ragnarock 2011 featuring SCRIBE and abraxes

Very good show by these people. I didn’t assume that they can put up such good show. Kudos to the organizers !!

First it was battle of bands and later the headlining acts took place.

Experiment 7

One of the oldest and still existent band(s??) of Ahmedabad. They play alternative/punk rock which apparently is not my cup of tea. I love what they do but I am not much of their fan. These guys are really talented, each one of them have been playing since long. But somehow recently I don’t really see the old spark in them. To me, it seems that they just play for sake of getting on to stage. I don’t find the old groove and energy in their playing. They really need some-one for vocals. GOOD VOCALS. Though guitar playing have gone the whole new way, somewhat funk-ish. But not upto the mark. Hope they come up with the old spark.

And one more thing, please don’t play Lazarus, let it be the way it is. I may, here, sound orthodox and stubborn. But their version of Lazarus sucks !!

 

Undergods

This band is where it all began. They were my first metal band to see live. Since then I m their fan. Though my music taste got changed with time but still I always enjoy them playing live. I m indeed their fan. Although The line up have changed with the time. But Jay and Paul being the consistent members of the band and my friends as well. They started with Tornado of Souls by mighty Megadeth. They pulled it really well, although there were couple of mistakes in the riff after 2nd verse, but granted ! After that they played OCs. They were tight. I think now its time that they need to come out of shell and start considering the opportunities out of Gujarat as well. The drummer kid is really getting good at playing.

Of course they won the competition. Jay I need a treat !

 

Downcast deciet

Next was guys from Bangalore. They took little more time with sound check and they almost wasted their 15 mins in doing so. They got to play just 2 songs. Both originals. I can’t seem to remember the name of the first song. Double bass drumming was going way off beat at one point of time. They were good, but they can be better. They seemed newbies. Vocals were too loud that it almost made guitars not-so-audible. Second song was “Downcast deceit” which was okay-ish. It didn’t really amused me. But they have potential and they can do way better than what they did. Best wishes for them.

 

The faculty

The college band. The only thing I want to say is YOU SUCK. Drummer, please practice hard before you get on stage. Mr Guitarist you too. Mr Keyboardist, I know that you can play fast like hell, maybe you can show your skills when required. You are just a show off. Please never perform elsewhere.

 

Quadrapod

Band from IIM-A. They are determined but unlucky guys. They had problems with lead guitar. It wasn’t audible at all. And it sounded like flush anyway. They played original, something about X-men and super powers or whatever. After that they played A tout le monde, which was good. I mean, at least better than what they played in IIM Chaos. Don’t play for sake of playing. Put your best efforts or don’t play.

 

AbraXas

Okay, I gotta admit that these guys are insane. I loved the energy, the power, the dedication and of course the music. They knew their sound and they knew what they are doing. Guitarist is one heck of a played. They played their originals and they’ve got great potential. I wouldn’t be really surprised seeing them performing abroad and signed by some foreign record label soon. I wish them really bright and gig-ing future ! Way to go. It was them who made me start headbanging in the gig. I didn;t really want to headbang in the gig but they made me !

 

SCRIBE

Probably one of their own kind of band. Frontman was one heck of a guy. He was funny. He literally ripped gujjus. He started talking gujju swearing and broken gujju, which was funny. He even make 2 girls do dandiya on stage. What could be more hilarious than this !! Apart from that, music, they were very djental I should say. Now, I should admit that, djent is very difficult to headbang upon. You can’t really decide that you want to headbang on drumbeat or the riff. Djent makes you headbang and makes your body bang as well. It was carnage, shear carnage of 45 mins. But I hate them for not playing Mark of Teja. Frontman eventually made those wannabes come on stage and made fun of them, but they didn’t really realize !! And in the end, he bloody called the WHOLE FUCKING CROWD on the stage ! :O Everyone was on stage and yet they were playing. I really really enjoyed them seeing live, and probably my decision of staying for the gig and not to go to stupid dinner party. This would be probably my best gig so far. Hope to see you more. Keep doing what you are doing. You guys have really very bright future ahead. Now, I can say, I GOT DJENT !

