INTERVIEW: DIABOLUS ARCANIUM

1. Introduce yourself.
Vyas: We are ‘Diabolus Arcanium’ from Chennai and I am Vyas ‘HEX’ Manalan, the band’s Lead guitarist and Lead Vocalist.
Harsha: I am Harsha ‘AGIEL’ Vardhan, the band’s manager/promoter.

2. What does “Diabolus Arcanium” even mean?
 Vyas: “Diabolus” means ‘The Devil or Satan’ or whatever people want to refer him as and “Arcanium” means ‘A Mystic Sanctuary’. It’s a latin word which basically means “Satan’s Mystic Sanctuary”.

3. “Diabolus Arcanium” was formerly known as ‘Fortified Destruction’. How are things going in the band and when was the new line up formed?
Vyas: DA is not related to Fortified Destruction musically, the only relation is me, who formed both the bands.
FD played power metal and I was done with it. It wasn't who I am, I grew up listening more to ‘Black Metal’ and wanted to make Black Metal, so this struck me and I thought fuck Power Metal let me do what I want..
Diabolus Arcanium was formed on December 18th, 2013 with the last live band member crew, with the addition of Solas on bass as Kevin was not included.

4. FD had a really unstable lineup. Will the fans be able to see the difference in DA?
Harsha: FD and DA are very different musically. FD played Power Metal with Melodic Death Metal influence. Though we were one of the most popular bands during that time, we wanted to be unique rather. So we wanted to play Black Metal which is a very rare scene in India. By December 18th, 2013 we formed Diabolus Arcanium, with the new line up. We also started working on “Spellbound” our debut full length which is releasing worldwide digitally on 23rd February, 2014.

5. How did your fans receive your lyric video of the song “Of Fire and Ashes” from the album SpellBound?
Harsha: Of Fire and Ashes is one the most technical song from the album and the symphony is massive. We thought this song would be well accepted by the audiences as it sounds catchy too. We made the lyric video of it and it worked well with them.

6. “SpellBound” is the new upcoming full length album from you guys. How are you seeing ahead with the album?
Vyas: ‘Spellbound’ is our debut album, we came up with that in a quick succession. We needed to establish us well within this scene and globally. I am glad the album has come out well. People will like it and we hope to move on to the next level.

7. What are the Influences of your band?
Vyas: Our band is majorly influenced by Dimmu Borgir, Dark Funeral, Mayhem basically the early Norwegian Black Metal scene.

8. To many musicians out there, what message would you like to convey?
Vyas: Well for all the new musicians, what I would like to say is to work hard and stay committed. Focus more on originals rather than covers. Recognition will come automatically, if not sooner.

Interviewer: Shwetha Kamath

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INTERVIEW: SERG OF PRETERNATURAL

Preternatural are Latvian metal band founded back in 1999, when two friends Serg and Volod, being obsessed with a long standing common dream of creating a band. The band have created the unique link between their influences of death metal power, black metal grimness and ambient music's keyboard atmosphere. The current
line-up features founders Serg (vocals, guitars) and Volod (guitars), Gin (drums), bassist Serhio and Martin on keyboard. Preternatural have released three demos, one EP and two full length albums, including Angeloid which released in physical form on 15th February, 2014. Short while ago we caught up with vocalist Serg for this little conversation regarding their inception, new opus Angeloid, music structure, future plans and many general things.

Metalhead Spotted: Greetings from Metalhead Spotted! how are you doing? Firstly congratulations on your new album. How did the writing and recording process go for this one?
Serg: Greetings guys! I'm doing well, thank you very much! So, yeah the album is finally released and we're so happy about that. We've been working on that like 5 years. From the beginning we had two tracks-"Cryophobia" and "Reptile Wings", they were included in our EP of 2010, then we started composing other songs and it's funny on how the structures and arrangements are being changed during the period form composing to mastering. I mean ok, you expect a song to sound like that and in the end it appeared a totally diffirent track. The recording process wasn't less interesting for us, cause it is the first record of ours that we've tracked, recorded, mixed, mastered, in other words produced by ourselves. We didn't have a proper budget for this one to book an expensive studio, so we had to act on our own this time and I honestly think we have succeded well. Those knowledge we have gain during our career and the rapid technology growth has helped us a lot.


Metalhead Spotted: How did you choose the name Angeloid for new opus?
Serg: I'm really into sci-fo documentals, movies and literature, so I kinda create stories for our songs. I've invented a theory that humanity isn't going anywhere further, cause we still got physical bodies, so we're basically stuck inside our own bodies without letting our souls to go on. And in order to switch ourselves to a diffirent level of existence - need a common death, an apocalypse, that would create such an ammount of energy, which transforms us into Angeloids - the new spiritual beings. I took the word - angel, the spiritual being and aded endind oid - human like. That's the story for a Hollywood blockbuster, ha-ha.

Metalhead Spotted: “Preternatural“ what does that mean? Are there any etimological origins of band name?
Serg: Preternatural it's a synonim to word Supernatural. The diffirence is that Preternatural is rather archaic word. Honestly, the story behind coming up with the band name is a little bit "preternatural". When we started the band with our guitarplayer in 1999 we decided to have very mystical lyrics, so we needed a proper name for the band and I remember myself suddenly opening my mother's English dictionary and then I just saw that word - Preternatural.

Metalhead Spotted: What are your genuine inspirations? What are some of the influences that are behind your wise and powerful scriptures?
Serg: Well, if you mean beyond metal music, then I guess it's silence. Silence makes my right semisphere creating music oh, and of course, computer games and pop music of the 90's.

Metalhead Spotted: Your music structure seems like typical swedish death metal. Plenty of Gothenburg riffing, rapid drumming, blazing solos, and the traditional harsh vocals, though how will you describe your sound to the readers?
Serg: Well, we use to have that kind of influnce in the past you've just mentioned, but as a description I would call it a mixture of death metal riffs, dark ambient music, electronic music with some black metal elements, kinda that.

Metalhead Spotted: How do you think of electronic work that is extremely well structured into your music?
Serg: Oh, actually it is.unseparated piece of us. It helps us to produce our own "unique" sound. I've always liked electronics and always wanted to put it in our music and I believe we've found that right balance we've been searching for years on "Angeloid".

Metalhead Spotted: Do you think that your sound has grown from your Lifetext EP all the way through to Angeloid?
Serg: Of course, exactly "Lifetext" was really influenced by Swedish scene of those times you've mentioned previously. "Angeloid" is something diffirent,something we're really proud of, something that we can freely call as "our music".

Metalhead Spotted: Of all songs you've recorded, which one is your favourite?
Serg: If we speak about just listening it's D.N.End from Angeloid, but for playing live it's Statical from our so-called debut album.

Metalhead Spotted: The band was formed in 1999, did it undergo any line up changes?
Serg: Yes it did, but only with two positions - bass player and keyboard player (dunno, why). We've had a lot of keyboard players in the past and a lot of bass players. For instance, our previous bass player left the band during the recording process of Angeloid, but we've managed to find the perfect replacement. so I believe the line-up that is now has never been so stable.


