Mumbai based electro- Alternative Rock band Sky Rabbit recently released their self titled debut album via EMI records. Previously known as ‘Medusa, the band decided to go google friendly by changing their name to Sky Rabbit.

To begin with Sky Rabbit’s debut offering is a bit of mixed bag.  Without beating around the bush let me get to the point (will try to keep this review  short as possible),, after the 3rd song Sky Rabbit’s debut album becomes a rather disappointing affair. The album starts with a promising ‘Anti Coke Ganpati which to be honest is a fine song, followed by couple of good songs like Oil and March, but then Sky Rabbit commits harakiri as Raxit Tewari’s vocals get scratchier and dry making it unbearable by the time you reach the penultimate song leaving a very little to celebrate with ‘Hilltop’ which is the final song on the album. Sky Rabbit, one of the handpicked bands by legendary producer John Leckie which was featured on British council Soundpad album does not live up to the reputation. The songs are pretty much bland and repetitive offering a very little signs of life. Despite of Rahul Nadkerni, Harsh Karangale and Siddharth Shah’s effort to stay afloat with neat instrumentation, the burden of vocals is quite evident as the album progresses. Although one would beg to differ after all that hype was created on the social media networks and elsewhere, after spinning the album for at least 20 times I have no reason to change my point of view.

2/5

My new avant-garde/industrial album is out, titled “Elektrokore 1″, this album consists of some of my old songs, which haven’t been released yet, along with new compositions. It begins with a short tribute to the founder of the Indian Independent scene, Amit Saigal. From all the years that I’ve been learning about music, the walls of my room have been adorned with RSJ posters. And I am a proud owner of a pile of RSJ magazines. May his soul rest in peace and amidst rock ‘n’ roll. commented Axl Hazarika

TRACK-LIST:

1. A Tribute

2. Life

3. Was I Waiting 4 u – i

4. [ ]

5. Anger

6. Don’t

7. Was I Waiting 4 u – ii

8. Re-lease (cover)

Bassist Dr Hex explains the concept behind the song. “An unnamed narrator returns to his native town, Raptorsville after sixteen years to find it in shambles. An element of decay pervades every inch of the town; an atmosphere of wither which seems to have infected even the townspeople. Unable to come to terms with this disarray, he walks into the local tavern and meets a figure he recognizes from his youth, the mysterious Uncle Sunny. What ensues is left for you, the listener to discover.”

‘The Kissing Flies’ is Albatross’s second release, after their 2010 debut ‘ Dinner Is You’. The EP forms a part of a split release with American occult metal band Vestal Claret and is slated for an April 2012 release.

Dr Hex adds, “Exciting things are happening in the Albatross camp. We’ve recently signed on to a merchandising company, and a label announcement will be made at a later date.”

Uncle Sunny at the Tavern by Albatrosshorror

Tracklist:

1. Douchebag

2. Lies

3. Planet X

4. Bract

5. Dance Into My Heart

Bevar Sea – self-titled (approx 40 min)

Tracklist:

1. Universal Sleeper

2. Abishtu

3. The Smiler

4. Mono Gnome

Guitar player and main songwriter, Srikanth Panaman, has this to say: “We’ve had a great time performing these songs since we made our stage debut. After a year of playing them out and getting better, we thought it was the right time to hit the studio and put out our first album. On the one hand, it’s been a challenge to capture the live vibe on the recordings, and on the other, being in the studio and listening to the songs over and over has allowed us to fine-tune the arrangements. One of our favourite engineers/producers is going to be mixing this, so this is going to be a mindblowing experience for us.”

The self-titled album has been penned for an early-summer 2012 release via the recently formed Iron Fist Records in India. CDs and digital downloads will be the first available media, with more formats on the cards later. The CD will come in a 6 panel digipack, including a 12 page booklet, with extensive illustrations across the layout. According to Rahul Chacko, lead guitarist and in-house band artist: “The art for Bevar Sea has always been about trying to portray the spirit of the music, while using reference points from the lyrics, and incorporating a healthy dose of influence from some of our favourite comic artists. The album art is probably our most ambitious collection yet, and so far it’s shaping up pretty good!”

