assortment of progressions of varying tempos. The drum lines and guitar progressions are kinda complex and we can witness a few breakdowns, a trait we generally come across in most Indian modern death metal songs. However, the complexity doesn’t fiddle with the track’s bare sound which is overall quite malicious. The production of the album is fairly average. The guitar patches have been carefully selected and equalized and overall the instruments have been panned aptly and the tracks carry a good amount of dynamics. However as I pointed earlier, the programmed drums are too obvious, which sort of muddles with austereness of the sound.

In the end, I would say that the album does give us some headbangable and backbiting music, although it lacks the innovativeness and nothing very new is kept on the plate, which I believe is one thing which a release should possess. But overall, the sound is quite brilliant and if you’re looking for some brutal and heavy music, then this album is for you.

September 11, 2013

September 11, 2013September 25, 2022 Shubangi Sundar

ALBUM REVIEW – SUMMER CALLING by STREET STORIES

Artist: Street Stories

Album: Summer Calling, Acoustic EP

Label: Element Indie Records

Release Date: 6 Aug 2013

Songs: 4

Noteworthy: What’s in a drink?

I think the last time I laughed and cooed over music was when I heard the Juno Soundtrack. Following that was during this review. Street Stories is a very happy band. But more that than they are a very quirky band and their quirkiness is in the sheer obviousness of their music and lyrics. They make happy indie music and are on track to accomplishing an indie sound that is very distinct.

If you enjoy John Mayer when he hit the music scene or Jason Mraz, you will enjoy this EP. I was wishing there were most songs. When I review an album there are times where I jump ahead during a few numbers when it gets a little low or monotonous. With this band, that didn’t happen. Somehow their music can just play and play and you don’t want it to stop.

Comprising of Pezo Kronu, Riko Kronu and Matsram Sangma, it was church singing that formed this band in January, 2010. Pezo and Riko always knew music was their calling and chanced upon Drummer Sangma that completed the trio. Hailing from Shillong where music seems to be in the water, the band has an open mind to trying different genres.

Now, the tracks. They are all great. All have a certain beat and timing to them that I feel will eventually become a distinguishing factor for the band. What’s in a drink has very relatable lyrics and will make you enjoy the drink you have in your hand. She can has this amazing clapping part that makes you want to stand up and start clapping along. Happy is just skippable. Yes I am aware that that is not a word, but I am inventing because that is the feeling the song left with me. A welcome change in tune and feel is On the line. It is slower than the other numbers and smoother. The band does this well too, though I am partial to the band’s upbeat tunes. The chorus part in the song does have an undeniable Mraz quality to it though.

The band is strong on vocals and while Pezo’s voice has a great quality, it can be pushed a little further on some numbers. But at the end of the day, what I find interesting is the reactions girls have to the songs. Most who hear it love it, something the band should take into consideration.

September 9, 2013

September 9, 2013September 24, 2022 Abhiraj Ghosh

Gig Review – Echoes From Beneath

It has been a pretty dry year for gigs this year in Bangalore. Compared to last year, the major gigs have dried up, but the underground gigs still go on steady and easy, like always. After a very successful Doom Over Bangalore, Bangalore Doom Syndicate were out with their second gig of the year – Echoes From Beneath. Bangalore city’s hunger for metal was definitely restored by Echoes From Beneath. 7^th of September perhaps has witnessed the most extreme and biggest underground gig hosted in Bangalore for quite some time. With the super heavy Indian line-up of Djinn and Miskatonic, Witchgoat, Shepherd and Bevar Sea it also featured two of the most extreme bands from Sri Lanka – Manifestator and Genocide Shrines.

It started with a good note of a very gloom filled day and why not even the eternity was crying seeing the underground just exploding. The scene just exploded with “Bass-Driven Droning Doomroid Rock” by Djinn and Miskatonic. The band just mesmerised us with their heavy bass driven music and Oh boy! What vocals! Looking at Jayaprakash, the bassist, people commented – “Hendrix with the bass”. Well, why won’t they? After all he is left handed and holds the guitar exactly like Sir Jimi Hendrix himself. Sriram, who was seen rocking it with a B.C. Rich, made it felt that he was a part of the band right from the beginning! He has gelled in very well with the band and the band sounds better than before! The headbanging which was slow at the beginning increased with the bass drums kicking in at the end.