I wanted to buy abraxes and SCRIBE CD but motherfuckers vanished right away ! :\

It was almost 2am and I yet had to arrange something to go back home so I left the venue as soon as I could.

Review of BLACK METAL KRIEG featuring 1833 AD, Dhishti , Stark Denial and Spiked Crib

I think this was probably the best part of my mumbai trip. It was definitely great time. I have never seen such awesome gig in ahmedabad. The people, the bands, the sound, the mosh..everything just seemed perfect. It was like how it should be. Kudos to the sound guy.

Spiked Crib

They were first ones to play. Although I have seen them performing in Ahmedabad previously when Vincy was part of the band and 2nd time it was in Feb I guess. They were okay-ish then, they became good and this time they were really good. They have made their mark. They were tight, synchronization between members was also upto the mark. And it was very good to know that such tight performance with 2 new members. Good thing going on. Vocals were nice, at times it made me feel Enochian crescent. Church organ patch made a nice evil atmosphere, drumming was tight as usual.

overall I’d give them 6.5/10

Dhishti

The band from Sri Lanka. When I read it over facebook about them, i was surprised to know that BM exists in Sri Lanka too. Awesome. These guys came with painted faces. I really appreciate that. They played originals and they were really good. I loved the vocalist. Their songs justified the depressiveness. Although keys could have made it a real suffering atmosphere for sure.I guess when we’d have real good amount of money to organize a gig, they are sure to hit the stage in Ahmedabad.

Overall I’d give them 7/10

1833 AD

These guys know the business. Simple. They know what black metal is all about. In my opinion they are one the few bands who know how to perform live. Their music was awesome, their stage act was awesome. They were not a band who’d come to stage preparing 5-6 songs, they were like loaded up with so many songs and apparently it seemed that they can play any freaking song. Which I loved about them. they played 3-4 covers. They nailed it when played “freezing moon”. Although there were glitches in couple of songs, off-beat couple of time but that doesn’t counted when you play such awesome songs. Here is the setlist:

1833 AD
Inheritance Evil
Ten Gods
Tyrants (Immortal cover)
Wiser than the Wisest
God Loves the Dead (Ancient cover)
My Funeral (Dark Funeral cover)
Freezing Moon (Mayhem cover)
Who Will Kill the Emperor

Next gig in Ahmedabad is sure going to have them. Whoever is the organizer. They are the ones to see !!

overall rating 9/10

Stark Denial

I had been hearing about this band for so long. As a matter of fact they were to play in Ahmedabad, but they didn’t due to some reasons. My trve BM friends always talk about these guys. I was really curious to see them. They were right. Stark Denial didn’t disappoint me at all. They were upto the mark. Vocals were amazing, I could feel the pain bleeding in it. Guitars were raw, drumming was even awesome. Drummer is really a badass. In the end they played “Raining Blood” along with Jimmy of Zygnema on vocals. It was nice. Since its always on top of my dream mosh playlist. I simply drowned myself into the beauty of this song, freed myself. Period

Overall rating : 9.5/10
PS-photo credits goes to manasi kale

kauan – lumikuuro (2007)

This is the band that I’ve been trippin’ a lot lately. It is very brilliant band and some-one who is really into ambient stuff. Then kauan is your thing !!

origin: rusia
gerens: folk/doom black

1. Alku
2. Aamu Ja Kaste
3. Lumikuuro
4. Savu
5. Koivun Ela
6. Syleily Sumu
7. Villiruusu
8. Syleily Sumu (Acoustic)

Download

ronnie james dio passes away

the legend, the god, have passed away on 16th in the morning. It was really disturbing for me. He was one the musicians whom i wanted to meet personally !! That dream now remains dream.

anyway, RIP dio.

