MetalIndia Magazine - Anniversary Special Edition by MetalIndia Magazine

METALINDIA MAGAZINE

Thank you for downloading this 12th anniversary special edition of MetalIndia Magazine. It has been quite a while since we released the last print edition of our magazine. This time we are trying out something different. To celebrate our 12 years of existence we decided to make a electronic magazine and give it away for free. Accompanying the magazine is a free 12 track mp3 compilation called â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Disrupt Dismantle Destroyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; featuring some of the best bands in the country. The anniversary special features some of the upcoming and established bands like Pillbox 666, Ec{c}entric Pendulum, Providence, Scarab, Noiseware and metal-chef Sahil Makhija. The special edition also features some of the young and upcoming bands like Curves, Dark Octaves Of Sin to name a few. I would like to thank Dinesh Verma, a young enthusiastic metalhead from Chandigarh, for his constant help and support and Peter H who has very kindly agreed to allow us to use his artwork for the compilation. I hope you enjoy this special edition as much as I had for bringing it to you and appreciate your feedback, criticism, hatred in improving ourselves for future. A special thanks to all the bands for their co-operation and understanding. Hetal Bhagat Editor/Founder http://www.facebook.com/ hetalbhagat

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reetings!! How are you all doing? Hello and thank you for the interview Hetal! We are all good and pretty much doing fine other than the usual conditions of nursing hangovers, being bombed or stoned outta our skulls while blasting mu4sic by our favorite Metal bands!

Please tell us about the band. How was the band formed? What is the idea behind the name? Who actually came up with the name? Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x;s a lengthy one to answer, the band was originally formed sometime in 2008,Deepak Raghu our drummer was based in Chen-

nai playing with Fall Of Reason and dabbling in other things as well (leading to Rat King), we were in touch for sometime and we talked about initially Dying Embrace my earlier band which was disbanded sometime in 2001, (its strange that in 2011,Dying Embrace reformed with Deepak Raghu on drums, talk about things METALINDIA MAGAZINE

coming back full circle)I had by then also disbanded Gruesome Malady in 2007 and was pretty much free, we thought of doing some old school classic covers and thru our common friend Sandesh, Nolan of Kryptos joined in on guitars, we had a couple of great jam sessions totally drenched in beer and debauchery! Later Deepak moved to LA and Nolan was busy with Kryptos as well so the project went into the freezer for a couple years until a couple of months ago, we met up over a few beers and since Deepak has moved to Bangalore it took off exactly from where we had left it back then! Ganesh of Stoner Rockers Bevar Sea joined in on bass duties and the line up was set! I came up with the name back in 2008 itself, alotta people ask me what is Pillbox? is it a box where you keep your drugs? ;) Its actually type of bunker used during World War II, it is a concrete structure, partly dug into the ground, which is usually a part of a trench system. Such bunkers give the defending soldiers better protection and also include protection against aerial attacks. The bunker includes machine guns or mortars and forms a dominant shooting post. Each pillbox has a designated number so that they know who the crew members are that are manning it! In this case, our Pillbox is naturally numbered 666, the Devil never looses you see ;) How would you describe your music? In your face, raw, loud and Alcohol drenched Heavy Death Rocking Doom laden Metal! Since you guys play warthemed metal music, which era/wars have influenced you the most? World War II was the mother among all wars! We are influenced by the older classic bands

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much more than any wars actually, but most times the theme goes really well with the songs we choose to cover!

chilled Draught and long sessions at the bar downing copious amounts of Rum that‟s pretty much our schedule!

With members from different bands into different genres, what are the band’s main influences Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Autopsy, Slayer, Motorhead, Venom, Sodom, Kreator , Metallica ,BoltThrower are among our common inspirations, there are several others but then by now most you have an idea what those other bands are!

Would this be something you would consider taking up fulltime or would it be more like a side project? We already have our other fulltime bands so this will stay as a side project for all of us, not that we aren‟t serious about it, but we always believe that you churn out the best when your having a great time! With Pillbox that‟s exactly what we are doing!

Is your music based (or going to be based) on actual war events? What depth of actual events will be used in your music? I don‟t think so, we set out as a covers band, paying tribute to the bands we grew up listening to and worshipping! I don‟t think we plan to do any OC‟s in the near future, unless we run out of options of playing covers but then there are so many songs we want to cover, it will take us a lifetime.

Please tell us how your experience was playing at ‘The Mighty Riff’. Fantastic! That was our second gig and the response we got was amazing! There were close to 250 Metal crazed Maniacs that evening and we had a great time playing our set for them! Not to forget mentioning the professional level of organizing the crew had done and the mindblowing sound we got! Overall a killer evening we won‟t forget in a hurry!

Any favorite war movies? Several, but Pillbox 666 was conceived mainly on a lethal overdose of repeated readings of the classic Commando War Comics!

