Atheist - And the Psychic Saw (Wacken 2006)

Atheist - An Incarnation's Dream at Wacken 2006

Atheist - On They Slay at Wacken 2006

Atheist - Mother Man (Wacken 2006'

Atheist - Retribution at Wacken 2006

Atheist is back :D

Fantomas - Pages 3, 4 & 5 (live)

Fantomas - Pages 6, 8, 9, 10 & 12 (live)

for ppl in IIT .. try to watch it through some anonymiser or something

Fantomas - Page 14 + Simply Beautiful (live)

Fantomas - Slayer Medley (live)

Chk this shit out

Arbit Stuff

I haven't posted here for a long time now, and no one else seems to have either :P

I finally get what off-beat means! I mean, I knew what it meant before, but now I finally understood what's so 'off-beat' about it.

Also, lots of Hindi songs (both old and new) have impressed me with their beat patterns. Rehman (or is it Rahman?) seems to have a lot of fun with his beats. Of course, lots of songs don't really use real drums. But whatever the instrument (tabla, weird sounds, etc.), there are many interesting things to look out for!

Oh, the nonsense I have to do when I don't have drums to play :P

New Music :

.1. Hip-hop is for the most part nonsense. The lyrics and the grunts are disgusting! But some songs, as usual, stand out. And the beats are what seem to give the USP to most songs. So that's good. Some good songs : Where did you go (don't know singer :P), Sergio Mendes and Black Peas (Don't know songname :P)....there's good music everywhere :D

.2. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy...Nice song with very unusual sound to it. Cool :)

.3. Sandi Thom - Wish I was a punk rocker : Very cool song! Nothing special about it in terms of music and all. But the lyrics are nice, and true too.

.4. RHCP - It's already been reviewed here, but I would like add my one paisa by saying "Tell Me Baby"'s a very nice song, but unusually ordinary-sounding for RHCP.

.5. Umm...That's it :P

Question for debate : Has the age of rock come to an end? Of course, hip-hop has taken over, but what I mean to say is, have good rock songs and bands that don't sound like something already done before stopped coming out? :(

Stadium Arcadium

Well, here is it, the double disc epic that I have been waiting for! Sadly, thats where the excitement ends. This album has simply failed to surprise me. There are freaking 28 tracks on the album! Unfortunately, a sizeable number of them sound like filler. The playing of both Frusciante and Flea sadly comes across as lazy. I miss those freak-out bass gallops of Flea which are nowhere to be found on this album. That said, a few songs are actually good, the kind of stuff you'd expect from RHCP, although as already said, a majority of the songs simply pass by. The sound is too bland for my taste and to add to it, all the songs are either mid-tempo (by rhcp standards) or beloew mid-tempo! I don't know if its just me, but a few songs on this "epic" sound like rip offs of earlier RHCP material. OMFG, I should stop typing now before I get depressed.. I just wanted to love this album :((

I'm going to keep listening to it though, hoping that it'd get me going at some point.

Goodbye To Romance:Standards For A New Generation

That's the name of Alex Skolnick Trio's first recording. For those you who don't know Alex Skolnick, he was the guitarist in Testament during The Legacy/The New Order era. This on the other hand is a total guitar driven jazz/funk record! It'd be a shame not to mention the amazing rhythm section, which completes the trio. I guess, this could well be an introductory jazz lesson for most newbies (and I am one). Its interesting to see a metalhead, who has played in one of the thrash monsters play jazz. We also get to hear an amazingly funky jazz rendition of the great War Pigs (by Sabbath, you dumbass!) and also a beautiful version of Dream On (Aero-fuckin-Smith :) The other songs could also be renditions of other artists, but I'm not familiar with them. Give these guys a try!

Apart from Goodbye to Romance, I've been listening to Usfret (by Trilok Gurtu) atleast a couple of times daily. This is the first time I've heard Gurtu's work and man, its just out of this world. This is a funk meets indian classical meets jazz album. Shobha Gurtu's hindustani vocals are intense. There are lots of awesome intstrumental interludes, lots of jams with saxophones, guitars, bass, tabla, drums, flute etc. So, those of you who want to take a break from teh hedbanging can go ahead and listen to these bands.