Setlist –

Weird Tales
Book of the Fallen
7 Year Witch

Next up was Witchgoat. This Black/Thrash band is the dirtiest of them all. They missed out during the inaugural Doom Over Bangalore, but made sure they make an impact during Echoes From Beneath. Their blazing fast performance was a real kick to the balls. The vocals were raw, powerful and hard to handle. But among all the chaos, one could feel they were having fun while performing. You could easily find Goat Krvsher fooling around while he was playing the bass. It would be injustice if i call it a mosh pit, it was a real CARNAGE. These goats with bullet straps all around them surely gave me a serious neck pain. The crowd response was tremendous! Even Necromaniax’s broken guitar string was cheered!

Setlist –

The Old Rugged Cross
Sacrifice (Bathory Cover)
Apostles of Baphomet
Death or glory (Motorhead Cover)
Goatspawn Militia
Tormentor (Kreator Cover)
Into the Black

Witchgoat was followed by Shepherd, who unfortunately performed as a 3 piece band due to some issues. It was more of a jam session with some extraordinary melodious guitar playing by Namit. However, they called upon Ganesh from Bevar Sea as a guest vocalist, who was in a quirky mood and didn’t fail to address the ladies in short skirts. Ganesh performed 2 songs with the band and after that 3-piece moved ahead and did covers of The Melvins. It was an excellent exhibit of drums and vocals together by Deepak. It reminded me of Blue Cheer.

Setlist –

Crook
Turdspeak
10000 Years (High on Fire Cover)
Blank (Eyehategod Cover)
Undergod Dog
Bogslime
Night Goat (Melvins Cover)
Wretch Salad
Stalebait

Then came the Sri Lankvlt giant Manifestator! And man, they were ready from the word go. Wartek was superb! Correction, he was electrifying! They addressed the crowed very well and categorised their music as Speed meets Black/Thrash and Doom. The crowd’s fantastic response was awarded by a stage dive from Wartek. The guitar playing of Blashphemous Wargoat reminded me of some iconic guitar solos of Exodus. Just when I was thinking about it, they covered Slayer! Being my favourite band I burst out into tears, they followed it up with a cover of Turbonegro to end the set. Khaoshiva was looking evil with his bass. They thanked the Doom Over Bangalore crew for their hospitality during their, a very rare scene, you rarely get to see bands thanking the organisers these days.

Setlist –

C.V.L.T.
G.O.D.
Terrorstorm (Witchaven Cover)
Piece By Piece (Slayer Cover)
Killing Magnet
I Got Erection (Turbonegro Cover)

Manifestator was followed by our very own stoner boys from Bangalore – Bevar Sea and the crowd cheered to hell. Clearly the crowd favourites (till now), they started the gig with their signature addressing style – “We are Bevar Sea, so are you”. They played their new song – Bearded and Bizarre, which has a different kind of drumming which I have never heard in any other Bevar Sea song. I need to say Ganesh was the busiest person that day, as this was his 3rd performance of the day. It was sad to see that they couldn’t perform Abishtu due to time constraint and that was mainly due to the late start which was a result of a monitor blowing up during pre-gig preparations. Overall, a kickass performance as always and the crowd favourites still keep their tag.

Setlist –

Bearded And Bizarre
The Smiler
Where There’s Smoke (There’s A Pyre)
Universal Sleeper
Sleeping Pool

Then came the moment we were all waiting for – Genocide Shrines. They came, they performed and they just conquered. Their stage presence was totally out of the world and the interaction with the crowd was just brilliant. Their performance transformed the place into a black worm-hole. It was just one of those performances that would really standout from the rest for quite some time be etched in the viewers mind for a long time. The drumming was loud and ear shattering, Blashphemous Wargoat (also the guitarist of Manifestator) my suggestions for the weak hearted would be to wear ear plugs. They were loud and looked evil in the mask. Tridenterrorcult’s vocals were real Death, the echo-delay effect on the vocals made it sound even more evil. Khaoshiva (also the bassist of Manifestator) looked straight out of hell. Most people in the crowd had just one thing to say – “This is the most evil band”. They were just killing it with one song after the other and were dedicating their songs to our very own Dying Embrace (horns up for them till death). Genocide Shrines reminded me of the early garage days of any big 4 metal bands, it was like they were to just blow up the place.

