By Aniruddh ‘Andrew’ Bansal
March 10th 2013, Hotel United 21, Thane (Mumbai), India: Having gone through a long drought after the first four editions of India’s original extreme metal festival ‘Domination – The Deathfest’, the news of its return after a gap of 10 years was exciting for fans of the genre not only in and around the city of Mumbai, but to people in a few other parts of the country as well. As for myself, I was already a fan of Witchgoat and having never seen any of the other bands prior to last night, I was waiting for this show as eagerly as anyone. Looking at that lineup, the show promised to deliver the best in extreme metal, and the organizational team pulled out all the stops to achieve their aim. Now, on the morning after the show even as I sit here with a stiff neck, a sore back, an aching body and ringing ears, I’ve mentally recovered sufficiently to recall all the details from last night big and small, and give you this honest, comprehensive review.
After a change in venue a few days ago, the gig ended up taking place at Hotel United 21 in Thane instead of Club Shockk in Bandra, but despite the fact that it must have made things a little harder for a lot of people traveling from the other parts of town, Mumbai’s metal legion was out in full force to attend and support this event. There were people even from other cities like Pune, Nashik and Bangalore, which was heartening to see. As I was approaching the venue, I could see dudes roaming around in black t-shirts from a fair distance. Even though the number of people didn’t compare to what you get for an international band, it was still great for an all-Indian band lineup, and that speaks volumes for the popularity of these amazing bands, and the strength of the extreme metal sub-culture.
The show itself started at around 4.30 PM, which was really early for a metal show but doing the gig on a Sunday ensured a good turnout right from the beginning. Sahil Makhija a.k.a. The Demonstealer came out with his band Reptilian Death as the surprise opening act. Well, it would have been a surprise if the drum kit with the words ‘Reptilian Death’ written in huge letters was somehow concealed from audience view until the band hit the stage. Anyway, the band came out covered head-to-toe in black, a la the band Ghost, except for the singer Vinay Venkatesh (of Bhayank Maut fame) whose face was in black and half white war paint half-and-half, instead of being covered by black clothing. Their music itself was more than decent, very heavy with a mix of death, black metal and grind elements. They became tighter as a unit with every passing song, and the crowd response got better as well. But I felt they probably came in too early in the piece. People had just arrived at the venue when they started, and being this mystical death metal type band with almost no direct interaction with the crowd, it was perhaps not ideal to have them as the very first band of the day. They would have been much better received in the middle of the lineup, and the surprise element would have worked out better in that case too. Nonetheless, a good performance by Reptilian Death to kick off the show.
Orion was the next band to hit the stage, and it was quite a contrast. Frontman Vignesh (also the guitarist in Albatross) wasted no time and got the crowd going straightaway. I was very much looking forward to seeing this band and they certainly didn’t disappoint. Their Opeth-inspired progressive death metal went across well with the audience, and they nailed it in terms of performance. Not to say that there was anything wrong or bad about the typical death metal parts in their music, I personally enjoyed the slower instrumental passages and clean vocals a lot more because it stood out on its own amongst all the extreme metal played by every other band at the show. Vignesh was awesome on guitar, growls and clean vocals, and exhibited a totally different personality as compared to what I’ve seen him do in Albatross. His band mates complimented him well, specially Anshuman on bass. If you’re even a casual fan of prog-metal, I’d encourage you to check these guys out, for they definitely have the talent and the promise to go a long way.
Atmosfear took the stage next, and in a manner very apt to their band name, they truly brought this crowd to life and instilled some high-intensity head-banging and mosh pits into it. They had the kind of groove to their death metal sound that’s instantly identifiable for any fan of the genre, and it’s really not hard to start moving to that groove when the band’s up on stage right in front of you. The three-piece outfit led by guitarist/vocalist Bruce McKoy sounded absolutely fierce, with each member pulling their weight and then some. I enjoyed the hell out of their performance. Granted, they’re not doing anything new in terms of the musical style, and it’s a style that’s been done by plenty of bands, but it’s undeniable that they do a hell of a great job at it, and the sheer power of their live sound was there to be experienced at the show last night. They’re one of the better Indian death metal bands I’ve ever heard, and I’d come back again to watch their gig any time they play.
In a surprise turn of events, the headline act Exhumation was the next band to perform. I later found out the reason for this. Their guitarist Prashant apparently had to leave early, so they got their gig done much before their scheduled slot. In the end it worked out well, I think, because the crowd was perfectly warmed up after that killer Atmosfear set. I had obviously never experienced an Exhumation gig before, so it was great to be able to do that, and to witness the fanfare the band enjoyed. People knew all the songs, and gave this old-school brutal death metal band an excellent response. Sadly their performance was marred by sound problems. There was way too much feedback, and they had to keep working on fixing these issues after every song. Frontman Aditya Mehta had to keep talking to the crowd to kill time, and it broke the flow of what would have otherwise been an insane Exhumation set filled to the brim with pure brutality. So overall, the return of Exhumation was a success performance-wise, and the band members seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage, specially Mehta. I wish I could have actually seen a bit more of the band, but that wasn’t possible as the ‘stage’ had no elevation at all. I’m absolutely certain this Exhumation gig would have been even better if not for the sound issues. They would have surely played more songs as well, but couldn’t do so because of the time wasted between songs. Oh well, there’s always a next time!