An other band that has been blowing my mind is Mahavishnu Orchestra.. but more on them later. Until then, meh.

Textures - Polars

Very few albums leave you mind-fucked after just the first listen. This is one such album. The band is called Textures and the album, Polars. It is very difficult to put into words what we have here. It won't take too long before you realize the quality of the musicians in question. At first Textures might seem like a Meshuggah clone. But according to me, this band is everything Meshuggah can and can't be, and more! Meshuggah albums are never so easily appreciated. This is not to take anything away from the Swedish metal gods, but its just that one has to spend a lot of time listening to the albums again and again to get a hang of the music. I couldn't imagine falling in love with a Meshuggah album after just the first listen. Anyway, coming back to Polars, there are a lot of ambient sections in the album, which perfectly compliment the heavier sections. The album infact ends with a 14 mins long ambient track, which is probably one of the best "calm" endings ever composed.

The talent of the band shines through in the extremely awesome title track which is 19 mins long. Its definitely not an album for everyone, but those of you into bands like Meshuggah, Tool, Strapping Young Lad and the various side projects of Devin Townsend will immediately identify with the music. This 8 track, almost an hour long mammoth of an album is like a dream come true for me and thousands of extreme-metalheads. Such refreshing and exciting metal is very rare to come by and please please listen to this! I have read comments and reviews on the net which claim Polars to be the best album to have ever come out of The Netherlands. I really cannot back that up, but I agree that this is one of the most beautiful albums I've heard in a while.

Warzone

The gig was a 10 min drive from my place. By the time we reached the place, some punk band was playing. I have no idea which band it was. They played Greenday's When I Come Around. Then for about 4 hours, a lot of forgettable punk bands came and went, while we rested on the lawns outside. We went in when Human Abstract took the stage. These guys are good. They started off with a good cover of Stone Temple Pilots' Interstate Love Song, which happens to be my favourite STP song. They played a couple of very predictable originals along with two covers of RATM, People of the Sun and something else. Then to come on stage was Medusa, probably the crappiest band of the evening. After a soundcheck which went on forever, the started off with a horrible cover of some Radiohead song which I can't recall. I was just one step short of puking when they were playing RATM's Testify. It was a disgrace to RATM! Apart from one or two originals which sounded like Darude, they also played a terrible cover of Fat Boy Slim's Right Here Right Now and ADF's Asian Dub Foundation. I seriously wish these guys stopped playing.

Until that point, the name given to the gig, "warzone", was sounding pretty ridiculous. After a lot of boring/substandard/chootiya bands (Medusa!), Metakix came on stage. They were just awesome! This might sound strange, but I didn't see Metakix live until yesterday. Zomb's are the most versatile vocals I've heard in India. He's got an incredible range and a brutal growl. Its incredible how long this guy can sustain a note. I don't remember the names of any of their originals except for one, which I think was called Lone Star. Somehow, their originals reminded me of The Devin Townsend Band (which is a very good thing, I'm telling you). They played an ass kicking version of Kaiowas and Propaganda (both Sepultura songs). That was when the crowd started moshing.

Next to come on stage was the best band of the night, Demonic Resurrection. It was a delight to watch these guys play. They kicked off with A Darkness Descends. They also played Dreams of the Dead, Behind the Mask of God, Frozen Portrait and a couple of other songs (most of them off their most recent release). The band had an insane stage act. Needless to say, JP again blew our minds off. Sahil's vocals were also excellent. We can only hope for the best for DR. I hope they release more records and get to play abroad. They totally deserve it.

Joint Family (Delhi) took the stage after DR. By this time most of the crowd had already left the gig! It was sad but JF managed to tear down the place with an extremely tight and heavy set. Their originals were very nice. I don't understand why I didn't like them in Great Indian Rock. Except for Life's a Bitch, I can't remember the names of their other originals. They also played Slipknot's People=Shit very well. I'm glad I got to see the band again.

