Demilich - Nespithe

Demilich is one of the most obscure band that has ever propped up into the death metal scene. Coming from the far plains of Finland, Demilich seems even when wierd compared to the usual Finnish metal scene which has mostly given us power metal bands. However putting together an album, an incredibly bizzare and highly technical album Nespithe in their short span of existence, Demilich captured the notice of metalheads immidiately with this release. With loads of riffs that draws a thin line between the schizoid and constructive technicality, Nespithe enthralls you with its bizzare, tumultous sound that makes you think as though the music is coming from a cosmos of unknown origin.

The music in Nespithe can put you in to a great spot of confusion. If at one point it sounds atmospheric then the same might strike you as a technical piece of creation few moments later. And if you think the album sounds very anarchic, then it might appear to you as quite orderly few seconds later. The riffs in the album are very much dissonant with fairly high pitched sounds, which appears as though its sonic boom bouncing of walls. Guitars in short makes you feel lost in its unparalleled swirling sound that drowns your presence in its wierd essence. The bassist and the drummer too deserve applause for their sheer incredibilty. The bass doesn't mimic the guitar unlike most bassists in death metal acts and the drummer too covers up his part decently by playing some groovy beats and handling quick tempo shifts with ease.

Apart from the instrumentation, the song construction too gets a well mannered approach by Demilich. The unusual arangements in the song may seem uncoherent that creates a snse of chaos, but in the end it all seems very coherent and ordered. Nowhere in the album will you find a point, where they throw in random riffs just create an added sense of incoherence. Vocals used on the album are nothing but abnormally low growls sounding close to a belch. But that goes in perfect with their theme of exploration of the unknown and abstarct realm. Songs that makes your ear beed in the album are plenty but I personally pitch for Inherited Bowel Levitation - Reduced With Any Effort,The Sixteenth Six-Tooth Son of Fourteen Four-Regional Dimensions (Still Unnamed) and The Echo (Replacement).

In the end if you are still confused as to what Demilich might sound like, then play Evoken and Meshuggah side by side and then start headbanging to Demilich. With bizzare themes and song titles with equally abstart song structures and instrumentation, at some point the album begins to strike you as though the members have taken to HP Lovecraft's lore of bizzare mythos where every creature comes of an unknown dimension and unknown realm where no one else has ventured. But in the end you experience total nerve wrecking havoc from Nespithe just like equally horrifyng ends in Lovecraft's Cthlhu tales that you secretly enjoy. IF you are ever want to listen to technical death that's not in the veins of Necrophagist,Obscura or even Decapitated, then Demilich's Nespithe is just the album for you.

Great Indian Rock 2009 - Bangalore

Finally the last week of October arrived. And with it came 2009 edition of Great Indian Rock in Bangalore. Frankly speaking I was really stunned when RSJ got Satyricon to play in last year's GIR edition that too for 150 bucks a ticket, which was a real huge cheap ass bargain any metalhead could lay their hands upon. And so I was naturally expecting RSJ to get another big name act in the line of Enslaved,Detonation,Satyricon they had got in their previous editions. But then I was surprised when I saw names like Slostate,Intronaut and Benea Reach glazing the posters of this year's GIR edition. No! Not surprised(surprised wouldn't be the right word), I was left in a very sour mood after seeing such pathetic names.

But nevertheless, like most hip urbane college going student who has a knack to wear a 'cool' black metal T shirt, of whom he hasn't heard a single song of, I had a knack of checking out firang bands playing live on stage. Luckily Inner Sanctum and Kryptos happened to accompany these firangs that day! And so I eagerly buy my ticket of GIR to watch these bands play. Now from my numerous gig experience I have realized one thing - the starting act is always the shittiest act. And Parachute XVI lived up to my expectation of being a shitty act playing the starting slot(last year SlingShot fulfilled that dubious nomination). And luckily my decision to smoke outside with my friends came helpful because none of us could bear to hear that pathetic rock piece of music they happened to play.

