The older guy at a metal show will hold his beer, fold his arms and shake his head. But only at the classic riffs. Not to mention they stand in the back, just ahead of the mixing board, leaving some space for our sound engineer to peak through the crowd. The young and newly found guy pushes his friend into the pit with whom he will travel back home in the same cab but thinks twice to push the other guy who looks dead serious with that battle jacket and that smirk on his face. Good news is metal shows in India are back. Its time to get into the pit, yes on that same dance floor where others dance for the rest of the week. The song Don’t Fear the Reaper suits the year of 2021. No body fears corona. How I wish I could write this piece without mentioning that bat originated disease. Don’t you dare think of Ozzy now. That was a different time. Its the Chinese who are to be blamed and not the virus.
On January 17, one of the front runners in current Indian metal scene, Godless, took over the Instagram handle of The Indian Music Diaries. Though I was enjoying the stories that Kaushal was putting, it also made me think of those followers who never had any interest in metal music. Do you think they enjoyed it? I surely did. But what about the guy whose shape of you is like me?Godless played a tight set but two of the original members were not there this time, Ravi and Aniketh. Indian metal bands are changing. Also Kaushal quit Gutslit. These two bands gave courage to other upcoming bands showing them that things are possible. They carried their fans through their Instagram posts. Though travelling looks fun on the Instagram stories, I am sure these bands put their EVERYTHING to be on the road. All I want is bands to stick together for as far as they can. You guys know how promising was Joint Family. Although I just sit and type, these guys fight the real fight so I have to agree on whatever they decide. Its for their best I guess. If you want another such example of a band which was so brutal but is no longer active, just use that throat of yours and scream Plague. I respect Malice and Nangsan’s decision. I am sure Godless and Gutslit made the right decision too, but changing the line-up ends up at loosing the interest of loyal fans. Fans respect brotherhood. Remember Randy and Mark on that tour bus smashing each other yet again on stage the next day? Don’t make me say of the changes Undying Inc had. Those Grammy winning kids in Orange, look at them. Doing all those digital shit with Adult Swim these days but still together. Radiohead, Phish, oh sorry these are not metal bands. Looks like its hard to stick together in a metal band. I once saw this band from Shimla called Deathknell (very promising) and all I said to them was stick together for as far as you can. All these being said, I am happy for Vishesh being in Godless now. He is a beast behind the drums. But I am yet to find out the mysterious new vocals for Gutslit.
Before I close, I know a lot many metal bands like Kryptos, Demonic Ressurection(saw them at Campus Rock Idol in Shillong back in 2013) toured the world too but the reason I chose to mention Godless, Gutslit, Undying Inc, Deathknell is because I attended their shows many a time. By the time I was in Delhi for the very first time, Joint Family disbanded, never got to see them. Neither did I ever get the chance to say thanks to Amit Saigal, one of the strong pillars of Indian rock/metal scene.
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