Metalhead Spotted: Is there anyone in Preternatural involved in any other projects?
Serg: Our guitar player Volod has a metalcore band which is called Trendkill Method. Our bass player Serhio has a progressive death metal project Biomorph. And, me personally I'm a vocalist in the band of Cradle of Filth's drummer - Martin Skaroupka. The band is called Inner Fear, I'm responsible for lyrics and vocal parts there. Our keyboard player Martin records his solo ambient music (by the way his playing really affected the style of Angeloid). Our drummmer Gin is the only fulltime Preternatural member.

Metalhead Spotted: Having been around for about 15 years now, how do you feel about latvian metal scene?
Serg: Sometimes it's rising up, sometimes it's falling apart. Unfortunately, fallings happen more often. The level of performance has been growing every year, but the level of making songs and composing isn't that great. So, we have cool musicians, playing not so good music and this tendency is growing. Not for every band and project, of course. But, I'd really want that our local music be a "jukebox" music, if you know what I mean.

Metalhead Spotted: Finally what future holds for Preternatural? Are there any touring plans?
Serg: We'll be promoting our album by all ways and means and of course will be booking maximum live shows possible. Right now we've got some summer festivals bookes across the Baltic States and Ukraine, so will see what tomorrow knows.

Metalhead Spotted: It was a great pleasure talking to you Serg. Thanks for taking the time out, if you have something to say, do go ahead.
Serg: Thank you very much Akshay for this interview and your support, the pleasure is mine. See you on tour guys and check out our latest album "Angeloid". You may download it absolutely for free from our website http://www.preternatural.lv and if you have something to ask us don't hesistate and give us your thoughts via preternaturalband@gmail.com Cheers!

Preternatural on Facebook

Interviewer: Akshay Gaikwad
Edited by: Mercy Thoras

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INTERVIEW: ARUN IYER OF DEVOID

Devoid is a four-piece thrash/death metal band from Mumbai, formed in 2005. They won the 2006 regional finals of battle-of-the-bands competition Campus Rock Idols. They have been featured on compilations like We Are The Scene: Vol. 1 & 2, and All Indian Metal. They have played various domestic music festivals and are endorsed by ESP Guitars and Basses. They are now signed to Demonstealer Records and released their album A God's Lie in 2010. The band released their EP The Invasion in February 2013.

'HI viewers and listeners of metalhead spotted.this is Arun Iyer from Devoid'

Navneet: What was the turning point in DEVOID’s history? And are there any special memories you’d like to share with us?

Arun: So Devoid was formed in the year 2005.and the days and years were sketchy at this point because it had been a while since we formed. it was me initially and the band’s drummer Shubham.we lived in the same building and we used to jam and I was already part of another band called Blood Bath Regimentm with my brother and couple of friends and We were doing our scenes then and we had our common genre ,the music we’d like to play now and then and that is how we came to know that we were going to start a band and then we were looking out for guitarists, bass guitarists and lead guitarists because by then I had decided to play my own guitars for the band.we were looking out for even an vocalist at that point.slowly and steadily we found people,by then I had already picked up guitars and vocals that was the shorten of dark and We just went on with it.so that’s how I became a vocalist guitarist otherwise I was not meant to be a vocalist and guitarist but it started off like that and we went ahead with it and we also found keshav who lived in the same convening who came and we had a sound lots of it, we needed to make at that point And this guy could so,that was the audition for natives of hymn and at that point we became a band. So me,shubham and keshav and then we looked for bass guitarists high and low and we could’nt find anyone, and after a point we came across a guy from all over  fucking across seven seas this guy named Frank who played in from another band who at that point had not played in gigs called Atmosphear and he was the bass guitarist for that band and they had come here actually not to audition for bass guitarist but with the intention of meeting our drummer and they were looking for a drummer for their band and we ended up liking frank as a bass guitarist and he joined the band and we played.so the longest part of being devoid that was the lineup-keshav,frank,me and shubham and then we played on,we played at shows by then  we had already comeup with a couple of songs,we had made up a few songs,by the end of I think 4-5 years we’d finished writing for an album and that is when we thought this is actually happening and we need to record, and I mean that’s when the turning point happened,the realization that we were a band.it was the first album we recorded together.and later on there were lineup changes,that is when sanket came onboard as the lead guitarist and abhishek came up as the bass guitarist for the band and then we recorded half length  with that lineup for the band

 Navneet: Tell us about the concept behind your EP "The Invasion”?

Arun: It's not a headscratcher,it’s a straightforward concept.its about aliens invading the earth and final moments, before the final moments and why the destruction happened and then the post Apocalypse and the scenario.and that was the concept and that was a pretty hit.

Navneet: "God" that would be one thing common at both of your releases so far, “A God's Lie", "The Invasion", there seems to be a keen interest with gods for the band, any specific reason behind it?
Arun:I don’t know why I am stuck debating on the concept of god or the almighty,the intelligent creator.i like talking about that,it takes most of my viewing space.plus I have had personal experiences with which is people going wrong so couple of times I have had strong sentiments against it which is why I kinda think the theme is stuck with itself.i mean everyone is curious about god.

Navneet: Well Abnormal guitar work is one of Devoid’s trademarks. What are your initial influences as a guitarist?
Arun: (laughs)no we are not abnormal guitarists,u think  thrash metal how abnormal can it get? But we have influences ranging from 80’s thrash bands which could be And other obscure bands which could be sepultura, pantera and all those guys but Part of our music,and then it went into the 2000 era of metal which had like different pieces of every genre,mostly thrash metal and technical death metal and that’s where we stepped into decapitated and people who can play well and fuck and bring out some technicality or without losing the pouts of the song that would be our influences as far with guitarists.

Navneet:So What are your personal influences as a guitarist?
Arun: my personal influences as a guitarist would be pretty much the same as the guys I mentioned definitely the slayer guitarist,the metallica guitarist,the megadeth,the sepultura,the exodus,the cannibal corpse,the decapitated,psychotic That’s my personal space of influence

Navneet:So When it comes to making music, do you guys initially  work on the lyrics and then the music or music first and then the lyrics?
Arun: Music first then the lyrics falls in the place

Navneet: How was the WOA experience for the band?

Arun: Wacken experience was great!it was a rolling cop for the band.we played a show outside of india and this was the first of its kind and not only outside of india this was in the arkland of metal germany wacken.it was a loving crowd !it was a great experience altogether! words fail me to describe the wacken experience because you have to be there to experience it,!its not just to play there you have to be there to see a metal scene outside of our confinements , how it looks and feels like that experience itself is very hard to pin down in words but in short I was to break it down,a learning curve that we desperately needed,sort of perspective, a mindset change that we needed to work as a band.