Setlist –

Devanation Monumentemples
Apparitions Of Spiritual Obliteration
Shivatandaviolence (Cleansiege)
Nectars Of Tantric Murder
Gasmaskgauthama (and other assorted ressurections) – Song from the upcoming album
INRI (Sarcofago cover)
Militant Thrishul (eradiction pooja) – Song from the upcoming album
Lord of the Void (Archgoat cover).

Echoes From Beneath, just like Doom Over Bangalore, was a flawless event; both in terms of management as well as execution. And a special mention for the hospitality, they planned out everything for even the outstation attendees! The Bangalore Doom Syndicate deserves a big pat on their back for yet another successful gig. A pretty impressive turnout of around 160 people, these 160 people got their money’s worth for sure. Looking forward to the next edition of Echoes From Beneath, and some rumours about it have already started circulating. Just in case you haven’t been confronted by any of the rumours, let me tell you, you are in for a HUGE surprise.

A big shout out to Argha Kamal Ganguly for filling up as the reviewer in a short notice, we are grateful for your inputs. And a huge thanks to Danish R.D. from Danz Photography for the awesome set of pictures!

September 8, 2013

September 8, 2013September 23, 2022 Abhiraj Ghosh

Album Review – The Crossover by Baiju Dharmajan

Artist – Baiju Dharmajan

Album – The Crossover

Released – 2012

Mixed by – Baiju Dharmajan

Mastered by – Ty Degroff of The Final Sound, U.S.A.

Label – Cochyn Records

OK Listen.

Baiju Dharmajan – the very name of the legend relates on to the iconic Carnatic Rock band Motherjane. His solos in Chasing the Sun, Mindstreet, Fields of Sound; to name a few, rings in the head of anyone who thinks about Motherjane. It was a sad day in 2010, when Baiju officially announced his departure from Motherjane, to give time to his former band Wrenz United. But that didn’t last long. Baiju started working on his solo project and started working on his solo album – The Crossover.

The Crossover is a pretty interesting album to start off with. People accustomed to Baiju’s sound in Motherjane, will be surprised after listening to this record. There is a total change in sound, hence the title – The Crossover fits perfectly. The album kicks off with Alchemy, a calm and serene song with Carnatic influences at times; moves on to a totally different faced paced number – Demented; and then on to a pretty interesting Techno-Rock influenced Cyber Reptile. The versatility shown is mind blowing. And though, some people who I had talked to about the album said that Baiju didn’t play to his full potential, I would still stick to the versatility and adapting to different types of styles and rate that of higher importance. You have solos that sound like someone is speaking to you in Alchemy and Halo; a classic example of Joe Satriani/Steve Vai-esque attempt in Demented; and to top it all probably one of the best solo guitar instrumental I’ve heard in recent times – Philia.

Along with the guitaring part, two things that stand out is the level of detailing given to the backing tracks. The drums, the bass and the key (wherever used) has been given the exact exposure needed and just enough volume on the mix to perfectly blend in with the music. Though, I felt the arpeggios in Alchemy could have been a little higher, they had a nice feel to it on its own. But apart from this minor factor, Baiju has made sure there isn’t much to complain about.

Coming to his guitar solos now; even though some people may think this work is not at par with his Motherjane era work, one thing still stands out in the album – his effortless mix of Indian and Western scales. Credited with pioneering the trend in Indian Rock and influencing countless guitarists and bands alike, his signature tube amp tone and blended scales are evident even in this album. The Crossover marks his journey into music as a solo guitarist. Something rare in the Indian scene, but not surprisingly he has been well accepted by the crowd; Baiju Dharmajan Syndicate is making waves in the country at this moment. On that note, many fans, like me, are eagerly waiting for Baiju’s next album.

Final verdict – Keep Calm and listen to the God of Small Strings 😉

My picks from the album –