The band will wrap up recording, and support label-mates, scene veterans, and fellow old schoolers Kryptos for their third album’s launch party on Feb 18th at Kyra Theatre in Bangalore. This occasion will also see the launch of Bevar Sea’s new website, and the debut of their new song, “Where There’s Smoke (There’s A Pyre)”.

Bevar Sea are Ganesh Krishnaswamy on vocals, Srikanth Panaman and Rahul Chacko on guitars, Avinash Menon on bass, and Deepak Raghu on drums.

(via Bevarsea.com)

Metal music lovers of Sikkim will get a chance to headbang along with their favourite metal bands from the region at the very first metal festival of Sikkim, “Metal Evolution”, an event produced by The Alpine Attitude, scheduled for 28th Jan’ 2012 to be held at TNA School Auditorium, Gangtok.

With the likes of “Sinister Violence” from Darjeeling, the winners of North Eastern Rockers – 2011 and many other major contests all over India, “Dream Diabolic” from Namchi, who have won accolades all over India and “Damage Era” from Gangtok, runners up of North Eastern Rockers – 2011, the metal fest will surely be a sheer treat for all the metalheads of Sikkim and neighbouring areas.Although Sikkim has a huge following for metal music, in the absence of any major metal music festivals, Sikkim has always remained aloof from the metal music scene of India, which is presently only growing in other parts. However, there will be no more complaints and no more regrets to Sikkim not having it’s own share of metal music festivals, as “Metal Evolution” promises to be the biggest festival of the region.

As always, this time too, metal fans will get the chance to hear some fresh talents from Sikkim. “Dwelling for Aeon” and “Eyestill”, both from Gangtok will hit the stage for the very first time in their musical journey.

Metal Evolution is an event produced by The Alpine Attitude, an event management company based in Gangtok itself in association with print partner, “NOW” and radio partner “93.5 Red FM”.

For more details RSVP here.

With over 70 releases to their credit, Japanese Black Thrash band Abigail have achieved what most underground metal bands dream of achieving : Legendary status. After releasing their 1^st demo in 1992, the band is just short of completing two decades of their illustrious career. And with their first step towards the shores of India (at the Trendslaughter Fest-Edition II, Bangalore), it was high time to get down to a one to one with band vocalist and bassist Yasuyuki Suzuki!

Konnichiwa Suzuki- san! Let us start with the mandatory introduction and then move on to the more interesting questions! One thing that’s always been on my mind is why did you choose the name Abigail for your band and does it have anything to do with King Diamond’s legendary album Abigail?
Yasuyuki: Hails Sandesh! How are you doing? I would like to start by saying that we are very excited to play in India! Abigail was first formed in January 1992 and was my first serious band. Prior to that, I used to play guitars with my local friends in a band before forming Abigail. The band had no name and we mostly played cover songs from bands like Iron Maiden, Venom, Gbh, etc during our high school days. Youhei the original drummer of Abigail is my friend from school and back then I asked him whether he was interested in playing in a black metal band because I knew he loved Slayer and Bulldozer and that’s how Abigail began! The band name came from King Diamond’s 2nd album “Abigail” which is a great concept album and my favorite album from the band!

What was the metal scene like in Japan at that moment? I know that Sabbat (Japan) was already a well known band in the underground metal scene since the late 80’s and Sigh was a talented upcoming band with a release behind them. What was the response of the Japanese metal heads when Abigail started out?
Yasuyuki: Sigh was already a famous underground band when I formed Abigail. They supported us a lot and we played many shows together in Tokyo and I believe we formed the Tokyo black metal scene back then. In the early 90′s there were many trendy poser Death Metal bands in Tokyo that criticized Black Metal music. But after the Black Metal trend came to the Japanese scene, they started listening to Black Metal and started saying Black Metal was cool haha! I must say that most of the 1990′s Japanese black and death metal bands sucked! As for Sabbat, I respect their music and attitude but they were living in Mie which was far from Tokyo and we had no personal contact with them in those days.