Navneet: How did you maintain a persistent sound and outlook with the way of working as a mix of thrash and death metal musical styles?
Arun: I am very glad that you asked this question because according to you at this point it seems that we have maintained some resemblance of death thrash in two religious things,which is intresting thing to hear,usually I would personally think that people with the new release. But people need to know that as musicians now off things change,the essence is always there nothing goes off away there is nothing wrong in being exposed to something refreshingly new and that usually changes and it influences the new influence and that has changed the very core of our music, but in a good way as far as I understand,now aggression without a structure is nothing and a structure without aggression is nothing so we are still in a process of understanding how to strike that balance

Navneet: You guys had a great 2013, with the release of "The Invasion”, Best Drummer award at RSMA2013, Playing at Wacken Open Air. So what’s  in store for 2014?
Arun: I think 2013 itself was’nt  all that big,I would consider them as milestones in our band career,but I still think 2014 has a lot more to offer because we do have a lot more shows lined up,we have a better understanding of how the band system works, a better understanding of how we could push our music, with 2014 hanging in the balance and since gone through 2013 all I can say is 2014 does look a lot more better in prospective, we’re having our heads screwed in straight andwith understanding the whole dynamic system,2014 should be a good year.

Navneet: What are your favorite Thrash Metal Albums of all times?
Arun: Three names that come straight upto my mind i.e Metallica-master of puppets, is definitely the best album of all times,then there is raining blood by slayer,I am sorry I am stating the obvious,but these albums took thrash metal scene to whole new level.also I would like to add up rust in peace by megadeth.

Navneet: Well Thrashfest is just around the corner. The line-up is insane and it surely has a lot to offer to Thrash Metal Doters. What do you guys expect from Thrashfest this time
Arun:  We don’t expect big squad from any of the gigs.we expect only the people come.the rest of the expectation wise,the audience needs to expect,we need to deliver so as far we are concerned we expect that they come and stay for the entire show and the rest of the expectations needs to be fulfilled from our side as a band.

Navneet: so anything you would like to say to the attendees of Thrashfest?
Arun:: The attendees of thrashfest I am extremely glad that you guys have made the choice of coming,I personally think that thrash metal is pretty much the backbone of the metal because that’s where it became what it is right now and these guys are fun loving,drinking,assholes,who love to beat the shit out of and have a good time.so i'm thankful that these guys have made the choice for coming  down to thane.

Navneet: Thanks for the Interview
Arun: Thank You Navneet

Edited by: Mercy Thoras

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Interview with Withem

Withem, a band hailing from Norway are trying their top to be most beautiful progressive band ever to be established in the global metal scene.
Will they? Well, this answer is upto you!
Never the less, here is something interesting about them. They have awesome vocalist who can pull out clean vocals ! They have crazy guitarists who can give the riffs like a river gushing to join the sea. Then they have a freaky drummer who can pump up the beats to the level of progressive to the unexpected. What more do you need from a band!
Since all the notions given above, I tried to see what they are! They are brilliant and terrific that they exceeded the level of unexpected. So anxious that I got an oppurtunity to interview their vocalist
 "OLE A.W"
And this is how it went !

1.So tell me.. Withem being a progressive band hailing from norway, how is norway receiving you guys?  

The feedback has been overwhelming so far.  We've been doing a loads of promotion during the recording of our debut album, “The point of view”, and we've managed to get a group of followers, that has been very important and supportive for us during the whole recording process. The time after the release, have been awesome. 

The biggest metal magazine in Norway, “Scream magazine” gave us 6/6 on their review. This means of course a lot to us, since this is our most important market. 

As a conclusion, we have a interesting thing going on.

2. Influences of the band?

As a Norwegian prog metal act, it’s natural for us to get influenced by bands such as “Pagan’s mind” and “Circus maximus” . After all we are five individuals, who have their own bunch of influences. Just to mention a couple of artist that have been important to me: Nils K. Rue (Pagan’s Mind), Jorn Lande (Masterplan, Ark, Jorn), Pavarotti and Jan Werner Danielsen.  

3.Concept behind artwork and lyrics?

The artwork reflects our lyrics in a perfect way actually. The song “Phrenesis”, is probably the song that shows out most on the album cover and the artwork. “Phrenesis” is a short word for anger, jealousy and madness. Possible those three words that can describe human failure the most. The dude in the centre of the cover artwork, is our main character, he basically, sort of live through the entire album, having different roles that shows us different issues through a human life and perspective.

4.Did you support any bands lately, how was the experience?

We recently came back from a mini-tour together with Circus Maximus in Sweden. Two sold out venues, one in  the capitol of Sweden, Stockholm, and one in a smaller town called Alingsas. Everything about the whole trip was awesome. From the long bus trip- to the actual shows. We gained more fans and friend, and we got great feedback after both venues. 

We have also been supporting  Pagan’s Mind before the album release. Great feedback there as well. 

5. Heard that you auditioned for Kamelot! How did it go?

I received a email from Kamelot’s manager, he asked If I was interested in a audition round for the new vocal spot in the band. They were almost at the end of the selection process, but wanted me to try aswell after hearing a demo with Withem on Youtube. It was a breathtaking moment, when I opened this email, since Kamelot have meant a lot to me as one of the greatest metal bands. I started out whit a demo recording of the songs “Ghost opera” and “Abandoned”, and it worked quiet well. They listened to my versions, and asked to do a few more. I actually did a writing session on some new material, and recorded them as well. After some months whit singing, recording and emailing with them, they ended up hiring the amazing singer Tommy Karevik of Seventh wonder. He ended up doing the vocals on “Silverthorn”, and he did a amazing job, so loads of congrats and my best wishes to Tommy and Kamelot. 

6. Whats the future you looking forward to?

This year will be a totally new experience for us. We've done this minitour with Circus Maximus and we also did “Progpower metalfestival Oslo”.  We are also working on some touring this year but for now, we are really looking forward to “Progpower Atlanta, USA” in September. It will naturally be a real “biggie” for us. 

7.Message to convey to fans out there!!!

We are looking forward to meet all the beautiful people out there, all our fans, supporters, followers and friends to share our music with(em) hehe. 

To all of you out there

Take care and stay safe.

All the best;

OLE A. W (Withem)

Interviewer: Shwetha Kamath

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INTERVIEW: Eschatos

Eschatos are Latvian black metal outfit formed in 2012. The band is avowed for Playing a distinct form of modern black metal with a strong vein of prog running in their veins. The current line up features of vocalist Kristiāna Kārklina, drummer Edvards Percevs and guitarists Jānis Bušs & Edgars Gultnieks . Short while ago we caught up with Jānis & Edgars for this little conversation regarding their inception, debute album, future plans and many general things.

Metalhead Spotted: Greetings from Metalhead Spotted! How have you been doing? Could you please introduce the band to our readers?
Eschatos: Greetings, dear readers! Eschatos is a musical formation from Latvia. Basically, we are a black metal band, but that’s not all there is. We are not limiting ourselves to one or few genres. We let all the streams of inspiration flow through us and take shape in a musical form.

Metalhead Spotted: What are the origins of your band name? What does it mean?
Jãnis: The word itself originates from Ancient Greek meaning ‘the last’ or ‘final’, referring to time. Like the end of all life and a new beginning, supreme and essential point of.being.