Next came Inner Sanctum, who as usual tore the place apart with their raw energy that brought droves of metalheads into the moshpit. Playing all their songs from their EP, Inner Sanctum were tight as ever with their primal energy radiating off the stage into the crowd unlike the very lethargic Parachute XVI. The crowd by now had started to trickle in and I too had walked at right at this juncture, straight into the moshpit. After all if you don't mosh to Sanctum, you don't do justice to their music. Sadly the time constraints(I still thought the organizers had ample of time on hand) had kicked in and after completing their set, Sanctum couldn't play to the encore which was resonating the arena(though there were only 300-450 people in a place that could pack in at least 5000 people). And then came Kryptos , the omnipresent Bangalore band which plays in each and every concert, Kryptos. Not that they are bad, but these guys get to play at so many gigs that sooner or later you start to get bored of them.

But nevertheless Kryptos played a good set though their bass was a tad too high. Nolan constantly asked the crowd to form the moshpit at their every alternate song, which I never understood why. Why would any single metalhead with little bit of sanity left in them, mosh to a band that plays thrash/doom mix? I dont know and I didn't mosh to. By now I happily walked to the back of the arena where I could hear Motherjane playing playing in the Octoberfest which was being held right next to GIR(it was more enjoyable,in fact). Apart from the usual tracks, Vulcan,Descension and Towers of Illusion being played Kryptos also played a new track Mask of Anubis which was quite a decent thrash effort.

Solstate who came as soon as I finished my last smoke and as soon as Kryptos ended their set, where a relatively new to my ears.(I got caught smoking my last ciggie by the organizers, those suckers couldn't catch me earlier!) I never moved my ass to check their myspace page 'cause I was never interested in hard rock and related act, that when they are from New Zealand of all the places. But they did sound good and got a pretty decent reception considering Bangalore metalheads abhor rock bands playing in metal concert(Rainbow Bridge got boooed real bad last time, but then I thought they got such a good response because they happen to be whites).

At the end of this, the charms of Octoberfest had succeeded in pulling me in to its net(Friday too they had dragged me in), and I walked into Octoberfest after Solstate ended their performance. However I must make myself honest over here, although I did walk into Octoberfest and got myself drunk in there, I did walk to the GIR/O'Fest border to check the next act that was Benea Reach - progressive mathcore act from Norway. As usual I never checked them out, but frankly speaking I was blown apart when those thumping beats registered in my ears across the fence. Though I didn't see them play, I did hear them play and that was more than enough to contend my gluttonous soul. The breakdowns, the drumbeats were simply unimaginable. And then I regretted for my gluttony that allowed me to neglect Benea Reach and drink in the 'Fest. And thats all I can say about them 'cause thats all I could remember from my drunken sojourn. As for the rest I cant remember anything and if I do recollect anything its irrelevant here. So thats all folks. Next time no matter what obscure act RSJ get for GIR I am definitely checking them out without getting drunk.

Revocation - Existence Is Futile

Revocation! What a band! What a revelation! And indeed one amazing revelation it has been, the discovery of this awesome band called Revocation. When I first read the name under MetalUnderground's list of September month's upcoming metal releases, I instantly googled the name to find out more about them, only to be greeted by the words ''Next Big Metal Band'' which tagged the band name in almost each and every website they got themselves listed. Yeah right! Thats what I told myself when I read it; afterall which new band doesn't proclaim themselves as the next big act( Cyanide Serenity - ''next big thing in the UK metal scene'' were an absofuckinglutely piece of bullshit). But nevertheless the curious part in my brain registered the name Revocation and I eagerly waited to check the band out. And when that momentous time arrived to check them out, my brains literally disintegrated a..p.....a..........r...................t.