Opeth – morningrise

Genre : Progressive death metal

Country : sweden

~: Tracklist :~

1. Advent

2. The night and the silent water

3. Nectar

4. Black rose immortal

5. To bid you farewell

Download 1

Download 2

http://rapidshare.com/files/311027178/Opeth_-_Morningrise__Reissue_1996_-320kbps.part2.rar

Ramblings on metal culture and geekdom

I was listening to some Dissection today. Storm of the Light’s Bane. This got me thinking. Modern metal is contradictory and liminal. It is an ‘outsider’ music/culture that is mainstream – metalheads like to cultivate this badass, elite, oppressed attitude but everyone’s listened to a Maiden or Sabbath song at least once in their lives. Metal is coarse, grotesque and transcendental. But this article isn’t about the music itself, which you can go hear on lastfm or the back pages of this site (download, people!)

Modern metal culture (thenceforth referred to as ‘metal’) is a safe space for kids labeled ‘geeks’ and ‘freaks’ to assert themselves with a set of ‘given’ rules – the foremost of which is not giving a shit what people think. It is also an answer to the postmodern while questioning the modern- and the premodern. It’s also become a space for immigrant men, particularly from Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, to assert a space for themselves.

While hip hop, punk and goth negotiate the dominant paradigm by being explicitly racialized, gendered, exoticized and classed, non-NSBM metal seeks to move away from this. Black metal doesn’t mean God Forbid (who are thrash). Female-fronted bands are only noted as such if they’re in a certain florid genre (Nightwish, Sirenia). It also embraces neurodiversity. ADHD? Try speed metal. Depressed? Doom metal’s for you. Bipolar? How about melodic death? Metal defines itself as a brotherhood by being individualistic within an tacit collectivism, instead of pussyfooting around and singing Kumbayah.

The most empowering thing about metal is its rage against the ‘geek’ idea. Intelligence is strength. Knowledge is power. Dreams are strength and power. Depression can be strength. You become stronger than the jocks – you are stronger than the brute-force jocks. Because you can see change- you are change, and you can assert yourself. Revenge of the nerds, but as the nerds take their revenge they become more than nerds.

While there is a ‘metal way of dress’ it is not enforced the way ‘goth’ is. Again – as contradictory – it is ‘more metal’ to wear a suit and tie than wear a metal shirt and be unemployed. Within metal’s defined liminality, charged with power, we make manifest our internal power. Playing Dungeons and Dragons isn’t just accepted here, dragons and swords become symbols of strength and virility. Verbal intelligence is respected, like mathematical is in the engineering world. There is a different social order, almost tribal. It is deeply emotional, yet controlled. Unrestrained, Romantic-era emotion is ‘emo’, but the deep melancholy expressed in black-doom metal, the fury in death metal, the romance in gothic metal is the essence of what it is because it is brought together with strength, purpose and art. Experiencing this together in a concert is what creates the metal brotherhood.

There is in metal society a refreshing honesty and an attitude of continual, Nietzschean self-improvement – of change and vitality – rather than mindless acceptance. Metalheads regularly challenge each other as ‘posers’. But does that matter, in the end? Does being fat, gay or straight matter? Metal is about perhaps the illusory core of humanity. Hip hop and punk rock are postmodern, but metal’s attitude is pre-modern. In that way, hip hop espouses an agnostic humanism, while metal espouses a heathen humanism.

Metal culture also accepts what others call ‘escapism’. It’s accepted to read science fiction and comic books. Metal is comic book music, look at the song ‘Iron Man’. At the same time, metal doesn’t promote escapism for escapism’s sake, or intellectualism for intellectualism’s sake. It is deeply Teutonic in its practicality, roundly deriding pure escapists as ‘losers’. Metal is not for the body, but for the mind, and the spirit lost to the body, yet reasserted in moshing and crowd-surfing. It is rock and roll stripped of its germinal mating-dance. Not sex in the back of a car, but harnessing that force Tantrically and using it to reassert the renewed self.