Metalhead Spotted: What are the genuine influences of Eschatos? Do you guys have
inspirations from any band or artists?
Jānis: I don’t think that I can
name specific bands, because my range of influences is pretty wide. I really enjoy Swedish and French black metal underground, but I don’t limit myself to that. I listen to lots of electronic, classical,
experimental and avantgarde progressive, metal and even indie music to name a few genres. So, I guess, that all goes in our music.
Edgars: We all listen to many different genres of music we come across. I’d say that any person who is involved in making music and wants to be at least decent at it should be open minded to all the music there is in the world.

Metalhead Spotted: In January 2013 you successfully released a full length studio album, Hierophanies. Could you tell us about the song-writing process of Hierophanies.
J: We had the base for the album ready when we were a trio from our previous band — Ocularis Infernum. It consisted of my songwriting, Kristiāna’s chants and Edvards rythmic ideas. Most of the riffs were written in a half meditative state and have little to do with
traditional songwriting, as one might expect it to be. When Edgars joined us, he coated the songs in a new sound with his arrangements. We also had the privilege to work with my dear friend —talented pianist Jānis Kaņeps for the title track. Now the creative process has changed a bit, because Edgars is a major asset to our cause and we work on songs hand in hand. So, I guess, we will see a different side of Eschatos in the future.
E: Recording Hierophanies was the best time we have had as a band. Some of the writing and arranging was done directly on the spot while recording. It was very creative period with a lot of spontaneous ideas disagreements and compromises, and in general we are satisfied with the outcome. Even though now we would do some things differently.



Metalhead Spotted: Are you satisfied with the response that Hierophanies has got over the year?
J: I think that we did pretty well. There were a lot of good words and reviews coming from all over the world and they still continue to come. It was a pretty big exposure for a band from our geographic location. There’s this informational gap between us and the rest of the metal world, so most bands from the Baltics are on their own.
E: Most of the feedback it got was positive and even complimentary, although I would prefer receiving more critical opinions, so that I could actually learn something new by facing some flaws or mistakes.

Metalhead Spotted: Did the whole band contribute towards music for Hierophanies?
J: Yes, everything was done in cooperation between us all. That’s the way we do all things, not only the songwriting. It’s the way we function best, I guess. Sometimes it’s harder, but the results are more gratifying in the end.
E: Oh yeah, sometimes we even quarrel over the ways how things should be done. Well, we haven’t fought yet, but let’s hope it will never happen.

Metalhead Spotted: Eschatos was formed in 2012, did the band had to deal with any line-up changes?
J: Not really and I hope that we won’t have to deal with that any time soon. Our live line-up tends to change from time to time, though. In this relatively short period of time, as a live band, we had to replace Edgars once and we had 3 different bass players, although Tomass is pretty much a full member now.
E: Playing with different musicians is always a useful experience. It is some kind of non-verbal communication.

Metalhead Spotted: How do you feel about the black metal scene today?
J: I guess that it may seem as oversaturated, as it can also seem fresh and reigning once more. Black metal became notorious for its utter extremism and the breaking of any borders. The thing with this genre is that you can’t fake it. There is no formula for ) making it. Either you’re in it or
not. Ones, that try to make this kind of music artificially — fail.
E: As long as it keeps changing within itself and pushing the boundaries without losing its core, it lives. Nobody can tell what exactly this core is, but still we know this black metal feeling, don’t we? Some truly magnificent records were made this year, that contained some of this black metal feeling mixed with other kinds of feelings from other musical fields, like, for example new albums by Deafheaven and Altar of Plagues.



Metalhead Spotted: What are your future plans for 2014? Do you have any plans regarding
releasing new album?
J: We are working on a split album with our Lithuanian friends — Inquisitor. It should be out in the first half of 2014. The first big step have also been taken towards our next full album.
E: The split album is on its way to coming out this spring. Our part will be stylistically similar to what can be heard on “Hierophanies”, but our next album might be something different. Can’t tell yet in what way.

Metalhead Spotted: Is there any one in Eschatos active with other projects?
J: Edvards is playing in technical/progressive death metal band Opifex and our bass player Tomass is playing in crust/dbeat black metal band
Wagars, and grind/death metal band Anal Punishment.E: I would like to highlight Wagars among them. Their sound is something like Baltic melancholy mixed with raw hc energy, and this mix is goddamn powerful. Definitely worth checking out. And Opifex is a kickass live band. No wonder they made to Wacken Metal Battle international finals two years ago.
Metalhead Spotted: As a Latvian Black Metal unit, how do you feel about Latvian as well
European metal scene?
J: It’s hard to say something about European scene in general, because I don’t think we have experienced it from the inside. Latvian scene is small and mostly based on death metal. Thrash,metal is also highly valued over here. The “true metal“ scene
seems somewhat fractured, but we have a really good and dedicated post metal scene with bands like Tesa, Soundarcade and
Solaris in the front.
E: Unfortunately, we can hardly speak of something like actual metal scene here in Latvia. There is,something going on, there are regular concerts, new bands appearing and old ones disappearing, but no real inner movement can be observed.

Metalhead Spotted: Thanks for taking the time out. Any last shout out to your fans and readers?
J: Well, everything we really want to say to the world, we say in our music. We will certainly let you know when we have something new.

Interviewer: Akshay Gaikwad
Edited by: Mercy Thoras

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Interview with Threinody

Old school Thrash Metal legends Threinody formed in 1996, in the South Indian city of Bangalore. Threinody are an accomplished live band, renowned for their intense concert performances and captivating music. Threinody set out to create hard-hitting metal inspired by classic metal of 70’s and thrash metal of 80’s. The current line-up consist of guitarist Premik Jolly, vocalist and bassist Siddharth Naidu, and drummer Shreyas Kamath. Recently our team member Prithiv Chandar caught up with vocalist/bassist Siddharth Naidu for this little conversation regarding bands inception, upcoming album, future plans and many general things.

Prithiv: Hello Siddharth, how are you doing? Hope everything is fine with you, and how did you guys get an idea about forming a band during 90's? Were Indians.aware of Metal music those days?
Siddharth: Hi Prithiv, I’m doing fine, thanks! We formed Threinody in 1996. We were all aged 17-20, angry young men, and we identified with the aggression of thrash metal. There were metal bands in Bangalore before us…
Millennium, Crimson Storm, Vulcan Haze were the ones playing thrash metal. The fan following was smaller in those days, but pretty intense.

Prithiv: 'Threinody' what does that mean? How did you come up with such a name?
Siddharth: We named the band “Threnody”, but a few years later, when internet became more widespread, we realized that there 2-3 other bands called Threnody, so we altered the spelling slightly, and made it “Threinody” to avoid issues that might crop up. Threnody means a song of mourning or lamentation, and is derived from Greek. It’s a song that is heard when the bodies of soldiers are brought back from the battlefield. We came across the word in a dictionary, if I remember right.