SS: I recall that Sigh was already in touch with Euronymous of Mayhem and were about to get signed to Voices of Wonder Records. Were you also in touch with him and the other members of the Norwegian Black metal scene? What was your opinion of the Black Metal scene in Norway and Scandinavia back then and what do you think of it at present?
Yasuyuki: I really didn’t have much contact with the Norwegian Black Metal bands back in 1992 except that I had traded music with the Varg Vikerenes of Burzum. As for the music, I especially like early era Darkthrone and Mayhem and we were very influenced by this music style when we started the band.

When Abigail released their first album, the music was labeled “Yakuza” Black Metal. Did the band have any connection with the notorious Japanese gangsters and can you tell me something about the Yakuza culture in Japan?
Yasuyuki: No, I don’t have connections with Yakuza because clan members are very dangerous people haha. I like watching Yakuza movies a lot though so I used lyrical concepts from these movies in my songs. Today there are many clans here in Japan, but the Japanese laws have changed recently and the authorities are very serious about people with connections.

As years have passed, Abigail has changed its sound from a raw Black Metal sound on the demos to a Black Thrash sound on your 1st album ‘Intercourse and lust’ and lately the band has morphed into more of a fast Cross-over Thrash act with heavy Punk influences. Are there any reasons for this change in the sound and will the style change again in the future?

Yasuyuki: Yes, you are right. Recent albums like “Forever Street Metal Bitch”, “Ultimate Unholy Death” and “Sweet Baby Metal Slut” albums are Thrash influenced albums. I was quite sick of Black Metal trend after 1st album was released so I composed more Thrash Metal influenced songs. This direction got us many new fans and we were quite surprised to get a really good response from the punk kids too! All these albums that I have mentioned are heavily influenced by bands like Venom, Bulldozer, Nme, Motorhead, Misfits and Discharge. As for the future, we are soon planning a new album in 2012, but I think we will be going back to our Black Metal roots.

You have been pretty active in the metal scene with various bands, so tell us about your other side projects – Barbatos and Tiger Junkies.  What kind of music do you play in these bands and who are the other members? Do you also feel these projects are influencing Abigail sound?
Yasuyuki: Yes, I have a couple of side projects! Tiger Junkies is punk rock band that is influenced by Discharge, GBH, Misfits, Motorhead, etc and Joel of Toxic Holocaust and I are the only members of this band. We have released a full length album, a 7” Ep and a three way split LP with Bludwulf and Cot so far. I think a new 12” picture Ep will also be out in 2012. Barbatos is a punk metal band with influences from Venom, Hellhammer and Discharge. It’s a one man band and there’s no complete line up except for sessions and live players. We played a European tour with Blizzard in 2010 which was a fantastic experience. Both Tiger Junkies and Barbatos are quite similar to the latest Abigail album. As for Cut Throat, it is a Thrash metal band comprising of members of Sigh and Abigail and is largely influenced by bands like Sacrifice, Anvil Bitch, Hirax, Warfare, Mace, etc.

Can you tell us about your other Abigail members Youhei (drummer) and Jero (guitars)? Do they play in other bands?
Yasuyuki: Youhei is one of the original members of Abigail and I have had a fantastic camaraderie with him from more than 20 years now. He also plays drums for all the Barbatos shows in Tokyo. Jero plays in Gorgon which is his main band and they play some really great NWOBHM music. He also plays for other Japanese bands like Genocide (guitars) and Metalucifer (live in 2010).