Originally posted here

TheStarsaredeadnow – coldworld(ger)

Excellent work by German one-man band. It has got all those elements that makes a perfect “atmospheric black metal” record. It is indeed a genre defining band. It has this alluring property that makes you feel hypnotized subtly.Chord progression is so perfect that it gives you the cold, icy feeling as well as if you are feeling low, it may want to cut your veins too !! It will just take you to the abysses of depression, melancholy and solitude. Whole album is melancholic. It has droning chord progression to mid paced drumming with screeching vocals. Peace + depressiveness + nostalgia + melancholy. That’s how I’d prefer to describe this album. Tracks like “this empty life”, “hate”, “suicide” make it a mint !! The more you dig, the more you gonna fall in love wit this album.

Genre – atmospheric black metal

Country – Germany

: Tracklist :

1. This empty life (07:22)

2. Hate (04:00)

3. Cancer (03:38)

4. Suicide (05:15)

5. The old ghost in the well (07:48)

Download

legacy

Although, I’m too late to write review for the gig. But i must say that it was a kickass show after a long time. Crowd was also awesome, lesser and better. Indeed a quality crowd !! The energy level among people was awesome, you can feel the heat. Moreover there was a sexy, curvy and hot announcer was on stage too !! It was kinda funny that everyone was trying to grab her attention ! Even those who didn’t headbanged while the band is performing, went to the first row while that chick was announcing !!

Due to a conference I was late to the venue, so I had almost missed the first band, Scaremonger from Jaipur, but i heard their last couple of song. They were nice, almost same as what they were, when played last time !! vocals were not audible at all. Either vocalist should increase the intensity of vocals, else the vocals should kept at higher volume !!

Then, came Chronic Phobia, previously thrash but emerged as a Metal band in general !! They were a six piece band. The bassist Pratika was an eye-catching, not because she was hot and curvy but she was an excellent player. They played their original compositions. It was nice to headbang and they played worth !! The drumming pattern for 3-4 songs were little weird and changing every now and then. That is not the problem, as a matter of fact i personally adore them for doing so !! Vocals sounded perfect and vocalist was actually very intellectual. I remember, him pushing me for the mosh and I drag him in for the mosh itself. All n all it was fun !!

Spiked Crib

These guys were insane. At first I marked that bassist was missing, but then yeah, RIP Vincy {aka beast}. These guys sounded total black/goth metal. The riffs were totally black metal-ish and vocals sounded extreme black metal at couple of points. Their original, Laments of the beast, which was a tribute song to Vincent was very ambient and they succeed to create depressive ambiance. Kudos to Spiked Crib for that..They played almost originals through out, i guess they played “fear of the dark” IM cover {correct me if i’m wrong, coz i was away for water that time} but they tured that song into a true BM sounding song. Again kudos to them !! Yess, i had seen them last year too. But this year they were more tight, louder, better and bigger. You were missed Vincy !!

I guess the show ended up over here for most of the crowd. Couple of people were excited about the guitar duel. {ok ! stop laughing now } but nothing as such happened. Raining blood, one of my favorite mosh material song, was being played {raped}. Not a single note was audible from the guitars. Neither the guitarist could catch up the speed as Kerry does !! Better luck next time folks, practice hard mates !!

That’s it from my side, by this i didn’t sound mean or rude to any of you people. Take this as a constructive criticism and hope to see you play better and louder next time !!

my top 10 evil sounding songs

here are my top 10 evil sounding songs..it gives me the dark feeling !

angel of disease – morbid angel

orgasmatron – motorhead {yess, i find it evil}

black winter day – amorphis

heaven or hell – elgibbor

mourning – nirvana2002

black dragon – dissection

mutilate the stillborn – necrophagist

sunwheel – drudkh

sworn to the black – morbid angel

raining blood – slayer

new cult of headbangers at gigs

It’s been almost a year since I entered the rock scene and the scene has definitely improved. But I m worried that this improvement is poser-ish. Year back there used to be the frequent space at the venue that you can even sit and enjoy, whereas now you don’t even find the space to stand {I’m talking about the same ole CEPT wala venue} !!