Final words…. Thanks to everyone was has supported us,Salman of Infinite Dreams for giving us our first gig at Impending Doom, Srikanth and the Mighty Riff Crew for having us on for the first edition of TMR, our friends who have always been there for us(you know who you are) and specially the fans who supported us, came for our shows, bought our merchandise, you are the best always! Stay HEAVY ! Pillbox 666 Regiment Kadet Korps enroll now! We have Facebook page! Get your arses there! The rest of the bums can as usual fuck off and die in the gutter!

Are you guys working on any album/EP? Any OCs ready? Sorry to disappoint you but non at the moment, as I mentioned earlier we set out to be a covers playing band, we members play in different bands which all mainly play originals, so we would like to keep this is the way it was planned out! We do want to do an EP with a set of covers!

What is your practice schedule like especially considering that all members of the band Visit Pillbox 666 on Facebook at play fulltime in other bands? h t t p : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / Regular meets at the pub over Pillbox666

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EC{C}ENTRIC PENDULUM Welcome back. How was your trip to Germany? Helloo! The trip to Germany was fantastic! The best thing that‟s ever happened to the band.

head who has the opportunity to do so. It shows you how things are done and raises your expectations from the sub-standard levels that we are so used to right now.

How was your experience playing at Wacken? How was the feedback from people attending Wacken? We had a really good gig at Wacken (are WE allowed to say that ourselves?) . The sound and lighting were just so brilliant that we wanted to kidnap the sound and light guys, put them in box and bring them back home. We had a really good time playing in front of a whole new audience. Our music was well received and got good feedback with the regular “OHHHH, We never expected to see a metal band from Eindieaaa”. Your readers can see our entire performance over here.

You guys performed in Paris too. How did you guys land with that gig? What was the feedback from French metalheads? Yes. We performed at StarCafe in Paris with a French metal band Aanod. A good friend Clement Flaure helped us out with the gig there. It was a small venue with a small crowd but our music was appreciated there as well.

Tell us about some interesting events at Wacken. Any particular performance which you liked the most? Up until Wacken, we were mostly festival virgins so just being there was a whole new experience by itself. The whole festival was an interesting event. Went completely nuts in the metal market buying merchandise, drank lots of good German beer, the food, the women, some really really really drunk women. We totally digged Judas Priest, Heaven Shall Burn and As I Lay Dying‟s performances. One hell of an experience in all and definitely recommend attending festivals to any metal-

Winding The Optics is our debut full length album featuring 7 tracks (45 minutes). We would say that Winding is a lot heavier, a lot faster and with finer structures and transitions compared to The Sculptor of Negative Emotions. The songs featured on this album were written over a span of 2 years and the song writing process has been very collaborative. The recording process began in august 2010 and due to a few problems; the tracks were rerecorded with the help of our good friend Ankit Suryakant (Theorized) and later mixed and mastered by Daniel Bernath at Ubersound Productions in Germany. Your artwork is very impressive. Who designed it? Our bassist Arun Chandran is behind all the artwork on Winding the Optics.

You are among of the few Indian bands which got a chance to play at such a big venue. How does it make you feel? It feels really great and we are proud to have represented India at such an event. It‟s about time they hear about some of the awesome bands we have here.

Any tour scheduled to promote the new album? Yes, we do have plans of a tour to promote the album. More details soon. Thank you so much for the interview. Wish you all the best for your release. Any message to your fans. Thank YOU for the interview and support. Do pick up a copy (or two) of the album and let us know what you think of it. Cheers \m/.

Visit Ec{c}entric Pendulum at Please tell us about your up- h t t p : // ww w .f a c eb ook . co m / coming album ‘Winding the p a g e s / E c c e n t r i c Optics’. Pendulum/198704042390

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SCARAB

ow are you doing? Please introduce yourself to our readers. Hatem: Hey there! Pretty good actually, thank you for this interview. Bombest: We are Scarab from Egypt. So far, we have released an EP which was followed by the album “Blinding the Masses”, and now we are in the Mixing and mastering phase of our new album which will be titled “Serpents of the Nile”.

condemns your true qualities. The album actually was released twice! First, in Egypt where we selfreleased it in 2009 in a limited number, then we were approached by French label „Osmose productions‟ who released the album in Europe during 2010 with an extra bonus track

What does the name ‘Scarab’ mean? Does it have any mythological significance? Bombest: The Scarab is a beetle that was highly sacred in ancient Egyptian mythology, where it was believed that it is able to self-create itself out of nothing. During mummification they used to re- from our previous EP and the inplace the heart of the dead with a clusion of a full booklet. scarab in order to allow the dead to be resurrected in the afterlife. Your artwork is awesome. Who designed it? Please tell us about your de- Hatem: Our amazing bassist but ‘Blinding The Masses’. “Bombest”, who also works as an What’s the theme/concept of art director. He does everything the album? Was it self re- from the artwork to the website leased/label released? and all that. Bombest: Our album “Blinding the Masses" is mainly about the power Your band has gone through of ones‟ own will in society. It is numerous lineups and name about rising against opposition and changes, how do you feel is subverting anything that sup- the current lineup. presses your freedom and Hatem: The current line up defi-