Existence Is Futile finally ended my personal futile search for 'the' next on-the-rise technical death outfit. As is the case of most new bands, which I shall repeat here once again, where the 'new' act pathetically sounds like a clone of another well established act, Revocation breaks free from all such pathetic incumbency with their unique on-the-face-melting riffs that totally leaves you gobsmacked as heard in tracks like Existence is Futile and Dismantle The Dictator. With a powerful and aggressive sound which is played with undeviating pace and intensity, Existence Is Futile holds your presence in its grip like clutched in iron-claws. The sheer quality of riffs along with those equally awesome hooks and catches being churned by their guitarist Dave Davidson is enough to rival other lesser act's discographies and maybe some bigger but now obscure acts too.

And its not just the guitars that hooks you up, but Dubois-Coyne equally adept skills behind the drums and Anthony Buda's rhythmic use of thumping bass guitar(which for a change from most albums, is being clearly heard on the sounds) that pushes the album's overall status to an almost godlike position. With their blanket of high precision instrument handling coupled with brilliant song structures, Revocation has ushered a new breed of extreme metal in their album Existence Is Futile. Brain Scramblers and Pestilence Reigns are some of the other tracks where Davidson drops an entire cauldron of riffs to carry an entire album. The sonic achievement which Revocation achieves in Existence Is Futile is sure to last long and it will surely lead them on path to greater things in the field of extreme metal.

Merging together elements of technical,death and to some extent even thrash, Revocation's Existence Is Futile appeals to whole broader spectrum of metal audience and not just a single specific group. As intense and interesting the album gets on the playlist, Existence Is Futile is sure to keep your puny head dizzy for a long, long time after some maniacal bouts of headbanging that's sure to follow after Davidson lets all his frustration loose on the guitars. Compiling melody with technicality and perfect song structuring, Existence Is Futile is quite a masterpiece in the field of extreme metal too and if you call yourself a die-hard fan of extreme metal(not the modern deathcore bullshit),then get your ear-drums ruptured and your necks snapped to Revocation's Existence Is Futile.

Cormorant - Metazoa

October was a very boring when it came to new album releases. September was more fun, and so I shall continue to put up the reviews of some really amazing September albums this month. And so I shall start with Cormorant's latest album Metazoa which brings a fresh wind of change in the stagnating melodic death scene which has seen such a spurt in bands playing the Gothenburg sound that I almost started to get bugged of it. Yes, there are good bands like Insomnium, Ensiferum apart from much-hyped In Flames, At The Gates but then just 2 out of thousand is not enough to keep the scene going.

And this where Cormorant comes in kicks all the lame bands ass who ape other bands and call the sound their original creation. Cock shit to such fucking bands!The riffs in the album are mighty mighty good that crushes everything else to smithereens such as the starting riffs in Uneasy Lies The Head. One good thing about Cormorant's music is that though their music has several influences ranging from Opeth to Maiden, none are too rampant in a manner that their songs start to sound like them. And this is what sets the perfect mood for checking a new band out, bundles of creativity without widespread lifting of riffs. Metazoa is very well approached album where Cormorant interweaves folk elements with power metalsque moments with the much of its roots lying around in melodic death grounds.

Song structures in the album too gets a firm thumbs up alongside their good use of intelligent lyrics. Using loads of good, real good headbangable riffs their songs have progressive structure and thought they dont venture much into the technicality of their music, their songs nevertheless are very enjoyable. Some of the standout tracks in the album are Emigrant's Wake and Blood on The Cornfields where the riffs are very much in veins of Opeth in the former and the melodies remind of Maiden in the later. Hanging Gardens is another epic song from the album where the wah-wah simply blows your mind apart.

Metazoa is one album that's definitely worth checking out. Unlike so many other newer acts, Cormorant doesn't bore you to death in Metazoa where they have pumped a damned, solid effort. With the kind of effort they put into Metazoa, Cormorant can surely make it big in the future by doling out a more creative approach. Until their next album comes out, check Cormorant''s Metazoa.