Those cool kids with ‘tallica n Iron maiden Tees think that they own the world by wearing that KWLT stuff n I bet they haven’t heard more than 10 tracks from each band ! And those with Eminem Tees..i’d better not barf ! I pity them,  whatever is being played there, no matter of what genre it is, the only thing that to be done at gig is to headbang.  Couple of months back, at a metal gig, we were headbanging standing in the first row..and when we were done..heard couple of kids saying “ohh, man..this is so fucking cool !! lets do it” “chicks are watching us too” !! :O And the worse part is that they don’t even head-bang, what they do is back-bang, seems more like doggy style sex practice !! When the first band leaves the stage, another cult takes their place, old kids give up holding their back and calling their moms to prepare a bucketful of hot water and Iodex !!  And this guy i saw, was standing right in front of guitarist, was doing something with his fingers towards guitarist, very much similar to “Tamraj Kilbish against that paapmani thingy” from Shaktimaan  !! lol

Cigarette : the best part, i bet they have never smoked before in their entire life, but man “this is fucking metal gig, you look KVLT with ciggie in yer hand” its more fun to see them when they end up quitting the headbanger’s lane with coughing insanely ! lmao !! And there comes the boozers and dopers..although they are people with grey hair, so they aren’t an issue..but so many try to advertise, a doped guy to a random guy, standing just beside a hot chick..

“ohh man, i feel everything moving”

“y ?”

“weed man, fucking weed !! “

Poor guy, chick wasn’t even aware of your presence there. And he just walks by and repeats the same dialogue somewhere else.

Upcoming cult is of chicks. Those who never even have heard a shit about rock and they come with their extra short skirts, which seems more like they have rather tied a hand kerchief !! {who cares though, its worth drooling }. Come so often, you are much more needed, it really helps when the band is a sucketh, which mostly occurs !! Half of the time they are either out of the venue talking to their boyfriend and half of them choose to hang out with their boyfriend(s). And very few remains there..I appreciate them !

Anyway, people come and go, its more important to enjoy the show. Tomorrow is a gig, i don’t think that  its gonna be kick-ass, I’m gonna waste my money anyway !!

metal genre classification

There is a beautiful princess trapped in a castleguarded by a dragon. Here is the end of the story with different kind of metalheads as knights.

* POWER METAL The protagonist arrives riding a white unicorn, escapes from the dragon, saves the princess and makes love to her in an enchanted forest.

* THRASH METAL The protagonist arrives, fights the dragon, saves the princess and f*cks her.

* HEAVY METAL The protagonist arrives on a harley, kills the dragon, drinks a few beers and f*cks the princess.

* FOLK METAL The protagonist arrives with some friends playing acordions, violins, flutes and many more weird instruments, the dragon falls asleep (because of all the dancing). Then all leave…….. without the princess.

* VIKING METAL The protagonist arrives in a ship, kills the dragon with his mighty axe, skins the dragon and eats it, rapes the princess to death, steals her belongings and burns the castle before leaving.

* DEATH METAL The protagonist arrives, kills the dragon, f*cks the princess and kills her, then leaves.

* BLACK METAL The protagonist arrives at midnight, kills the dragon and impales it in front of the castle. Then he sodomizes the princess, drinks her blood in a ritual before killing her. Then he impales the princess next to the dragon.

* GORE METAL The protagonist arrives, kills the dragon and spreads his guts in front of the castle, f*cks the princess and kills her.Then he f*cks the dead body again, slashes her belly and eats her guts. Then he f*cks the carcass for the third time, burns the corpse and f*cks it for the last time.

* GRIND METAL The protagonist arrives, screams something completely undecipherable for about 2 minutes and then leaves…

* DOOM METAL The protagonist arrives, sees the size of the dragon and thinks he could never beat him, then he gets depressed and commits suicide. The dragon eats his body and the princess as dessert. That’s the end of the sad story.