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nitely delivers the most "Scarab", the most chemistry, aggression, originality, Egyptian feel, and melody. Music tends to flow naturally when we're in the studio, and the energy we have live is insane. The current line up has brought the most to Scarab; every member has added his own talent and feel into the music, and has worked the hardest; we sure as hell hope it stays that way. Bombest: The name was changed to Scarab in 2006, and since then the lineup hasn‟t actually changed. Once again, the Scarab‟s ability to transform and re-invent itself! We consider ourselves a completely different band. How has the response been to your album from your homeland and internationally? Hatem: From Egypt, well we got a pretty decent response I must say, they really liked it, and they showed a lot of support. Internationally, well it was an even more amazing response, they were very responsive throughout our shows, headbanging and cheering, they didn‟t know Egypt had any death metal, and they loved the Egyptian feel in our music. A lot of appreciation was delivered by some of our biggest influences, which only makes us more persistent and encouraged to deliver the outmost best in every track, show, and album we work on.

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Congratulations on winning the ‘United We Rock’ competition. You went and played at ‘With Full Force XVI 2009’ and ‘Dubai Desert Rock Festival 2009’ with some of the major bands. How was your experience been at those concerts? Hatem: Absolutely mind blowing; sharing both stages with some of our biggest influences and really big names in the metal scene worldwide was incredible. It was a first for us, and we're aiming that it won‟t be the last. What are your top 5 favorite bands/albums? Bombest: One of the best things in the band is that each one of us has different bands that he follows and all of that pours and melts together throughout our music when we compose any track. As for my top bands, I‟d have to say that I follow progressive music the most such as Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Riverside and Dream Theater

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Hatem: Morbid Angel, Vader, All sic over there that connect to us Shall Perish, Death and Nile via the internet. Not to mention the fact that our vocalist Sammy is Any other bands from Egypt half-Indian; and on a personal note you would recommend listen- India is one of my priorities to ing to? visit in the future, such a magical Hatem: Worm, and Crescent. land. Have you heard of any bands from India? Bombest: Well, we heard a lot about the bands and the metal scene in India throughout the years. Definitely, looks like you guys have a growing metal scene and a growing number of bands. But we weren‟t very much exposed to it except when we heard “Bhayanak Maut” and “Undying Inc.” featured on the Metal Hammer compilation we shared with them titled “Planet Metal” and I was very impressed with the music that both bands played.

We wish all the luck for future. Any final message for our readers Hatem: We would like to thank our fans, everyone who has supported us, and last but definitely not least, you guys at MetalIndia Magazine; thank you for this interview, we hope to see you in India at a show that we would love to have there. Bombest: Yeah, thank you for this interview and the opportunity to reach the metal fans in India and all the best to MetalIndia.

Visit Scarab at http:// Any gigs planned in India? www.scarabegypt.com Bombest: We haven‟t received any offers to play in India yet. Although we look forward to performing in India as we have found out that we have fans of our mu-

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Mumbai based supergroup, PROVIDENCE, which has risen to prominence recently features members from Sceptre, Chronic Phobia, Bhayanak Maut and Bloodshed. 12

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reetings fro m MetalIndia. How are you doing? Shezan : Hi, Doing excellent. Thank you. Sunneith: Very well, thank you. You? Charan: Very good, thank you. ! Please tell us how you guys met and formed the band? How did you come up with the band’s name? Shezan: Well, even before wanting to quit Sceptre, I had decided to go do my own thing. Charan came

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to my place to record a few scratch tracks for Chronic Phobia and we both hit it of immediately, not necessarily in terms of music, but more as friends. When I decided to move on from Sceptre, the only person I could think of in terms of guitar, was Charan. With Charan came Kanti – and his bass playing skills – as a part of a package deal for the group. Aaron, on the other hand, was detained at the airport while he was on the phone with me. We were discussing Megadeth on the phone and Aaron yelled something like "Haan

mai Holywars karoonga" while standing the in the Immigration line. I asked him if he would be interested in being the drummer for this band. He goes "Dude, thoda scene hogaya hai, I am on, I'll call you later" and he hung up. That's how Aaron got in. Sunny basically joined the band in a drunken stupor. It was simple. He went "Dude, nice song" or something like that…and I go "Dude, you want to be the vocalist" He goes "Haan dude" That's it. I am quite sure this is how the band was formed.