Next to take the stage were the newest extreme metal act from Bombay, Devoid. Their vocalsit had the best scream/growl of the day. Amazing stage act. They started off with their brilliant original Black Fortress, followed by Poems of Death and Devoid of Emotions. Then the vox introduced the next song as being about a Goddess, Kali, an other awesome original. They also covered Hypnosia's Extreme Hatred. I never heard of Hypnosia until yesterday. I don't mind checking them out now. After that, they played the ever so famous Angel of Death!!! The lead guitar was a little low, but otherwise, a brilliant performance by everyone in the band, most notably the vocalist. I just love his growl/screech! A couple of other bands were to follow (I think Systemhouse33 was one of them), but it was too late already and we had gone to the gig to just watch DR and Devoid play. So we left on a high note!

Finally, was it worth the money? Yes, but we could have easily skipped the first 4 or five bands. I'm not really a punk kind of guy. Evaluating these bands from a neutral viewpoint also, I don't understand the point in playing a very long song comprising of just 3 or 4 chords. I know punk is about the lyrics, but I'll pass!

First GIG in Hydera'fucking rocking'bad

This was the first time I was attending a gig in Hyderabad (my hometown). Not knowing what to expect, especially, after attending almost all gigs in Mumbai and being a regular face there, I was skeptical about how the crowd here would be like. Some of the thoughts that were in my head before I reached the venue:

- Would I end up seeing a bunch of poseurs?
- Would people actually mosh?
- Can the Hyderabad crowd actually take on Infernal Wrath's mayhem?

And guess what, all the answers turned out to be a big fuckin' 'YES'. And I was more than happy to see that Hyderabad is surely growing in terms of metal and rock.

Let me start with the opening band for this evening. As every rock show in India, even this had to start late. So I reached the venue, One Flight Down (Pub), which hosts most of the Hyderabad shows, a half hour late. Met up with JP, Afaq and other Infernal Wrath members, and one hour after the scheduled time, the gig was on its way, with Kamoflagodz. They were a very average band, with an average drummer, and a pretty good lead guitarist. They did some originals and covered Neil Diamond's 'Keep on rocking in the free world' and Iron Maiden's 'Hallowed be thy Name'. Both these songs were well done and, the rest were pretty ok. In all, a band which was pretty average, but were very tight in whatever they did. Got the crowds booty-shakin', but not the heads.

Next up were Wreckage. Never heard of this band either. These guys were another Sledge clone. That's what I felt. They played covers of Sepultura's 'Chaos AD' and Pantera's 'Mouth For War'. Pretty well done infact. There were a few timing pitches in between, which were pretty well covered and the sound was a bit bad, cause the vocals were a bit high, and the guitars really low, compared to the drums. People started moshing by now, but I was jus sitting and having my smoke and beer. Waiting for Infernal Wrath to take the stage. Finally Wreckage ended their set with an instrumental, which I really didn't pay attention to. Once their set ended, I got up, did a bottoms up for the remaining of the beer, which was almost half a bottle, and went to the stage.

Finally the band, that I had been waiting for. The only band cause of which I was here tonight. As I saw Afaq, JP, Pradeep, and Harshad take the stage, I knew it was gonna be one hell of a moshfest. All I remember was, shouting out to Afaq to UNLEASH HELL. Well, that's exactly what they did. Started out with Cannibal Corpse's 'Hammer Smashed Face' and went on to do an amazing cover of the invincible Cryptopsy, yeah, you guessed it right, it was 'Phobophile'. The crowd went totally crazy and were moshing as if there was no end to their wretched life, and they jus wanted to die there. The atmosphere was so intense, that sissy things like me bleeding cause of getting elbowed really didn't matter, and I was back in the moshpit for Infernal Wrath's original and cover of Slayer's 'Raining Blood', followed by 'Angel Of Death'. By this time, the crowd was totally exhausted, bodies battered, and vocal chords completely strained. Afaq had a great stage presence, like every time. He was right there in the middle, with the crowd, with us, moshing and screaming his guts out. JP's brilliance need not me spoken about cause you must have already must've heard about the insane drumming, fast, furious, precise and energetic. Pradeep's killing solos, crisp and sharp, and the funky bassist who played a really cool bass line before the sound check, but also showed some high speed plucking during the songs. Overall this was THE band, one should not have missed. Give and take 2 more years and I see this band making it very big in the Indian Scene, and hopefully in the International circuit (I wish they do). HAIL INFERNAL WRATH.