Prithiv: Your music sounds exactly like bay area thrash, what were your influences when you formed the band? Did you guys have any personal hero?
Siddharth: I disagree with.you on that. Maybe you've heard certain songs of ours that remind you a bit of the Bay Area thrash sound. We are inspired by Bay Area, German and even Brazilian thrash like older Sepultura. We are also into bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Motorhead and Iron Maiden. When we formed the band, we were heavily into Metallica, Slayer, Kreator, Sodom, Sepultura, and even some.old school death metal. Each guy in the band has his own favourites, we don’t really hero-worship anyone.


Prithiv: This generation is way too young crowd for you guys, and how are their responses in general? And what's the response from them when you guys play?
Siddharth: There’s nothing like too young or too old, age is just a number. Most of the guys who dig Threinody would be in their late 20’s or early 30’s. We see a lot of young ones at our gigs too. We get messages from 15-16 year olds asking abou merchandise.

Prithiv: Metal has always been controversial, through decades and it has always been
mistaken in one way or the.other. So, do you have anything to tell this world about it?
Siddharth: Not really. I’m not here to defend metal or tell you how great it is. To each their own. But if someone tries their anti-metal bullshit on me, I’ll have none of that.

Prithiv: For the first time in India, Thrashfest is gonna be hosted, what's your views about it?

Siddharth: Thrashfest is a step in the right direction. I always felt thrash does not get due credit. It is a vibrant, lively form of metal that reminds you that you are alive, and actually has quite a bit of positive energy. It is one genre which in my opinion can be enjoyed by almost all metalheads, as it has elements of other metal genres. Personally, I feel "at home" when I listen to thrash. Fist bumps and chest thumps to the crew at Transcending Obscurity for finally organizing a thrash metal fest. It's going to be crazy, like some of the odes to thrash metal that you hear. Great to be sharing stage with Sceptre after so many years.Finally getting to see Devoid, liked their album "A God's Lie" a lot. Going to be fun cracking inane jokes with Riju and the Albatross guys. The Kolkata thrash brigade is going to rip it up for sure. Those Kolkata bands remind me of the late 90's metal movement in B'lore...pure energy and aggression. And of course, our brothers from down south, Chaos! It's going to be a fun, memorable show, and if you love your metal thrashy, then you better be there!

Prithiv: It was a great pleasure talking to you Siddharth. Thanks a lot for spending a little of your valuable time. We MS team wish you all the best in your future endeavors of the band and your personal life. Thanks! Cheers and keep thrashing!

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Interview with Armament

Armament is Thrash metal band formed in 2011 in Kolkata, India. Armament is completely concerned to the raw and aggressive musicality that is generated through their sheer and passion. Also an old school European thrash is ultimate influence of Armament. The band comprises vocalist "War" Indranil, drummer "Death" Ayan, guitarist "Famine" Soubhik and bassist "Conquest" Sayan. Short while ago we caught up with band for this little conversation.

Metalhead Spotted: Greetings from Metalhead Spotted! How have you been doing?
Armament: Greetings from the band. How have we been doing? Let's just say - practice, recording, practice, recording beer time! Poseur bashing starts on the 9th

Metalhead Spotted: First of all tell us how did you guys form Armament?
Famine: The band was formed about three years back. I was looking for a vocalist to jam with and met War. It started from there and before long the lineup was complete with a second guitarist, a bassist Conquest and drummer Death. We had to do without a second guitarist due to some differences.

Metalhead Spotted: From where do you draw your influences? Are there any dialectal origins of the band name?

Conquest: Personally, our influences are diverse. Each of us come from a different musical background. But where the band is concerned our influences go back to 80's thrash, especially the styles popularised by German bands like Sodom and Destruction. Also Sepultura and Sarcofago to an extent.
Famine: Origins of the band name..well, humankind's obsessed with war and violence. I'd like the band to be viewed as an armory of weapons for our listeners to choose from.

Metalhead Spotted: Armament will be playing soon at Thrashfest sponsored by Transcending Obscurity, are you excited about it?
Death: Hell yes! It's been a long awaited dream to be playing in Mumbai. Previously we've had to cancel a show there due to timing clashes but this time we're gonna make it all count.

Metalhead Spotted: How the preparation are going over for Thrashfest?
Conquest: We've been preparing since before Putrid Ascendency's RAF II here in Kolkata last month. So preparation.pretty solid I'd say.

Metalhead Spotted: Are there any new compositions coming up for Thrashfest?
War: New compositions are surely in the making but probably will be held up till the extension plays are released. Meanwhile everyone can surely mosh to some Sepultura and Sodom right??

Metalhead Spotted: We notice a strong Sodom and European thrash influence on a song, Hammer of God; How will you describe Armament sound to the readers?
Famine: As we mentioned before.80's German thrash is our.primary inspiration. We try to.compose music keeping that.distinct style in mind all the while.trying to create new rhythms and riffs.

Metalhead Spotted: Armament also overlaid fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, do you think it is important to imitate thrash metal sound?
War: Every genre of music has a certain way of speaking their minds out to the world. We try our best to carry on the legacy that the 80's bands have left behind.
Famine: Apart from that, any style of music has certain similarities due to which we club them together under a genre. Thrash metal is defined by razor-fast expressive drumming and chugged, heavy guitar riffs which are in essence that backbone of the rhythm.

Metalhead Spotted: Throw some details about writings, lyrical themes and process.
Conquest: The lyrics are mainly written so as to not only bring up the shortcomings of the society that we live in nowadays but sometimes from the history pages where people might want to look for a different perspective.
Famine: The musical process is fairly simple. We come up with the lyrics with a certain rhythm in mind. We then create riffs to match the lyrics in rhythm and feeling. From there we let feelings dictate as how the riffs should progress. Chaos follows.

Metalhead Spotted: Are there any plans for releasing new EP or full-length?
War: The EP is still cooking hot in the oven. Recording sessions are currently on. Hope to get it out to you guys as soon as possible.

Metalhead Spotted: What is your opinion about the metal scene in India?
Death: Things are looking up certainly. Newer bands that are coming up, including ours, are choosing the old school ways and staying true to that. Improved communication with the metal scenes in the other parts of the subcontinent are really helping to spread the word. In fact now we can say that Kolkata has a real metal scene for the first time.

Metalhead Spotted: We thank you for your time, here is your space shoot your message for attendees of Thrashfest.
Armament: To all you thrashheads out there we are pretty excited to check out the moshpits in Bombay..Wouldn't harm a bit to see little blood gettin spilled... To Arms... To War... Cheers \m/

Interviewer: Akshay Gaikwad
Edited by: Mercy Thoras

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INTERVIEW: Patrick Kistler of Eluveitie - "we'd love to come back to India."

Folk metal is a sub-genre of Heavy Metal that has been drawing a lot of attention from the very beginning. Even being classified as folk metal every band has its unique style which very interestingly brings diversity within one genre. When it comes to the more vivacious side of folk metal, Eluveitie is definitely one of the forerunners of the genre. Metalhead Spotted's own Bakai and Navneet recently interviewed Eluveitie's Tin & Low Whistles, Bagpiper Patrick Kistler. Read on..

Metalhead Spotted: Hello Patrick, Greetings from Metalhead Spotted. How have you been lately?