All your bands focus on Beer, metal and hot bitches! So tell us what are your favorite beers and your favorite nationality of women (Blond haired and Bitch?) Do you have any sleazy tour stories to tell us?
Yasuyuki: Yes all my lyrics are in traditional metal style and are influenced by themes like Satan, bitches and alcohol with a huge influence from Thrash metals band like Bulldozer, Venom and Sodom. As for my favorite beers, I would highly recommend are Kirin Ichibanshibori and Asahi super dry! With reference to women, I like Japanese girls, but blond girls are very nasty too haha. And yes I have many sleazy tour stories, but I’d rather keep it a secret. Haha sorry!

What do you think about the Japanese censorship in porn movies where they blur out pussies and dicks, but the show assholes and cum?
Yasuyuki: I like Japanese porno movies a lot, but Japanese censorship is crap. They show assholes, but they censor anal fucking???? It’s all very strange. Haha.

What do you do in your personal life? How do you’ll guys manage to tour so much and do shows?
Yasuyuki: Unfortunately, we cannot live on the band alone so we all have regular day jobs. Sometimes it’s very hard for us to get long holidays for touring, so we generally have to ask our bosses for holidays at least 6 months in advance!

This is your very first time in South Asia and I believe you’ll are playing 2 shows- one in Dhaka, Bangladesh on the 26th of January and the 2nd one at Trendslaughter Fest II in Bangalore, India on the 29th of January 2012. How do you feel about playing for the first time in this region? Do you have any expectations?
Yasuyuki: I’m very excited about playing shows in India and Bangladesh and I am looking forward to meet up with all the Indian and Bangladeshi metal fans. I’m also very interested in getting local bands demo’s and albums and I promise you that Abigail will put up a hell of a show!

Have there been any legendary bands that you’ve looked up to and have you played with any of these bands?
Yasuyuki: Yes! We played with Bulldozer in Tokyo 2010 and it was a fantastic experience playing live with them!

Do you know of any Indian bands and do you have any favorites?
Yasuyuki: I know Dying Embrace and they are a really great band! I’m also looking forward to check out all the local Indian acts at the fest!

Do you enjoy any other music besides metal? And do you have any recommendations for the Indian fans?
Yasuyuki: I like listening to electro music like YMO, Kraftwerk, Devo and Ultravox among others and I also enjoy listening to old Japanese rock bands like Happy End, RC Succession, etc.

Thanks for this great interview Suzuki-san! Any last words to the fans and more importantly what can fans expect at Trendslaughter II?
Yasuyuki: Thanks for the interview Sandesh! I hope to meet many underground metal fans in India and see you soon at the Trendslaughter Fest! Beer! Metal! Sex!

Pune based Deathcore band ‘Dark Helm’ recently released their debut concept album titled ‘Persepolis’ on Itchy Metal Entertainment label. The album is based on a bad ass Persian King called ‘Xerxes’ Cyrus the Great(Yeah, I should have paid attention to my history lessons the album booklet) Now before I say anything further there is a thing about concept albums, ‘Thou shalt not attempt it if you are not sure of achieving perfection.’ (Abigail, Crimson Idol, The Wall’ for example)

Now I am not complaining about the musicianship here, Dark helm are a bunch of fine young lads who have great potential as a band, but they probably got their shit wrong for the first time. The intro itself starts off with a very constipated narration. But if you can keep that ‘fwd’ button handy and skip the intro ‘Persepolis’ begins with a bang with ‘warcry’, but unfortunately the glory is soon forfeited by the intro of ‘Sands within’ where the band wants you to believe that it’s ancient Persian music which in reality is pretty much muddled Indian classical (Which is the case of every Indian Band attempting Middle eastern music isn’t it?) This 11 track album has plenty of ups and downs; while the growls, squeals and screams are perfect in their place Ravish Salelkar seriously misses the clean vocals by a mile.