* GOTHIC METAL The princess in a velvet costume starts singing soprano. The protagonist completes the duett by adding the beast part, while the dragon plays the flute. Suddenly he swallows up the pipe and accidently scorches the beauty and the beast and suffocates to death. All their souls are damned in hell’s eternity.

* PROGRESSIVE METAL The protagonist arrives with a guitar and plays a solo of 26 minutes. The dragon kills himself out of boredom. The protagonist arrives to the princess’ bedroom, plays another solo with all the techniques and tunes he learned in the last year of the conservatory. The princess escapes looking for the ‘HEAVY METAL’ protagonist.

* INDUSTRIAL METAL The protagonist arrives wearing greasy overcoat, makes anobscene gestures towards dragon, and gets escorted out of fairy tale land by security guards.

* SPEED METAL Suddenly there, short solo, dragon is confused, someones screaming weird stuff, princess realizes she’s been deflowered, dragon and princess are still looking for the one who did this.

* CHRISTIAN METAL The protagonist rides in on his way home from church and sings a mushy power ballad to the dragon about how much Jesus loves him and that the dragon should turn to Him. The Dragon is immediately converted, and when the princess wants to “thank” the protagonist he replies, “sorry, but I don’t believe in having sex before marriage.”

* BATTLE METAL The protagonist arrives with a legion of a hundred brave footman, war chariots and a dozen elite warriors and, as a master tactician, flanks the dragon in a bloody siege that lasts six hours. The princess gets bored.

* NU METAL The protagonist arrives in a run down Honda Civic and attempts to fight the dragon but he burns to death when his moronic baggy clothes catch fire.

* EMO The protagonist sees the dragon and moans about how hard it will be to get the princess to fall in love with him, He gets eaten. The princess is very happy, because he was a whiny fag anyway.

* GRUNGE The protagonist doesn’t get eaten by the dragon because he stinks too much from not washing his hair in months. The princess won’t go near him either, and he ends up dying on the town hall steps with the other mosha’s due to the over consumption of white cider.

* POP-PUNK The dragon can’t eat the protagonist because he can’t catch him because he keeps bouncing up and down. The princess won’t f*ck him either, because he likes ska.

* GLAM METAL The protagonist arrives, the dragon laughs at the guy’s appearance and lets him enter. He steals the princess’ make up and tries to paint the castle in a beautiful pink colour.

Lemmy the movie

Long awaited documentary is about to release. This BADASS, yess Lemmy Kilmister is going to be seen in film.

yess, he is the same 49% son of a bitch and 51% motherfucker Ian Fraser Kilmister. The legend, the God. Too much of praising, but hell yea..he definitely deserves it. Its been fucking 30 miserable years and still they are young. they keep providing great music.

Once i watched a video of Lemmy and he was asked “how do you feel like being at number one ?” Lemmy replied..”we are not at number one..we like to be at number TWO..because number one is the place that certainly can be stolen from you but not the number two.”

Lemmy is an awesome personality. One of my internet pal..AListair have met Lemmy 3ce..the first time when there was no motorhead and lemmy used to play in pubs !! :O

as he said “I have met a few of my musical heros over the years and have nearly always been disappointed, I think it’s because they are performers and when they are not performing, they are just like anyone else.

Lemmy, however, is the exception. What you see is what you get.

Funnily enough, the second time I met Lemmy was in about December 1983, just after he had sacked Brian Robertson from the band. I was in Dingwalls in London, having a drink with a friend, and I said “Oh,look, there’s Lemmy. Let’s go and talk to him”. He was on his own and always up for a laugh. He said Robbo was a ****, great guitarist, but a ****.”

I’m gonna see it as soon as its possible..also his autobiography “white line fever“..i’ve already told my brother to buy one for me from uk..

so, this is it..i’m a proud MOTORHEADBANGER

\m/