That was the summary of one of the most awesome gigs I have been to. One had to be there to feel the mayhem, chaos and pure rage. It was one gig that will remain in my mind for quite some time. Infernal Wrath has found many fans in Hyderabad, who would really wait for their next gig in this cyber city. Need to rest my battered body, so... peace out.

Vicarious!!!

I downloaded the new Tool song "Vicarious" about an hour back. I've listened to it 7 times back to back until now. Here I am writing about it! The track totally kicked my ass. The good news is that it sounds like a track off Ænima! Amazing vocals (of course!) and riffs. A brilliant breakdown with trademark Danny Carey drumming. Shit, shit! I can't wait for the entire album. Will post a complete review then.

Stoned Immaculate

Okay people, this might be totally dumb. Which band do you think is more psychedelic, The Doors or Pink Floyd?

Teevra Aandhi

I recently rediscovered Indian Ocean. I first listened to them when we covered "Maa Rewaa" in a fusion contest in our college. My music player hit Kandisa in the random mode and I realized I hadn't heard enough of this awesome band. Indian Ocean is our own desi jam band. Apart from their 3 awesome albums, they have also made the soundtrack for the movie "Black Friday". That film and the OST just blew me away completely. "Opening Pre-Blast" is one of the creepiest pieces of music ever written. My salute to the band for making great music and more importantly for staying true to their music. Four rock solid albums. They say, support the Indian rock bands. Well, this one's also Indian, support it!

An other album that I have been listening to endlessly is Quo Vadis' "Defiant Imagination". Their vocalist has this amazing growl and he can continuously growl for 20 seconds (yes I have timed a couple of his growls!). Vocals apart from that are pretty average death metal vocals, but the instumental department is just out of this world. If you like technical, fast, brilliant death metal, this is the perfect band for you. One more highlight is the bass playing of the almighty Steve DiGiorgio. The bass lines are just out of this world, typical SDG fare. He killed on all the Death albums, but I'm amazed at the speeds at which he plays on this one. The recent Sadus album (SDG's own band) was a disappointment for me. It is good, but not brilliant. So, all of you into metal, check this out

Freedom, Freedom, yeah right

RATM!!! Watching their live videos is an amazing experience. Its definitely some of the most aggressive music ever written. I don't know what exactly gives their music that heavy as fuck sound, but its just pure thrashing madness. Put Zack's screams, Morello's trademark scratch-riffs, Tim's funky bass lines and Brad's drumwork in a blender. What you get is this mind blowing motherfucker called Rage Against the Machine. Those who have heard their music know what I'm talking about. Those who haven't, go fucking shoot yourself in the head.

Opeth......Revisited

Last night as i sat down to have whiskey with Sridhar, Opeth's Bleak was on. It was beautiful, very peaceful, blissful and i felt totally mystical. Opeth always get this feeling out of my, otherwise, monster like mentality :P . We sat in my room, with glasses in our hands, sipping away slowly, with a puff once in a while and listening to Opeth and the magic that Micheal Akerfeldt created. The tracks that followed were even better, Harvest, Dirge For November, and finally reaching the last track Blackwater Park. By the end of this album (Blackwater Park ) , I was in a total state of trance, lost in my own world , all alone surrounded by colourful psychedelia. I'd easily say Opeth is to Death Metal , what Pink Floyd was to Rock 'N Roll. All their songs have mellow verses, followed by heavy parts. Its as though my soul is reasoning out with me, when i listen to these amazing works of art. Yeah , art. Thats what i would call Opeth's music. Simple riffs, yet melodic to the highest level. Though, every musician doesnt show off their acme, they compose stuff which amazes me till date. I have never been bored by an Opeth song. Never skipped an Opeth song and never will. No amount of adulation can be enough to describe Opeth. I'd say load ur playlist with an Opeth album, switch off the lights in your room , lay back in ur bed, chair or wherever u feel is comfortable and listen. Come kill me if the music doesnt enthrall you. I'm ready to bet my life.

mvikred