I wouldn’t completely write off ‘Persepolis’, there are some good songs out there. Songs like Warcry, Jaffar, Origins I & II are ‘solid’ but none of them would leave a mark on your memory when you move on to the next band. The Production is quite good, album art could have been better, Album name could have been better, Dark Helm’s debut offering leaves you somewhat disappointed. Having said that I’d like reiterate on what I said before in one of my previous posts ‘If Dark Helm is a horse I am betting my money on it, it’s a war horse going to win many races in days to come”.

2.5 / 5

Grey Shack was formed in July 2007 with Vikram Vivekanand on guitars, Rohan Sen on vocals and Tomojit Basu on bass. After the original drummer Deepak split, the band roped in Elvin D’Costa to handle the percussive responsibilities. The band has been around for the better part of the five years, however, lineup changes and geographical difference forced the band into an extended hiatus. GREY SHACK reformed a few months back with Madhav Ravindranath (ex-Blind Image, ex-Maelstrom) on bass and Vinay Ramakrishnan (Off The Record, Public Issue) on drums. Plans are being made for the full length which should be released by the middle of 2012

Gonzo by Grey Shack

Nh7.in:  Information highway as the name suggests, one of the pioneering Indie Websites that focus on Indie India and elsewhere, Founded by well know music journalist Arjun S Ravi, Nh7 (previously known as Indiecision.com)  has been one of the prime forces in helping Indian Indie evolve. Although one would complain that nh7 is South Bombay Mumbai centric or caters only the high end Indie bands, you just can’t miss the daily magazine for the incredible content. Must subscribe!

IndianMusicRevolution.com: Founded by Ajit Bohra and Pravin Prajapati, IMR is one of the most passionate indie websites that you must check on daily basis if Desi rock/Metal bands interest you; also there is plenty more information about Phoren bands as well, not to forget the reviews, interviews, exclusive downloads etc.

Headbangers.in: One of the best sites for everything metal, Founded by Bangalore based Metal Couple Subhramani and Vilasini , headbangers.in has been in the forefront in providing platform for Indian Metal bands. Visit the website for in-depth scoop on Indian and International bands and for some awesome album reviews.

Metal India Magazine: The oldest indie webzine and still going strong, Founded by Hetal Bhagat, Metal India magazine re-emerged with a brand new look after few years of hiatus. Visit the site for kick ass album reviews by well know musicians like Nolan Lewis of Kryptos.  If you are an old timer you can read some of the rare issues at this location.

High on score: Content, Content, Content, Well organized, well written articles  and reviews. High on Score is not just a webzine but also a monthly print magazine which is based in Chennai. Founded by Ajay Prabhakar ‘Score’ magazine is a must subscribe site on your reader.

What’s the Scene?: Here’s a question, “What do you get when 10 IT professionals get together to support the indie scene? A kickass website right? WRONG!! You get a facebook fan page filled with incredible reviews and gig updates and pictures. What’s the Scene India? is the face of new Indie India which constantly informs you about gigs happening around your city.
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TheUnderground.in: Architect by Profession and music enthusiast at heart Delhi boy Aman Badhauria’s pet project which started on a high note, lacking consistency lately (which is the case of every other Indie Webzine). Barring the inconsistency, this webzine is the best pick for feature articles and columns that are thought provoking.
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Unholy Maunder: Run by a group of fine young gentlemen Unholy Maunder focus on bands from North East India and the rest of the world. UM consists of a series of highly experienced professionals as well as newbies who thought there are better things to do than stalking a chicks profile thus providing you with In-depth coverage of every damn thing in a short period of time.

Rolling Stone India: Yes, last but not the least, Rolling stone India, RS is  not just an established rock magazine in print, but also lately Rolling Stone has been updating their blog section with news and reviews. Although the focus is somewhat less on Indie India (like their magazine), they post ‘you heard it first’ kind of news items. Needless to say, must subscribe for upcoming bands.

Other honorable mentions are Heavygenre.com, Metalwani.com, IndianBandsHub, Blot, MyMetalBin and Gibson India,