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Aaron: The band was formed by Shezan ,who by scouting around came across charan, kanti and me. Then on New year‟s when we were playing a show at B69, Sunny heard us during soundcheck and liked what he heard , and voila we have a vocalist. The name Providence just came up randomly when we were brainstorming for names. We were initially going to call ourselves „The Jenova project‟ ,but we found that name to be rather weak, compared to the music we were playing, and after a little research towards the name Providence, We decided to go for it Sunneith: Shezan and I went to the same highschool. And sometime in 2006, he asked me if I wanted to form a band with him. I was busy with Amidst the chaos back then, and didn‟t really have a lot of time on my hands. So I said no. Cut to last year, when him, Kanti, Charan, and Aaron came together and formed „Scam machine‟. Scam machine performed at the B69 New year‟s eve party last year. We were all really trashed, and somehow agreed to form the band. But there was absolutely no morning regret. Lawl. Good times. Charan: Shezan is the founding member of the band. We were recording Chronic Phobia in his studio when I met him. Few days later he asked me if I‟d like to play in a new band and since the musical direction for this band was going to be much different than what I was doing in Chronic, I joined the band. Shrikanth (a.k.a Kanti ), who is also playing with me in Chronic Phobia , was asked to play bass and our Buntai thought it was a good idea. Aaron from Bloodshed agreed on drum duties. In this way the instrument section of the band was formed. But we still needed a vocalist. Having written some original material, we played a slot at the Bajaao New Year Party gig at B69 as

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„Scam Machine‟. Sunneith heard the original (Watch Them Fall) and liked the band‟s musical direction. Soon after, Sunny joined the band to complete the 5 piece line up we play with now. We had a band and we had two originals ready, but we still did not have a name. After a few hits and misses, we finally agreed on Providence. We all think it is a powerful name and goes completely with the music. Dubbed as ‘Supergroup’, you guys have risen to prominence in very short duration. What would you account your popularity to? Shezan: LOLESH!!! I can't say if we have risen to prominence yet, but we surely have a long way to go. I really don't know how popular we are. But I do see people coming out for our gigs and supporting us. More power to them. Aaron : We have never referred to ourselves as a „ Supergroup ‟ , we have to thank the internet for that . Frankly we don‟t ‟ like the term, but then again we don‟t mind it. After the initial period of people being intrigued by the whole „Supergroup‟ tag, I can honestly say that people now come to hear us play . Sunneith: I don‟t think we‟re there, by a long shot. We‟ve been fortunate enough to land some pretty good gigs with some great bands. It‟s been awesome, really. We‟ve been around for a little over six months, things are running along. There has been some talk, and we‟re continuously trying to better ourselves as performers to live up to it. Charan: We do not think ourselves of being a „supergroup‟. Those are just kind words by really kind people. We are just thankful to all the people who have shown genuine support to the band and our music.

they tend to be more of side projects with members working full Shezan : Honestly, “supergroup” is just a tag. How it arrived upon us, nobody knows. Providence is not a supergroup / side project for anyone in the band. It's not like "Dude, let‟s do it for kicks and maybe for one album" It is very much a full time thing for everyone. Aaron: It is definitely a full time project for all of us. Everyone in the band is on the same page , and we want it to become a force to reckon with. Sunneith: I‟ve been lucky enough to do a lot of collaborations with a lot of talented artists. I‟m doing something that I love. I think we manage to divide time between the bands that we play for. There is no priority-hierarchy as such. Charan: This band is a serious full time one. It is not a side project for any of the members. How would you describe your sound since the members come from bands from different genres? Shezan : We've been asked this question since our very first show. I would just like to call us Metal. That's about it. People are free to put us as Hardcore/Deathcore/ Power Groove/ Thrash. Aaron: I honestly do not have an answer for that. We play whatever we want ,the only point being is that it should be brutal and skull crushing. The fact that we all come from different styles works for us, can‟t explain it but it just does. Sunneith: The sound is a nice mix of old school and modern metal. It‟s a good blend. Charan: I‟d say it‟s a nice mix of new age and old school. There are thrash, groove, death, hardcore elements in the songs on the EP .

Problem with supergroups, You currently have one single

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‘Watch Them Fall’ available for streaming. What is the song about? Shezan : Whatever Sunny said :P FYI, Watch them fall was the first song we wrote. Sunneith: Lyrically, it is about choices. It is about finding yourself in a confrontational situation where you either back down once you‟ve made your point, or go the extra mile to seal the deal. It‟s an angry song. But the lyrics have been altered to go in line with the E.P. concept. Charan: Ask Sunny!! Please share details about your upcoming EP? What can we expect? When can we expect it? Shezan: Sorry, can't give out many details as of yet. It's a concept EP, and we have no clue when it will be out. We are still bouncing mixes back and forth, toying with ideas for cheap kicks. So yea, we have no idea when we plan on releasing it. Aaron: It‟s a five song EP of just intense brutality .The EP is being produced by the incredible Keshav Dhar, who is just a genius. The artwork is being done by me. The EP will be released in September no date has been fixed as of yet. Sunneith: Like I said, it‟s a concept E.P. We‟ve got 5 songs. I think I‟ll let you take a call on that. I‟m not giving out anything. Charan: All I can say is, you won‟t be disappointed. It is going to be a 5 song EP. Release date has not been finalized yet as we are not rushing things with this EP. How was your experience working with Keshav Dhar? Shezan : Oh Dude! It was a fucking breeze. Loved it, in fact Charan and I were quite bummed out when Keshav left. Basically Keshav just busts into the studio, sets up his pretty AXE-FX, installs his plug ins and goes "Alright, what‟s the