Patrick: Fine so far, pretty busy because we are working on a new album and that also means a lot of work and organization.

Metalhead Spotted: What was your first exposure to Folk metal and your personal opinion how it has affected the metal scene globally?

Patrick: It’s just another subgenre and had influence in case of topics like believes. Like in the late 80’s it was cool to sing about Satan and shit, nowadays it’s more common to sing about an alternative to Christianity rather than just about the opposite. I like how the folk metal genre tries to get in touch with a countries history and their ancestors. I think it would be awesome to mix Indian folk music with metal. One of my favorite bands do that with Indian music and punk/reggae, they are all from Indian heritage but grew up in England. The band is called Asian Dub Foundation.

Metalhead Spotted: What is the bands destiny and meaning?

Patrick: We are telling history, we are trying to keep up the awareness that there was and still is more than just money and luxury around. We work with historical scientists about the reconstruction of the Gaulish language as well as history in general and we pack that all together into our songs.

Metalhead Spotted:Your most successful album to date “Helvetios” got a tremendous response from listeners all over the world. What would be your next albums theme and will it be real history as Helvetios ?

Patrick: It was always about real history, even the acoustic album Evocation I is part of history. We do not sing about tales, we sing about history. Helvetios was just a concept album as a whole.

Metalhead Spotted:In what kind of ancient languages do you sing in?

Patrick:We sing, like I already mentioned above, in Gaulish language. It’s unfortunately extinct and that means all we sing in is just a scientific try to reconstruct the language. We work together with language and history scientist from the University of Zurich and Vienna.

Metalhead Spotted: On which festivals will you play next year?

Patrick: Several festivals around the globe, can’t say too much about it, because nothing really is confirmed yet, just check out our tour plans on our website.

Metalhead Spotted: Does everyone in the band listen to metal, rock, folk or do some members listen to other unique genres?

Patrick:We are all pretty much open minded when it comes down to music. I can speak for myself, I am listening to many different genres such as Punk, Drum and Bass, Ragga, Rock etc. I believe if you write music you should also be open minded and listen to other genres than your own music, it makes it more diverse.

Metalhead Spotted: In the studio do you use the folk instruments or do you use computer softwares for the music?

Patrick:We only use folk instruments, that’s why we often need more time in a studio to record and mostly we work in different studios at the same time. I think you'd hear the difference. All the instruments on Eluveitie records are 100% pure acoustic folk instruments except a few sound effects.

Metalhead Spotted:What would your advice be to musicians with upcoming bands and dealing with problems relating to it?

Patrick:Well music is first and foremost something really emotional and maybe it’s good to follow the gut feeling rather than take it too rationally.

Metalhead Spotted: Many Folk metal bands brings six or more members in their line-up, do you think it is important to imitate sound of folk instruments?

Patrick: Well that’s a question every band has to answer themselves. We do our thing and it’s not upon us to judge or decide what’s right or wrong for others.

Metalhead Spotted: Finally are there any plans to tour India again, soon?

Patrick: Well we’d love to. Our appearance at IIT Festival 2010 in Guwahati is still likely the most memorable gig we ever had so far. We got often asked about the most memorable gig and we all always answer: Definitely India. But it’s mostly more a question of local promoters willing to book a band then the bands own decision. We totally would if there would be a demand for a tour.

Metalhead Spotted: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Is there anything that you guys want to say to your fans in India and beyond? Any exclusive information you'd like to share?

Patrick:.: Yeah, you guys are amazing; we never expected to get such a great response from India, really. We all would love to come back to play for you so bother your local concert promoters for Eluveitie, we’d love to come back to India. So hope we see you soon.

Edited by   :  Navjot Kaur Gill

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Exclusive Interview with Dr Hex (Albatross)

Albatross is Mumbai-based traditional heavy metal quintet that combines bone-chilling stories with bone-crushing metal. The band started out as a solo project of bassist Riju Dasgupta aka Dr Hex who wanted to unify his love of literature with his other love: Metal. The current line up features  Biprorshee Das (vocals), Vignesh (guitars), Jay Thacker (drums), Nishith (guitars) and bassist Dr. Hex. Their critically acclaimed concept EP  'Dinner is You' was emphatically received by the fans. It was mastered by
Grammy nominated Swedish producer Andy LaRocque from King Diamond. Since then the band has been a regular in India's live circuit. They have released two albums so far "The Kissing Flies" and 'Children of the Cloud". Metalhead Spotted own Navneet Singh Sandhu had a chance to talk to bands bassist/founder Dr Hex about their music, recent album, future plans and many general things.

Navneet: Hi doc, How are you?
Dr Hex: Hi I’m feeling good to talk with you finally!

Navneet: First and foremost how did you guys come across the band name?
Dr Hex: So the idea of a band which does traditional & power metal like me and Bipro thought of creating a band which does traditional heavy metal and it didn't work out because we couldn't come up with a name. And then I thought of 5 names and then he thought of five names, and then no one concluded with us. And then my brother one year later came up with this name, and then I turned the tables and called up Bipro and told him I’m starting a band called Albatross, and then you can think one song and then Bipro agreed with that and that is how the band came about! The albatross is a sea bird and it is considered a symbol of bad luck

Navneet: So What led you guys to establish yourself as a metal band?
Dr Hex: (laughs) uh I like heavy metal, and all of us like heavy metal sol I guess that was the reason. I have played in a few non-metal bands before this. I was in a band called Workshop which is humor, rocks lightly metalish kind of band. Before that old monk which has traces of metal but it is still more hard rock, glam rock than it is metal. But my favorite bands are always slighter heavier than the styles that I was saying so I wanted to start a metal band and that too a traditional metal band because I love the concept of growling but I prefer singing in metal, I like melodies in metal, I like understanding the words as I hear them. And nobody at that point at least in 2007-08 there were very few bands doing this style of music. I think there wasn’t anybody who was doing heavy metal with clean vocals back then! I wanted a band with two lead guitarists also which I don’t think was the case back then with any of the bands probably.

Navneet: So would you like to tell me about the initial phase of Albatross.
Dr Hex: Albatross actually started as a solo project. And this was in 2007-08. And the idea back then was to get different musicians, different trends of minds and the whole concept was I’ll write lyrics, I’ll write the basic blueprint of the song and I’ll present it to different musicians and they will come up with different ideas and all that ,but there were two main problems with this whole setup. The first is, it was my project, the people weren't as interested as Bipro. i don’t think any of the other musicians were interested. And secondly going live would have been a problem. But going live with so many 30-40 musicians would have been a problem back then. So back then the guitarist of workshop, Raj he said that you have some cool stuff in Albatross, why don’t I come on board and we can do some kind off EP. I was like yeah sounds pretty fantastic and that’s how we got the whole band along! Our drummer Jay, I have known him for 10 years and he’s probably been my oldest, like I have known Bipro for 20 years but we were not friends until recently but Jay has been my closest friend for 10 years. I asked him 2007 like do u want to play for albatross and he said NO!!! I was like ‘bajaa na!’ He said, ‘nai, nai, nai bajaane ka!’we spoke to a lot of other drummers, but they were in a different phase altogether! Then I asked Jay again after one year, would you like to play for the band? So he said ‘achaa chal dekhte hai’ and then he came on board. There have been many lineups before we have arrived here, but we have the best lasting lineup! It has lasted 2 years so far.

