Feel the riff: Against Evil and Kasck are back in Hyderabad with their metal music

Sometimes all you need is head bobbing in sync with the beats of intense and aggressive music to release the stress of the week. A cherry on the cake would be meaningful lyrics paired with this intensity — that is metal music for you. A genre which addresses opinions and important issues, but with high-energy beats and melo dies. Aggressive Tendencies presents two bands — Against Evil and Kasck, heavy metal and thrash metal bands, respectively.

Both these bands, while having unique musical arrangements, give increased importance to melody, promising an unforgettable evening even for audiences who do not have an ear for metal music. Against Evil is set to perform a cover to get the people grooving, and then move on to songs from their four albums. Kasck also presents songs from their EP, and a few unreleased songs. Siri, the vocalist and bass guitarist of Against Evil describes their music as “Fist pumping, bone crushing, adrenaline inducing heavy metal,” and Mayank Katare, the vocalist and guitarist of Kasck says, “An element which sets us apart is the energy in out live shows. We try to bring back the rawness of the 80s and 90s.”

A string of commonality between both these bands is their process of making their originals. Unlike other bands, they start with a melody or a guitar piece, arrange the other elements of music, and then drawing from the vibe of the music, they come up with a concept, and write about it.

Kask touches upon politically and socially sensitive topics, and address important issues. Mayank gives us an example, “Pre-Covid, there were multiple riots going around in the country. It made me think how these agendas generate a hatred towards other people. I wanted to make a song on this because I had a very strong opinion, and wanted people to hear my perspective.” On similar lines, Siri tells us how the name of their band aids to this, “We like the idea of writing songs about sensitive topics without focusing on real-life elements. Our name, Against Evil, gives us the opportunity of touch upon heavy and pressing topics.”

While Against Evil’s name resonates with their music, Kasck’s story is one the 90s kids would relate with, “While our band was just starting out, we decided to go for a competition, and while registering we realised that we need a name. I went to an internet café, and saw that most of the names we had shortlisted were already existing bands or other brands. I then saw the word cask, and thought that it had a hook, and so we did the most obvious thing, changed the ‘c’ to ‘k’,” explains Siri.

This performance will get you grooving to metal melodies, and address some important conversations as well.

Tickets at INR 499. January 31, 7 pm. At EXT, Jubilee Hills.