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first song". Day one, Aaron and Keshav finish the drum tracks for the first three songs. Next day we track the guitars and I shit you not…we fucking loitered more than we tracked and we still nailed 3 songs and vocals for two songs on that day. By the night of Day 3, we had completed all guitar parts for all the songs. It was fucking awesome. Aaron: It was superb. He is a genius, everything went by like a blur, He was so professional as well as being chilled out and the initial pre recording jitters all faded away. Plus the inputs that he gave have made the EP brilliant Sunneith: I‟ve said it before, I‟ll say it again. Keshav Dhar is a Jedi. I‟ve never been this comfortable working with a producer. What a guy! I‟d say Zorran and Keshav are probably the most fun, encouraging, and inspiring producers to work with. Charan: Killer experience. What fun! Keshav Dhar is a genius. And he makes the bands working with him really comfortable. He really became the 6th member for the band. He is just too good and he‟s too humble. Good times.

because of you guys we actually got a chance to even do this interview in the first place. Alok, Shaurya, Vikram, Vishnu , Tushar and Gokul. Thanks for coming to all our gigs. You fuckers rule! Aaron: Stay brutal and keep supporting Providence. GRIND!!!!! Sunneith: Thank you. Charan: Support the band if you like the music! If you like the music, support the band! Thanks! Visit Providence at http:// www.facebook.com/ providenceindia

Any gigs lined up to promote the upcoming EP? Shezan : Not that I know of, but we are trying to work things out for a proper tour. Hopefully things will fall into place. Aaron: Don‟t know as of yet. Sunneith: Oh yeah. We‟re waiting for the final product, after which we‟ll start planning on probably a small promo tour. Charan: Hopefully a small tour, but nothing is finalized yet. All the best for your release. Any last words for our readers. Shezan : Thank you so much. Thank you MetalIndia for doing this interview with us. For everyone who has heard Providence and who show up at our gigs. It is

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evening so I can practice at night with the band or cook or do some of my own work. So it‟s a new day everyday and while I do try and plan ahead as much as I can I do a lot of stuff on the fly as well. How did you get the idea of starting the HK cooking show? Will this be something you would consider taking full time in future? We‟ll I‟ve been cooking since I was a kid and I even took cooking as my hobby in school and even had plans to pursue a career in hotel management. That of course however did not materialize and eventually I got into music but I still cooked at home and it was about 3 years ago that I put up a recipe and photo on facebook and since that got a great response I continued putting up these notes when I got time till sometime last year I got the idea of making cooking videos instead so it is easier for people to follow and that is how the idea was born. I approached Vaas who directed the Demonic Resurrection video and we developed the idea from there. I‟m definitely open to taking this up full time, in an ideal world I‟d be making enough money from my band to make a living but cooking seems a betPlease tell us about the various dishes you have prepared? Which are the most popular ones? Well the star of my culinary skills has been the bacon bomb which is a recipe I picked up from the BBQ Pit Boys and gave my own spin to. It‟s a half kilo loaf of pork mince stuffed with cheese, bacon, peppers, onions and seasoned to taste. This loaf is then wrapped in bacon, covered in BBQ sauce and ello Sahil. How are you doing? baked. Apart from the bacon bomb my burgers I‟m doing great actually, been very busy seem to be really popular and on the show I‟ve with recording, cooking and other cooked kebabs, parathas, chicken piccata and most things and after I got over mourning recently the „Djentlemen‟s Roast Chicken‟. the inability for us to make it to the Sonisphere festival and our subsequent tour of the UK I‟m doing Are you planning to publish a book with all just fine. your recipes? I have no such plans yet, but I‟m open to anything. How do you manage to run a fulltime band, cooking show, PR agency and side projects? Is there any chef you look up to or aspire to I just want these things bad enough so I make them be like? happen. I‟m very lucky to have great employers at There are tons of chefs I look upto and gain inspiraFurtados Music who allow me to work from home tion and recipes from. Everyone from Gordon Ramand understand my other commitments. So apart sey, Jamie Oliver, Nigella, Heston, David Chang to from that it is just good time management. the old school Yan from Yan Can Cook have all inspired me. I however aspire to be myself in the Walk us through your typical day? kitchen and create tasty food. Well each day is different but mostly its waking up and sitting on the PC answering emails, facebook Please tell us about the side projects you are stuff and other work. When I have recordings I just working on? When can we expect new reblock off the entire day for that and wrap up by the leases?