Navneet: What inspires and influences you the most while making music.
Dr Hex: I am a huge fan of lyrics. I do a lot of reading. I love fantasy, science fiction, horror! Even with my other band primitive, I don’t like the idea of riffs coming before the music, to me riffs and music are way of painting the mood of the words that I have written. I am a writer by profession and this is my favorite kind of writing. I love writing about monsters, and about god and people getting massacred and people getting beaten alive. I love writing stories. And in both the bands my writing outlets has been this way! And my biggest inspiration would have to be this Danish band called King Diamond. There are a lot of bands out there who write concept albums, but the level that Albatross goes down to in describing the stories it almost becomes a narrative! If you are reading the lyrics and listening to the music it creates like a movie in your head. King diamond is the only other band who is doing something of that nature!

Navneet: How do you guys choose the lyrical themes? What is your approach towards writing?

Dr Hex: It’s very different from Ep to Ep. Like our last ep “The kissing flies” what had happened is one of my biggest musical inspirations another one of my favorite lyricist and vocalist this guy called Phil Swanson who sings for a lot of bands from the USA Like ‘hour of 13’ is his most popular band. I wrote an entire short story, I presented it to the band, divided it into 3 diff parts and hence we came up with an EP like that.so the story came first then the lyrics and then the music. I wrote most of the music and Raj say wrote 40% of the music.so out there I wrote a riff and I thought of a story around the whole riff. Our new album is going to be titled “fear from the skies” is a lot more collaborative, so everybody comes in with ideas and everybody has different views.so for the first time we are going to be releasing a full length album.it has 3 different parts: the first story has been written by me, the second story has been written by our drummer Jay and the third story has been written by one of my favorite writers called Jeff Vandermeer. He is like a huge authority on the whole genre! Unlike the two EP’s it is not like the story which came first, the story came after the music in this particular case and it pretty much worked out! So it retains the same albatross flavor. So coming back to your question there is no formula as such! We do what comes naturally and we all jam and write music together.

Navneet: Your lyrical themes suggest that you guys are very well read, any authors/literature which inspire you particularly?
Dr Hex: I am always reading. I read one book every 4 days. The first part of the album is very inspired by this writer called M.John Harrison. So M.John Harrison has this series called as ‘Viriconium’ which is about a world which is continuously changing and there has been a nuclear holocaust and man is rediscovering himself and there are traces of ancient technology and there are robots and there are monsters and stuff like that. The second part of our new album ‘Children of the Cloud’, Jay had thought of it is on the lines of an 80’s horror movie! I am the only person who reads regularly but Bipro, Jay and Vignesh watch movies regularly! They love horror movies.

Navneet: Albatross played along SuidAkra, Wolf and the mighty Kreator and you guys played with some of the best bands in India. How was the Experience playing alongside with them?
Dr Hex: Playing alongside Kreator in particular was like unbelievable Man! When we got the call and got to know that we’re sharing the stage with Kreator we’re like , I guess that was the turning point of Albatross! From that point onwards we became a lot more successful. We have been called to bigger shows after that. I have been listening to Kreator since 2005-06.To be able to finally play with them was pretty insane! And I still think that the Bangalore Open Air, the first year was the best lineup we have ever been a part of! All the bands were Kick ass out there! It was quite unbelievable! It was a dream come true! We had been to Australia after this and we shared the stage with a band called ‘Wolf’. Wolf is another one of our biggest inspirations.

Navneet:You recently came back from the humongous Australian tour, how was the experience?
Dr Hex: It was probably the best experience of my life honestly! The fact is when Albatross is put in a lineup in Bangalore or Bombay or any part of the country, we stand out because we don’t sound like any other band in India. I doubt that there are any other bands in India which sound remotely like us! We are like the black sheep of the metal fraternity (laughs)!
But out there we were paired with many melodic metal bands and a lot of traditional metal bands and thrash metal bands. Even though none of the bands sounded like Albatross, it was like lot closer to our genre. ‘Andy’ our tour manager told us later on that people had come up to him and asked him where did u find these guys? That was like the best experience ever! The appreciation was pretty great! We had Behemoth travelling with us on the same plane! You don’t expect to run into behemoth so randomly! That was pretty insane!

Navneet: Which one band, you would want to share the stage with?
Dr Hex: (laughs) there are so many Indian bands with who we’d like to go on tour with. Demonic Resurrection will be soon coming up with an album so if we can do a combined thing together that will be pretty cool. Our friends from Australia Lord, the bassist of lord Andy, had got us down to Australia, so I’ll have to return the favor and get them down to India. Wolf Of course! we all love wolf and it would be great to hopefully share the stage with them! There are so many bands but right now On the top of my head King diamond, Judas Priest, Manilla Road, Iron Maiden, Ghost, Metallica, Slayer and many more.
We are on a label called Transcending Obscurity sharing stage with any of those bands is a lot of fun. Cosmic Infusion, Orion, Gutslit, Devoid are pretty cool bands!

Navneet: Now, coming to Thrashfest, what fans can expect from Albatross this time?Any new composition? Or you want to keep it a surprise until the gig day?
Dr Hex: We wrote a song and i asked vignesh and nishith, weather we will be able to play this live on thrashfest. we would probably debut that song there and we gonna cover a Megadeth song. we were thinking of covering a testament cover but then i decided that its more important to wrote the new album than to learn new cover

Navneet:. Lastly, would you like to give any message for your fans and our readers?
Dr Hex: Thank you for supporting Albatross. It’s been a long journey,really long one.I am very flattered by the fact that you spend your money in buying our CD’S and T-Shirts If you do,if you don’t then Fuckoff!(laughs)!I hope our music has made your day a little more pleasant then it was!So thank you and keep supporting our music.Buy our tshirts!our caps are sold out already so you don’t need to buy them. Thanks!

Navneet:Well Dr.Hex Good luck for the thrashfest!!!Thankyou for your time
Dr Hex: Was nice chatting with you man.

Albatross have just released their track 'In the Lair of Dr Hex' from the upcoming album  'Fear from the Skies'

Edited by   :  Mercy Thoras

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Interview with Anarchy

Anarchy is Thrash Metal outfit formed in 2013 hailing from Pune, India. Anarchy has been playing since sept 2013. The current line-up features Aditya Swaminathan (guitars), Ameet "Teema" Kulkarni (guitars), Harshvardhan Gore (drums), Tabish Khidir (vocals) and bassist Neeraj Diwan. Short while ago we caught up with guitarist Ameet "Teema" Kulkarni and vocalist Tabish Khidir and talked about bands inception, performances, upcoming EP, future plans and many general things.

Metalhead Spotted: Greetings from Metalhead Spotted! How have you guys been lately?

