After the stir that the prodigious track, ‘Shiva’ created among the fans in 2011, Kannur-based band The Down Troddence’s upcoming album is no doubt one of the most anticipated record in the Indian metal scene. The album, which releases later this year, will be the band’s first full length release and is being produced by the main-man of the most sensuous band in the Indian scene (Skyharbor), Keshav Dhar. We recently saw the new mascot designed for the album by Wow Makers, which is very reminiscent of a Kathakali dance character, brilliantly accounting for the folk and classical influences of the band.
The band released a promo clip featuring Rex Vijayan of Avial, who gives his views on the album. Putting TDT’s sound in the “world music” category, rather than classifying it as solely metal, Rex says that he was very amazed seeing how really aware the members of the band are about their sound and how perfectly they work out to achieve it too. He loved the solos on the album, finding them to be much more dynamic and melodic than solos which we generally hear on metal tracks. The clip also features a small section from one of the songs off the album. The sound looks very melodic, powerful and clearly has the ability and drive that we witness in TDT’s live performances.
The Down Troddence has clearly put a lot hard work and dedication over the past 2-3 years to come up with this album and is pretty excited about its release, which would take place in a couple of months. The band says, “We are currently in the final stages of production and are all extremely happy with how things are going. TDT is a band still in infancy and we are continually evolving from stage to stage, as we search for our true voice. Kerala folk culture has always been and will continue to be a significant influence on our music. It is where the roots of TDT are grounded. Metal is a medium that gives expression to our voice. We feel our concepts and our ideas are best received through this genre.
“Fans can expect a new sound from TDT which is completely different from our previous releases. We have taken really good care on the production side and we are sure that our fans will be happy with our final output. We thank Keshav Dhar for delivering what exactly we wanted in our sound and also credits goes to our keyboardist, Sushin Shyam for his guidance throughout the entire production process.
“We wrapped up the whole recording in 6 days. Funny part is that Munz was suffering from health problems and we couldn’t afford to postpone our recording as we had set timelines for everything. But he still nailed each and every song and finished everything on time. It was a true learning experience working with Keshav and his guidance had helped us a lot in wrapping everything up on time.
“Talking about the tracks, each and every song has a story or concept behind it. It is very well connected and goes with the ideology of the band. We have taken good care of the lyrical part as well.”
The Down Troddence are:
Munz – Vocals
Varun Raj – Guitars
Advaith Mohan – Guitars
Nezer Ahemed – Bass
Ganesh Radhakrishnan – Drums
Sushin Shyam – Keys