sahil makhija talks about his cooking SHOW, music AND MORE

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I‟m currently in the process of recording 3 full albums, my disbanded project Workshop has an album half recorded which I intend to finish recording, Reptilian Death and my solo album under the name Demonstealer. I‟m simultaneously writing material for the new DR album and have about 7 tracks ready. I had planned a lot of these release for the year end but seeing as there has been a lot of delays I think I will be releasing everything next year. So I might have a fresh release every 3 months :P You have been in the scene for more than a decade. How has the music scene evolved? Where do you see it going towards in future? The evolution of the Indian scene has been huge, we‟ve come a long way from days when bands played covers to when everyone is writing good original music. There are more venues, festivals, opportunities etc for not just bands but for people wanting to be involved in other aspects of the scene. I‟d say we‟re on the right track and I do see good growth in the future however the key lies in creating enough money for people to dedicate themselves to their craft and jobs in the scene, rather than it being something they do on the side. If the fans support the music by actually paying for music, merch and concert tickets then we‟re definitely looking at a strong future for the scene. What are your views regarding bands giving away their music for free download? Do you think it will be a good/bad move for the band and music industry in general? To be really honest it is a double edged sword, there are pros and cons to it like with everything. It made sense for newer bands because people otherwise won‟t really spend their money buying something that they aren‟t sure off, one can also argue that people aren‟t buying music at all so why even bother selling. The way I see it right now its just BAD for the industry because even though countless bands are giving albums and EPs for free no one gives a shit, it is like there is so much free music it has no value anymore. So the way I see it again it boils down to other aspects like playing live, Pr, advertising etc and when your spending all that money on those things bands need to recover that by selling and valuing their music. Also if a band has given me music for free why would I ever pay for it in the future, that is the reaction people have to free music. So it is a choice that each band has to make, for me personally I spend a lot of money, time, effort and energy on making not just a great album but getting good artwork and creat-

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ing a package that is truly value for money and I refuse to give that out for free. I must however let it be known I understand that times are tough and people don‟t always have money and things like that and I‟m ok if a fan wants to download and listen to the album and see if it is worth his money. So if he likes it I‟d expect him to buy it and if not then am sure he can just delete the files and that is cool. What would you suggest newer/younger bands to do in order to get noticed and become successful in the long run? The main thing is working hard, writing great music and understanding what the music business is about and how to actually succeed. Today it is all about saving money and investing it in the right things like a good producer, a great studio, good PR and so on and so forth so bands need to explore all these areas and ensure they make a mark when they hit the scene. If you first impression is bad it is most likely you won‟t be given a 2nd listen. With newer bands adopting modern sounds like Djent and Metalcore, what do you think will happen to the more traditional metal music? In actuality nothing will happen except some of the „old schoolers‟ will just whine and cry like emo children on facebook. The fact is trends come and go, nu-metal came and went as well and traditional metal bands continued doing what they do. So there is space for all kinds of music and sub genres of music. It is just a matter of co-existing. I personally just make the music I want to make and there is an audience for it even if newer bands adopt a djent sound or half the scene is filled with metal core bands. So yeah nothing will happen to tranditional metal music, there will be bands and there will be fans for that genre always. It was nice talking with you. All the best for future. Any message you would like to give to your fans. Thank you for this interview. Cheers & Stay Demonic! V i s i t H K a t h t t p : / / www.headbangerskitchen.com Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/user/ HeadbangersKitchen Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ headbangerskitchen

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THE THIRTEENTH NOTE

sound can be best described as a combination of Progressive and Experimental Metal coupled by ambient structures lingering here and there. After a few week's jamming and toil, they (Anurag Hazarika & Sanandam Bordoloi) came up with the raw structure of their first original (to be released soon in the first week of September). Soon they brought in Sourav Nandi (filling in the bass) and guest vocals (Johnny Marak) to fill in their song. They are currently working their way into the Guwahati Rock scene with their debut single "Divided We Fall", recorded at the Lucid Recess Studio. Among Indian bands, they like Silver Tears, Skyharbor and Noiseware. While, their International influences includes Haunted Shores, Dream Theatre, Periphery and TesseracT.

'The Thirteenth Note' is a 6-piece Heavy Metal band, from Delhi. The band was formed in 2010. The current line-up of the band is: Saksham Kapoor and Umang Upreti on vocals, Madhusudan Goyal and Ratandeep Singh on guitars, Aman Kumar Gulia on Bass and Shardul Chauhan on drums. They started playing live/attending gigs in late 2010. Since then they have played in: JIVE '10 Jaypee, Noida GOONJ '10 - SLIET, Punjab MUDRA '10 - Thapar University, Patiala PSYCHEDELIA '11 - Thapar University, Patiala They won DECIBEL War of the Bands '11 held in B.K. BIET, Pilani. They were also declared winners Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/curvesofficial of OPUS '11 held in GHEC, Solan. Both of their demos are up for download. You can download them from their ReverbNation/ SoundCloud pages. Currently the band is working on few more singles, which will be released in the Deathknell is a 3-piece Melodic Death metal band upcoming months. hailing from Shimla. The band consists of Manish on Vocals and Guitar, Purvaj on Drums and SanFacebook: h t t p : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / deep on Bass. According to the band, "Deathknell" thethirteenthnote means 'darkness and destruction' and that's what is reflected by their music. Their music is influenced by Metallica and Children of Bodom. The band was formed back in 2009 as a college band. But after winning War of Bands, they thought of taking it to a new level by doing relentless gigging and covering many Melodic Death track. But later, in 2010, they switched to creating their own music and also composed originals. Currently they are working on their debut album titled as "Still to Decide". Album art will be released soon.