Anarchy: Hello there! Greetings from Anarchy. We have been good and hope you're doing fine too.

Metalhead Spotted: Above all tell us how did you guys get started?

Anarchy: Our Guitarist Ameet "Teema" Kulkarni was trying to form Anarchy since April 2012. He met Tabish(vocalist) through some common friends and after a few talks around Dec 2012 they decided to do.something about forming a band. Serious talks happened around Feb-March 2013 and along with Aashish Kulkarni(ex-drummer for Gaia's Throne, Anarchy) and Neeraj Diwan (also bassist for Gaia's Throne) jams started around may 2013 and soon Ashish Gogte (rhythm guitarist) joined for a brief period. Aashish Kulkarni shifted to Mumbai and Ashish Gogte to Ahmedabad and we found brilliant replacements in

Harshvardhan Gore (drums) and Aditya Swaminathan (rhythm guitars) in Sept 2013 which completed Anarchy's final lineup.

Metalhead Spotted: Who have been your main influences? What inspires you to keep going on?

Anarchy: Everybody in the.band has different influences varying from Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Symphony X to Meshuggah, LoG etc. And talking specifically about Anarchy, bands like Kreator, Death, Megadeth, Sylosis, Iron Maiden, Coroner, Pantera, Testament, Grip Inc, etc. Also, to make good music that we love, to deliver a great show to the audience and our determination to succeed in what we are doing is what inspires us to keep going on.

Metalhead Spotted: How will you describe anarchy‘s sound to our readers?

Anarchy: Thrash metal with elements of other liked genres.

Metalhead Spotted: Well, Anarchy will be appearing soon at Stormfest 2. How do you feel to be a part of it!

Anarchy: It feels amazing to be a part of Stormfest 2. We are really excited to share the stage with bands like Noiseware ,Dark Helm, Consecration, Bleeding Edge, Adamantium. Cant wait for 9th feb!

Metalhead Spotted: How the dry run preparations are going on for Stormfest 2?

Anarchy: The preparations are going good.

Metalhead Spotted: Are there any new materials on the cards for Stormfest 2?

Anarchy: Yes. We have some new material as well as some surprises for the audience.

Metalhead Spotted: Can you tell us about some best gigs where you guys have played?

Anarchy: Stormfest is just our 2nd gig so the best gig we have played would be our debut gig at December Demolition. Which,truly speaking was one of the best gigs anyone could have ever asked for, for a debut show.

Metalhead Spotted: At December Demolition you guys were fine enough on your set. Can you shed light on some experiences regarding it?

Anarchy: Thank you. We think we were pretty good at December

Demolition. We played a short 15 min, set but the response from the crowd was amazing inspite of the bad sound. It was really great to see mosh pits and people headbanging to all the songs you play at your 1st gig. We had an amazing time on stage. We.enjoyed sharing the stage. With our friends from the scene. Also,We shared the stage with a big band like Albatross on our 1st gig and this time it will be Noiseware so everybody in the Anarchy camp is really stoked and excited to go back on stage and play again.

Metalhead Spotted: Where you think that the attitude of thrash metal came from?

Anarchy: The attitude of.thrash metal came from the very thought of breaking the restrictions that society or religion set for us.

Metalhead Spotted: What future holds for Anarchy? Are there any plans.for future recordings and new merchandise?

Anarchy: As of now our plan.is to play live as much as possible. Releases will happen with time. We do have some plans for releases and you'll get to know about them soon.

Metalhead Spotted: We thank you for taking the time out for this little interview Do you have anything to say for your fans?

Anarchy: A huge thank you from Anarchy to all its well wishers, friends and supporters..We are waiting for Stormfest 2 and Anarchy will not let you down. Fans keep the scene alive so keep showing up in numbers and keep supporting metal. See you all at the gig. Thrash em all and May the force be with you ! \m/

Catch them live on 9th February at Stormfest-II 

Interviewer: Akshay Gaikwad

Edited by: Mercy Thoras

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Interview with Consecration

Consecration is Pune based Metal band formed in late 2011. Consecration have been playing at almost every gig in pune ever since. Their aim is to keep playing live. Recently we caught up with
drummer Akshay Nathwani for this little conversation regarding upcoming EP, their
music and many other general things.

Metalhead Spotted: Greetings from Metalhead Spotted! How you all have been doing in recent times?
Akshay: Greetings from Consecration it's good to hear from you Guys.We have been in the studio's recently.

Metalhead Spotted: When did you all came together? would you mind to spill a brief history of Consecration?
Akshay: It all started when our vocalist Adwitya wanted to start a metal project he met me and soon I was part of it. After same random jams with different guitarist we found Ronnie (guitarist) who had a song which everyone could work on which came out to be our first original (plunge) while improvising this song Siddhartha (guitarist) contacted us and became a part of the band,Avadhoot ( bassist) was an old friend of Adwitya who offered to fill in for Bass and we played for the first time in Worme fest in 2011.

Metalhead Spotted: How do you feel to be a part of Stormfest 2? Do you think it is one of the leading concerts in which consecration is set up on?
Akshay: Watching Stormfest 1 and seeing the massive lineup, we always wanted to be a part of this event. It is definitely one of the best upcoming gig this year and we are lucky to be a part of it.

Metalhead Spotted: Could we look forward to any new compositions from your side at stormfest 2?
Akshay: We have been working on some new material You can expect our whole set from our upcoming Ep and we also have something exclusive for our fans

Metalhead Spotted: What are some of your primary influences? Did you guys draw your influences from jazz and blues?
Akshay: We have been influenced by many bands such as LAMB OF GOD ,DREAM THREATRE,SLIPKNOT,GOJIRA, PORKUPINE TREE etc. Our songs have jazz and blues influences as our guitarist Ronnie is also a blues guitarist.

Metalhead Spotted: When it comes to lyrics, what are some of the specific themes that they cover?
Akshay: Our lyrics are based on the loop holes of the society which we question.

Metalhead Spotted: You guys will releasing new EP in few months. What will be the concept behind it?
Akshay: Yes we will be introducing the band through our EP in which we have taken.different aspects of the society and portrayed it through our music.

Metalhead Spotted: We had heard that the artwork on.upcoming EP is depicted by.guitarist Siddhartha Iyer..Could you tell us more about it?
Akshay: Yes Siddhartha had some ideas about the artwork which he is currently working on.The artwork introduces the band members and depicts the writing of our song influenced by different aspects of the society.

Metalhead Spotted: So, are there any confirmations for another concerts?
Akshay: We have some gigs lined up in pune and bombay dates are not confirmed.

Metalhead Spotted: What is your opinion about metal scene today?
Akshay: As of now the metal scene is expanding more bands have come up with their music, many venues have started playing metal and there is more exposure.

Metalhead Spotted: We thank you for your time. Is there any message you would like to leave for your fans?
Akshay: It was a pleasure.talking to you guys and i would like to say make sure you attend Stormfest 2 as it is a stepping stone for the band and as well for our fans.

Interviewer: Akshay Gaikwad
Edited by:   Mercy Thoras

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