Top albums of 2018

The past year has been a great year for metal. These are my favourite albums that I listened to in the past year in alphabetic order.

Dirge – Au Puch
Espionage – Digital Dystopia
Gaerea – Unsettling Whispers
Irreversible Mechanism – Immersion
Ken Mode – Loved
Khemmis – Desolation
Møl – Jord
Pig Destroyer – Head Cage
Sojourner – The Shadowed Road
The Armed – Only Love

Read the complete article on The Metal Wanderlust

Now Playing – August 2014

It has been a while since I posted here thanks to my day job,  and I’m resuming with a new feature that I’d like to kick off. I first saw it on Milliblog where is it called “Top recent listens” and today, I decide to finally get it done. Since I listen to a lot of music (Indian and International bands), I thought of featuring a few bands on the blog that I really enjoying without interviewing them. This is going to be a monthly feature (if work permits) from now onwards.

Here is what I have been listening to this month.

Metal

Dying Embrace/Dusk – “Through corridors of dead centuries”

Two of the oldest extreme metal bands from South Asia have come together on this long awaited  release by Cyclopean Eye Productions. The Dying Embrace (India) side features new material from them in over a decade. Being a fan of the “Doom” avatar of Dusk (Pakistan), I really enjoyed their side of the split. This is death/doom metal recommended for those who preferred metal that sounds “raw”. Read my interview with Dusk here.

 

 

Demonic Resurrection – The Demon King

Demonic Resurrection from Bombay are one of India’s most popular metal band. I did a story on them recently for the BC/MC zine. Their latest album “The Demon King” which released last month is a story about Good and Evil and how Evil triumphs. Each song on the album tells the story from a different character’s perspective. I feel this is their best album as yet, in terms of songwriting and production.  After their appearance at Wacken Open Air earlier this month and their UK tour last month, they ought to be playing gigs across India in support of the album.

 

The Down Troddence – “How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You”

The Down Troddence from Bangalore took the Rolling Stone Metal Awards by storm in June by winning 8 awards and also putting up a great performance. This album released in January and I only heard it much later in March, since then it’s been on heavy rotation. The album has a good mix of Indian melody and aggression. Definitely a band to keep an eye out for in the future.

 

Animals As Leaders – Joy of Motion

The latest album from Animals As Leaders is one of my favourite albums of the year. I have been listening to the album constantly ever since it released.  “Another Year” is a stand out song. Tosin Abasi, Javier Reyes and Matt Garstka have released a masterpiece that will be very hard for anyone to top this year.

 

Non – metal

Until we last – Earthgazing

In the past couple of years, there has been a surge in the number of post-rock bands in India. One of the best bands among them are Until We Last from Bangalore . Earlier this month they put out their first release “Earthgazing” and it sounds great. A short release of just 4 songs,  I was left wanting for more; looking forward to a full length released from them soon.

 

The Supersonics – Heads up

The Supersonics from Kolkata are one of my favourite Indian rock bands. I have been waiting for the release of their new album since they got back together in mid-2012 after a short break up. After the first couple of listens, I was not disappointed at all. My favourite track is “Strawberry“, can’t help singing along to their chorus. The album is 10 tracks of straight up rock and roll. Easily one of the Top 10 releases by an Indian band this year.

 

Dying Embrace/Dusk – “Through corridors of dead centuries” is available from Cyclopean Eye Productions

Demonic Resurrection – The Demon King is available in stores across India. 

The Down Troddence – “How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You” and The Supersonics – Heads Up are available from OkListen.com

Indianrockmp3.com turns 3

A few days ago Indianrockmp3.com completed 3 years. Started as a blog by Santhosh Lobo, a Indian based in Kuwait it is now a website with daily updates by Indian rock and metal enthusiasts from around the country. More about the origins of the website and its growth  in this interview with Santhosh

I got involved with Indianrockmp3.com around a year ago after being a daily reader for a couple years. During this time I have interviewed and reviewed the “Rawkstars” of India. Some people at gigs now recognize me as “the guy who writes for Indianrockmp3”

Check out Volume II of the annual Indiean compilation featuring 9 kick ass tracks.

Looking forward to another year of Indiean music.

Metchul + Food #win

Its close to the end of the month already, lots happening here in Mumbai. The major update is that unemployment has ended, will try to keep up with my writing somehow.

Food is something I enjoy A LOT, other than music ; the last company I work for was related to food. Earlier today I watched a video that has gone viral in the past week or so (it has 946,085 views as I write this). Since Pad Thai is one of my favourite dishes, I watched the entire episode diligently.  Check it out….

The website  http://veganblackmetalchef.com is basic at the moment, I guess they will add recipes and a lot more soon. Can’t wait for the next episode.

MidEast Dynasty

I am now writing also for MidEast Dynasty, in addition to IndianRockmp3.com and theunderground.in,  Those  wondering why I am writing for  a hip hop website, well….I’m not  the BIGGEST hip hop fan but I do check out hip hop from UAE/Middle East sometimes.

The founder of MidEast Dynasty, Nasir Akmal aka Deen had got it contact with me in 2008 when I was writing for Spin Earth.  Late last year, he wanted to start a website for the Hip Hop scene in the Middle East and asked me if I would be interested in being involved. After months of planning and a lot more the website is now live!!!

Check it out even if you are not a fan of hip hop, you will discover some new music.

Mid April Updates

The interviews I did last month are finally online now.

A couple of them were for Indiarockmp3. Feathers of Jatinga is one of the newest projects of Vishal Singh (Amogh Symphony) which has Vedant (Shades of Retribution) on vocals. My interview with them covers their background, album and also future plans. Check out a couple of tracks from their upcoming album here.

Bhayanak Maut are a deathcore band from Mumbai. They were featured on the first episode of the podcast. A killer band live, they are now getting ready for their first gig abroad which will be at the Infero festival in Norway. I helped out with their “Artist of the month” interview.  Check out their Metasis EP if you have not already done so. Its FREE!!

There were also a couple of interviews for theunderground.in. The first was with Nervecell, the Dubai based death/thrash metal band who have just released a kick ass new album “Psychogenocide”. Read all about it and also their touring plans for this year here.

The second one was with Woods of Ypres, one of my favourite bands. I own most of their releases, including compilations and vinyl. Last year they released “The Green Album” which was played a lot in my cd player. Earache Records signed the Canadian doomsters late last year and re-released “The Green Album” last month. Read about how all of them happened and what it means for the future of the band here.

Thats all for now, more reviews and interviews coming up soon.

Mid March Updates

Just realised its already the mid of the month so time for some updates.

One of the interview I did is now online, it was with Ameeth Thomas frontman of the Indian Rock band Junkyard Groove . The rest of the interviews will be online in the coming days.

I’ve also decided to add my concert write ups here since I’ve been fortunate enough to attend some really awesome concerts in the past few years. Heres one of the concert write ups I did that is online, Demonic Resurrection Live at Brutal Assault Lots more to come soon.

Up next is a couple of album reviews from UAE based bands…..