By Aniruddh ‘Andrew’ Bansal
The fourth edition of the annual Trendslaughter Fest is set to take place at the No Limmits Lounge in Bangalore, India on Saturday February 1st. Organized by Cyclopean Eye Productions, the gig promises to bring together the best of Asian underground extreme metal, and with an enticing lineup of bands, it should serve to be a special treat for metalheads in India. Ugra Karma, a death metal band from Nepal, will be one of the opening acts for the gig. Having started out in ’99 and split up in 2002, they reformed in 2012 and are now back stronger and more vicious than ever. I recently caught up with vocalist/bassist Sunil Dev Pant to discuss the band’s participation in this event, their history and future plans. Read the conversation below.
First of all, how did your involvement in Trendslaughter Fest come about and now with just 3 weeks to go until the event, what are your feelings are expectations towards it?
We have had some ties with the Indian underground since the early days of UgraKarma. A few weeks ago I had some chat sessions with Sandesh Shenoy, co-organizer of the Trendslaughter Fest. It’s an old-school Death/Black/Thrash event and we both felt that UgraKarma would be a good fit for the fest. It was also a chance for us to play alongside other bands in this region that play their own brand of metal without compromising their integrity. I believe that this part of Asia has a very strong foundation in old-school Death/Black ethos and fests like Trendslaughter give this whole movement a much needed place for congregation. I am looking forward to sharing the stage with two legendary Asian bands: Dying Embrace and Impiety along with Necrodeity, Serpents Athirst and our label-mates Orator.
You started out in 1999, then disbanded in 2002 and reunited in 2012. Can you tell me what were the reasons for your breakup and what eventually led to your reunion and return in 2012?
The reason of the ‘breakup’ was emigration. Both me and Aayush moved to the US for further education around 2002. We didn’t want to do UgraKarma in the US without the old members and all of us decided to let UgraKarma rest for a while. I played in Death Metal bands in Montana and Oregon while Prateek was playing in bands here in Kathmandu. Subash was also already involved in several other bands/projects and still plays music for a living in Australia. Once I came back to Nepal, Prateek and I decided to reunite the band by adding two new members – Bikram and Bijay, whom I had worked with before. Thus, the new incarnation of UgraKarma was born in 2012.
Your only full-length release ‘Blood Metal Initiation’ came out in 2001. Have you been working on any new material since you became active again?
We have written new songs for our upcoming release which is slated to come out on a 7-inch vinyl through Legion of Death (France). We have been playing these new songs live as well, some since the very first show after the reunion. We are in the middle of recording this EP and expect to complete it soon after we return from Trendslaughter.
From what I’ve read, you used a drum machine on that album. What was the reason for that, and are you planning to use a human drummer on the next one?
We would have preferred to record real drums but it just was not possible back then. Reasons were many: financial, logistical and most importantly technical. For months we couldn’t find a studio that recorded death metal. It was hard enough finding an engineer who knew anything about metal. Metal was really a very tiny underground subculture back then; a far cry from the massive musical phenomena it is today. However, after searching all over town, we finally found Sacred Soundz Studio where the engineer himself was a metalhead. We were lucky to find Imah Shah who helped us immensely throughout the recording process.
This time around, however, we are recording with Bikram on drums. In fact, all the drums parts have already been recorded. It’s great to have a release that sounds like the way we sound live, with real drums.
In terms of gigs, how has it been for you in the past year or so? Have you been able to play shows in Nepal?
We’ve been playing quite a lots of shows since the reunion. We kicked off our “Grinding the Mountains – 2012”tour in the city of Pokhara, did a couple more cities and wrapped up with a few bar gigs and festivals in Kathmandu. We have been playing fairly regularly since the end of the tour and been fortunate to play with bands like Decapitated, Nervecell, Behemoth, Near Death Condition and others. But the best thing of all is to be able to play alongside Nepali Death Metal bands and to see how many really good bands there are in our tiny city.
What have your experiences been with the Indian metal scene and how familiar are you with it?
I have not been to India in well over 10 years now, so I haven’t experienced anything first hand. But from what I have seen on the internet, there are quite a number of good bands and some really dedicated people in the scene. Trendslaughter Fest, Putrid Ascendency Fest (Kolkata) etc are good examples of this. These are the kind of people that are needed to keep metal alive regardless of the latest fad in the music industry. Trends in metal will come and go, but we need real torchbearers to keep the spirit of metal alive.
You’re an old-school death metal band. What inspired you to play that particular style of music as opposed to anything else?
We started the band with influences from bands that we listened to at that time; Macabre, Sinister, Sarcofago, Cranium, Von, Slayer, Sodom, and early albums of Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Unleashed and Sepultura. We still listen to these on regular basis. Some habits die hard. Of course, over the years there have been many new bands we like and listen to and perhaps are inspired by. However, old school Death Metal metal is in our blood and that’s what we’ll keep playing.
Where does the hatred expressed in your music come from? Is it purely based on your musical influences or do you also draw from your daily life and personal experiences as well?
It’s both. We live in a desperately unmanaged, utterly unhygienic, chaos-ridden city like Kathmandu and are listening to Death/Black/Thrash and Grindcore all the fucking time: there is bound to be some anger, hared and aggression. The best way to express it is through the means of music and what better way than to play aggressive fucking Death Metal and let it all out.
Now that your band is back at its best, what do you think will be your biggest challenge going ahead, to keep the band going and prevent it from splitting again?
We intend to keep going as long as it is physically possible to play what we have created. Death Metal is physically demanding but we are enjoying it very much and I don’t see us splitting in the near future. One way or another I will keep doing my part to keep the eternal fires of Death Metal alive forever.
Links:
Trendslaughter Fest IV Official Event Facebook Page
Cyclopean Eye Productions Facebook Group
Ugra Karma Facebook Page