DEATHKNELL

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/deathknelld2

CURVES "Curves" was mainly formed when two friends met and started sharing their ideas on the sound they were searching. They started writing materials together, never thinking of whether to do it live or not, resulting in their songs having multiple guitar layers looped one over another. Their

WINTER GATE 'Winter Gate' is a Prog Death Metal band from Jaipur. Formed back in 2008, the band was originally known as 'Alath' and then 'War Autopsy'. Their songs are generally a deep mix of death metal and tight acoustic patterns covered with different Death metal/clean vocals. They try to bring up the true and pure death metal all in a progressive environment. But the root breed still

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remains old school. The main influences of the band includes Death, Bloodbath, Opeth, Nile, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary etc. The lineup of Winter Gate: Devashish Dutt Vocals, Guitars Lovenish Sharma - Guitar Ankit Yadav - Bass Siddharth Padhye - Drums Currently the band is working on their debut EP titled as "DisIllumination", which will be released by October end. Facebook: WinterGate

http://www.facebook.com/

Exhumation All That Is

Noiseware 23

Providence Watch Them Fall

DARK SIN

OCTAVES

'Dark Octaves of Sin' is a 4-piece Groove Metal band from Chandigarh. The band started off as a college band, playing few gigs/ live shows in Chandigarh and surroundings. But after few needed & successful line-up changes, the band finally found their present groovy sound. The current line-up of Dark Octaves of Sin is Ankit Sharma on Vocals, Isaar Rattanpal on Guitars, Abhinav Sharma on Bass and Rohit Sinha on Drums. Their influences vary from acoustic blues stuff to the very distorted and groovy genres like Thrash & Death Metal. The band has won many gigs and competitions in the Shimla- Chandigarh region and is undoubtedly one of the best bands of the region. They've been working hard and gigging relentlessly, which has earned them a cult following in the region. But then, playing in a conservative region has its own set of drawbacks. Even then, the lads are having such a passion for music that the first single 'Blasphemy' they released few months back, was included in the "Unholy Maunder Indian Rock Vol. I" compilation.

Sceptre Lest We Forget

Grimmortal Resistance

Eccentric Pendulum De-engineer The Prevalent

1833ad Empty Shrine

Theorized Genetic Variants

Equinox Prisoner Of Shame

Curves Divided We Fall

Silver Tears Dirt Beyond Beauty

Dark Octaves Of Sin Not Your Slave CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ darkoctavesofsin

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ow are you doing? What’s going in the Noiseware camp? Adhiraj: Pretty good, thanks! Off late we‟ve been working on new material and hoping for the gig season to kick off. We haven‟t played around in a while now and are really itching to! Aman: The camp is at peace and Chill is on a all time high. We are taking the time to make new stuff and generally, enjoying the no-pressure period to basically organize to hit the stage hard whenever we do so.!!

band today. Me and Gautam played together in an alternative band previously and when that project dissolved we were looking for musicians who I discovered through Orkut, namely Aniket and Bob. Aman came in after Karan and that‟s again because we knew him from his Vyazasa days. You can see the internet everywhere haha! Aman: Having people who like our stuff are a great feeling, I would like to believe that out music firstly and secondly when we play live we really make sure we give everything we have to make it a great show, which are the prime reasons why people dig us. And we can never thank them enough .It gives us With barely 2 years in existence and you guys the drive to get out there and make even better have gained a large fan following. What songs and even more epic shows :) would you attribute it to? How did you guys get together? It’s quite an achievement for a young band to Adhiraj: Lucky? Haha I dunno, it‟s probably cause we open for big names like Meshuggah, Porcuwere always doing something as a band, whether it pine Tree, Enslaved. What is your most was playing live, putting out music or as we have memorable event? Why? Any band you become popular for – trolling the interwebs. I think would like to share the stage with? the internet plays a big role in where we are as a Adhiraj: Hmm I can‟t really pick one. Porcupine Tree was really special as we were just a 6 month old band and having made it to that stage felt unbelievable! Meshuggah has its own place for each of us musically and was probably one our dream bands to play alongside. So it actually happening in our very own city and us just having to drive for short while to play alongside Meshuggah, was well, just surreal. Gautam: Meshhugah and Porcupine tree was awesome but most memorable was Nh7 for me cause the whole festival experience was insane, playing and hanging out with top bands of he country was kickass and was definitely the best imo. And playing with Scribe, Bhayanak Maut is always fun and would be awesome to do it again. As for the international acts We'd love to play with Textures, Karnivool. Aman: I would personally give anything to open for Textures. I have been listening to Dualism on loop for the past two weeks and that‟s not an over statement..:P