Although I enjoyed every band up till now, the moment I was really most waiting for had finally arrived. The mighty Witchgoat from Bangalore were about to take the stage and tear this place apart with their blackened thrash metal. I was totally convinced that this bunch of Liverpool fanboys were forever doomed by the curse of this United 21 place, as some of their members suffered through gig cancellations and travel issues which prevented them from playing here in the recent past with their bands Bevar Sea and Pillbox666. So first of all it, was a relief to see them actually make it to this venue, and to a gig that wasn’t cancelled. They took a while to set up, but finally got going and kicked off their set with an original tune ‘Into The Black’, a quintessential black-thrash wall of sound. As expected, their set included three covers, Kreator’s ever-amazing ‘Tormentor’, Bathory’s ‘Sacrifice’ and Venom’s ‘Witching Hour’. These were a lot of fun for everyone in the audience, even though Bharad Ravi’s vocals were barely audible during Tormentor and Witching Hour. I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t play a Motörhead cover. Aside from these, they did two other original tracks the titles of which I did not hear clearly when they announced them. Guitarist Nolan Lewis did the vocals on one of these. I was right up in front, up against the ‘stage’, but did not feel any sort of push from the crowd behind me. It showed to me that the thrash element probably didn’t go down as well with the Mumbai crowd as the more straight-up extreme metal of the other bands, but I kind of expected that. Regardless, a highly entertaining performance from the Bangalore boys. Hail the Goat! \m/
We were still far from being done for the day, yet. Local grindmasters Gutslit were next to lay the onslaught upon us. I was completely spent after that Witchgoat set so I wasn’t physically able to participate during Gutslit’s set, but the others sure did. There were mosh pits galore and Gutslit’s musical style fit this crowd to a T. I was thoroughly impressed with Gurdip Singh Narang’s thunderous bass sound and I thought it was mainly responsible for the band’s ferociousness on stage. With that said, vocalist Aditya Barve was the driving force of the band when it came to the energy and stage presence. He was going nuts and was constantly urging the crowd to do the same. It was amusing to see him yell out in Hindi a few times when his instructions in English weren’t exactly followed, and it was also hilarious to see that one of the most active and violent guys in the crowd was dressed in a Green Day shirt, boxer shorts and bathroom slippers. Nitin Rajan, the main organizer of this gig, also joined the band to do vocals for one song. I had heard a lot of good things about this band, and last night I found out that it wasn’t a mere myth. These guys actually have it in them. They are, quite honestly, as good as I’ve ever seen in the deathgrind realm and can hold their own even amongst the better known international acts in the sub-genre. An insanely good performance indeed.
Last but by no means least were Insane Prophecy, all the way from Guwahati via three full days of train travel. Ouch, if that’s not dedication then I don’t know what is. I had previously only heard their music online, but they were far heavier and far more intense in the live setting. Those three skinny little dudes packed quite the punch, and blew me away with their ominous blackened death metal sound. Again, if I had a little more energy left in me, I would have been more actively involved in the crowd, and actually, the same can be said about most of the people. I thought everyone was spent by the time these guys hit the stage, and that was the only negative aspect of their set. People did start moving as one last hurrah at this show when the band played their last song, and that was a nice little end to this fantastic evening. We showed our gratitude to this band from the far east, and people were genuinely appreciative of all their efforts to come and play this gig.
Overall, my personal favorite of the night was Witchgoat and that’s only because I enjoy black-thrash a whole lot more than the other sub-genres on show here. But with that said, all other bands brought something different to the lineup, no two bands sounded the same, and that was the best quality of the 5th edition of ‘Domination – The Deathfest’. On the flip side, there were only three notable negatives and those were more to do with the venue than the fest itself. Firstly, even though the sound was good, it wasn’t uniform and varied depending on where you were standing. Secondly, the stage should have at least a couple of feet of elevation so that those behind the front row can actually see the performing artists. And lastly, the soundboard should be barricaded, and if possible, away from the main floor. It was on the verge of falling over quite a few times because of people getting thrown around in the mosh pits. Other than that, the Deathfest team did a great job and the venue did their bit in supporting their cause.
It’s clear from last night’s show that extreme metal is here to stay in this country, and as long as we have gigs such as Deathfest, we’ll all hope to be treated to some of the best in Indian extreme metal on a regular basis. Hails and horns! \m/
Links:
facebook.com/DominationTheDeathfest
facebook.com/insaneprophecy
facebook.com/gutslit
facebook.com/witchgoat
facebook.com/exhumationindia
facebook.com/orionmumbaimetal
facebook.com/atmosfearindia
facebook.com/reptiliandeath
Deathfest Interviews: Nitin Rajan | Exhumation | Atmosfear | Orion