Gig Review: One Last Time - 15th Aug

15th August, 2009 was India's 62nd Independence Day . 15th August 2009 was the day when Bangalore's two of the best metal acts MyndSnare and Extinct Reflections played 'one last' gig. Yes, after so many years of existence, MyndSnare and Extinct Reflections played their last gig as KP,Sandesh and Yasmin from MyndSnare will soon be leaving for the States to pursue a year and a half course in LA based Musician's Institute. Sandesh's departure also spelt the end of Extinct Reflections of which he was the lead guitarist. With the vocalist Prasad of ER out of the band as well, ER's days with their best line up are over.

Originally scheduled to be held at Xtreme Sportz Bar, B'ghatta Rd(Bangalore) the venue got shifed to B-FLat, Indiranagar(Bangalore) at the last moment. But either ways both the places cannot be ideally considered for a metal gig as the acoustics were just above average. Yet, 200 strong crowd turned up( limted number of tickets were for sale) to witness these bands one last time. Stranglehold, a side project comprising MyndSnare, ER and Inner Sanctum band members kickstarted the set playing only one original track and few covers including a Lamb of God's Laid to Rest. Quite a lot of us in the crowd were left stunned seeing them play such unusuually high numbers of cover till Gaurav(vox- Inner Sanctum) the vocalist added that the band re-grouped on a short notice of four days prior the gig.

Next came Extinct Reflections who played all their six original compositions including their best track 'Recognise Analyze'. They also played other crowd favourites ' Swallowed into Silence' and ' In Praise of Your Shadows'. Sandesh's work around the guitar was mind-blowing, beyond any words of excellence and so was Kishan's furious drumming. But what again took the crowd by surprise was to see Gaurav handle the vocals again for ER. And soon ER departed and up came much awaited MyndSnare.

Playing all their original tracks including 'Alter Ego' , 'Layers of Hypocrisy' for almost an hour, MyndSnare showcased their skills in the peak of their form clearly showing showing why they are considered one of the best metal acts in the country. Sandesh's talent over the bass was pretty neat. But top of the form were KP's excellent riffs along with his raspy vocals and drummeress supremo Yasmin's razorshar double bass drumming. In the end every one's desire of seeing these bands for the final time were fulfilled though on a sorry note, as one has no idea where they will stand in the next one and a half years after the completion of the course.