Painting the town black: In conversation with the bands playing at Bangalore Open Air Metal Nights

When Shiva Moorthy, the guitarist of death metal outfit Moral Putrefaction joked to a band mate that they might share the stage with legendary American band, Immolation, some day, he didn’t think it would actually happen. “We have always considered old-school bands such as Immolation, Bloodbath and Obscura our inspiration. This is a big deal for us,” he tells us. This weekend, the Chennai-based band opens for Immolation alongside city-based Speedtrip, Grossty and Aempyrean, at Bangalore Open Air Metal Nights. 

Shiva says that Chennai is having a metal comeback with new bands and more gigs. His band also has two new tracks that fans will hear at the fest. Jayant Kumar, bassist of Grossty, agrees saying, “The metal scene has been slowly improving in South India, in spite of a lot of setbacks being faced by organisers and bands alike. There’s also a great underground scene which has taken off and we hope that it will improve in the coming years.” Grossty, leaders in the genre of grindcore in India, recently announced their second album, which it will play in its entirety on Sunday. Aempyrean, that was born in 2015, will be playing tracks from their latest EP. “We released a five-track EP, Fireborn. We’ll be playing from the EP, and a few other tracks at the event,” says Bharad Ravi, vocalist of the outfit that is influenced by ’80s and early ’90s thrash and black metal. 

“I think this is a good time for the metal bands in South India,” Kaushik Baruah, vocalist of Speedtrip tells us. “Lots of bands are getting opportunities to perform beyond Indian shores. Hopefully, this opens doors for international exposure to the Indian metal scene. Who knows, maybe we will start to see a lot of Indian bands in international metal festivals in another 10 to 15 years! That will be something we will all be proud of,” adds the frontman of the band that plays thrash metal. With more and more international headliners every year, the scene is booming with new bands and one thing is for sure — metal is not going anywhere for a long time. 

In the spotlight
Hailing from the state of New York, Immolation was formed in 1988, and gained a huge following in the 
underground death metal circuit quickly. Known for their take on religion, politics and society, the bands well known albums are Dawn of Possession, Shadows in the Light and Atonement. They play their second gig in the country. 

Rs. 1,000 upwards. August 24, 5 pm. At Fandom, Koramangala
anagha@newindianexpress.com 
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