The sound of death metal is not only about loud guitar riffs over drums and double bass. This sound has a story to it. The reason the genre is called death metal is because a band called Death pioneered the sound. The band, formed in America in 1984, is considered a driving force in the extreme metal subgenre of death metal. Inspired by the sound of thrash metal by Nasty Savage, Chuck Schuldiner, Kam Lee, and Rick Rozz took that sound further, making up the genre.
Metalheads got a taste of the subgenre and more during The Pit v 10 The Legacy at Triguna Sen Memorial Auditorium in the Jadavpur University campus. Held on November 5, six metal bands took the stage to perform covers and originals. Audience response? Headbanging like there’s no tomorrow. Maybe with a little bit of a push, the audience would be able to create a mini mosh pit! The Telegraph was in the house.
Words and controlled fury
First on the line-up was local band Thirst of Faust who put together a death-metal performance. The band performed songs like Mephisto and Aftermath. “ It was an unbelievable evening for us all, especially because of the weight the name ‘Pit’ carries. We had to put in our best and we are quite satisfied with our performance. There was a lot of pressure but also a great deal of joy that helped us pull through. The reaction and the support from all the people made our job a lot easier,” said Robby Dutta, the lead vocalist.
Next on the line-up was Ksetravid who had put together a modern tech-metal set. They performed Static Belief System and Manmade Crisis. “The experience was nothing less than surreal for sure. The loudness and insanity you feel as a musician, playing on a stage that brings back memories is nothing less than madness,” said Pritam Midday, the guitarist of the band.
Dressed in black, with long hair and make-up, Armament performed their thrash metal set comprising songs like Scrape the Infection, Power of the Wildfire and Screams Innominate. “The highlight was the excitement. Happening after over two years, the line-up was intense. This was the first gig we played with Nikhil Raj from Ksetravid. He filled in for our drummer Rakshith Herur, who recently shifted to the UK,” said vocalist Indranil Dasgupta.
The third band on the line-up was In Human in which Ankit Mitra (second from left) was the guitarist and host. The prog-death metal band performed songs like Vicious Cycle, In Human Morality and Spirit Crusher (Death Cover). “Being an organiser is stressful for sure. I had antacid before I came to the venue. Managing the bands and their time limit, infrastructure related to sound and lights, and setting up... it’s definitely not the most fun experience. But when you finally see the bands and the audience exude so much energy, it all feels worth it,” said Ankit.
The fourth band to perform was Broken Barons. This band had prepared a metalcore set that drove the audience wild. Their tracklist included Fabricate and Cosmic Reconciliation . “The overall experience was phenomenal as we always wanted to play at The Pit. It is one of our oldest hometown gigs and hometown gigs are always special,” said Mamik Banerjee, the drummer of the band.
The last band on the line-up was Inner Sanctum who performed a metalcore set. They too had made their way from Bangalore for the gig and performed songs like Divided By Hate and Agent of Chaos. “We were very impressed with the bands that shared the stage with us. And I was told that there are a lot of other talented bands. Bangalore too has a lot of talented bands. Some of the bands have been around for eons, like Kryptos, and then there are newer bands like Ksetavid,” said Narayan Shrouthy, the bassist. Picture: Sayan Mukherjee
Memorable ‘chaos’
When there’s so much sound and a wild audience, there has to be a crowd-surfing moment.
Needless to say, there was enough headbanging.
Metal Lovers
Kolkata-based band Ronin was present at the gig... in the audience.
Pratyusha Jha (second from left) and her group of girls were metal-ready. “I had an amazing evening. The Pit’s legacy is well-known! What a crazy metal D.I.Y featuring the future of Kolkata’s metal scene as well as popular names from around the country. This was sheer satisfaction for all metal lovers,” she said.
Pictures: Koushik Saha