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Coming to your debut EP ‘Wake up and soar’, please give us details regarding it. What is the concept behind it? Can you give brief description song by song Adhiraj: I don‟t think there‟s a concept as such. The EP was meant to be a collection of our material to date before we proceeded to write for the album. These songs were actually gonna be chucked but then we

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thought we might as well put them out nicely before focusing on the album, so this happened. So the songs aren‟t connected or bound by a concept. Your EP includes Michael Jackson’s cover of ‘Smooth Criminal’? Are you all MJ fans? Have you heard the Alien Ant Farm version of the same song? Adhiraj: That song happened by incident haha! And yes, I have heard the AAF version which I would say is pretty fun too! Gautam: yep we have heard the Alien Ant farm version but our version is more metchul...haha!! We are all MJ fans...who isn‟t!!

thing that has ever happened to the band. We were content with just being nominated. We were kinda chilling outside when the ceremony was going on as we had just finished our set. It was quite a shock when our name was announced. You could probably check the pics to know the level of shock we were in...hahaha!!.A pleasant shock nonetheless!!! Adhiraj: Pretty incredible. I distinctly remember being surprised when we were in the nominations because I had completely forgotten that we had sent entries. Never really expected to be nominated so forget winning haha! It being on the same day as the EP launch was the icing on the cake.. I think we were all in shock, had no idea what to say.. So we went up on stage and awkwardly spoke some thank you or just gibberish (don‟t remember) and came off. What followed was more silence because none of us could really digest it haha.

Your song ‘23’ was chosen as the Best Metal Song for the Rolling Stone Metal Awards 2011. It was also the same time your EP was launched. How did that make you feel? What was your reaction when you came to know you had won? You guys are probably the Gautam: That was the coolest first & only band from India

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to play the 8 string guitar. What’s the story behind switching to 8 strings? Adhiraj: was always into drop tunings, I would play drop C in a punk band. So when Noiseware started out, I was on a seven tuning pretty low cause Im a fan of that sound. Eventually the progression to eight‟s happened and there hasn‟t been any looking back ever since. We like to use the entire spectrum available at hand not just chug on the eighth string. Though I think quite a few more bands have started using 8 strings guitars now.. Aman: if we think something is going to sound cool..we might take it to 64 strings..lolwut..we don‟t have any specific obsession with numbers or the number of strings for that matter... it‟s all bout what we have fun doing which is most important . Who are your biggest influences? Gautam: For me I listen to probably a lot of stuff other than metal. I recently started learning the

metalcore music, where do you see the music scene heading towards? Aman: I personally think that people are now becoming aware of new sounds and the possibilities within the Genre as such. So that means only one thing more bands and more music to look forward to. Which I think is uber-kewl..:P Adhiraj: That‟s the most unpredictable bit; these are just the current trends. I remember when we were trying to play the kinda music we do, people weren‟t into it at all and things have really turned out now. I‟m sure there will be another wave of a particular sub genre to metal which will hit trend status...it never ceases to happen haha. As long as there‟s quality music coming out, we should stop bothering with genres/sub-genres and just enjoy music. Don‟t see a point in the categorizing.

Pune? Recommend us some local bands to check out. Adhiraj: Pretty dead to be honest. We haven‟t played in our own city for the longest time now which sucks! When the college fests die out, there are practically no gigs happening. Though there are quite a few bands who are trying hard to do things right. There would probably be more but over the top of my head – Dark helm, Infidels of Sanity, What Google Can‟t Find etc. Thanks a lot for the interview. Any final words to your fans, our readers Aman: Thank you for having us..!! To all our fans: appreciate the support so far..And we have lot s of stuff for yawl in the near future.peace..!!.To the readers: Thank you for reading this and do check our stuff out . Adhiraj: Thanks for having us here! Kthnxbaichirskipitbrutlstaytrollandmetchul. Decipher. Face palm.

tabla from Dhananjay Pandit was is absolutely brilliant. But for drums I would say Stef Broks (Textures), Chad Smith(Rhcp), Noiseware Official Website: Chris Pennie(DEP), Gino Banks, http://www.noiseware.in/ Chris Coleman, Matt Halphen (Periphery), Danney Carey (Tool), Derek Roddy (Hate Eternal), George Kollias (Nile), Ranjit Barot, Jai Row Kavi, Buddy Rich, Steve Judd (Karnivool), Navene How is the music scene in (AAL), Travis Barker (Blink 182), Thomas Haake (Meshhugah), Gavin Harrsion (Porcupine tree) and the list goes on and on!! Adhiraj: Can‟t really say..I think all of us listen to a wide variety of music and our influences needn‟t even necessarily come from metal! Aman: my biggest influences are Eric (ex-textures), Akerfeldt (Opeth).these are the forefront of the many I draw inspiration from..!! With a lot of newer bands moving towards Djent or

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