Metal has had a vivid and dramatic growth in the local music scene in India. In the early 80s bands like Atomic Forest naturally followed some of the dynamic of Western culture, namely, Classic Rock vis a vis the Blues. In spite of its popularity Metal wasn’t a genre that people would start to ape; not yet.
The rise of Millennium Bangalore was quite an interesting event. At a time when local bands were only going deeper into the Blues, Millennium started to play their raw style of metal. Formed in 1988, they were heavily inspired by the only metal that came their way, across the seas, among which Metallica was definitely one of the acts. They were not received with over enthusiasm, even by the louder Bangalore crowd, and front man Vehrnon Ibrahim recalls the difficulty they had getting a gig or even spreading their music. “Many people just did not get the music at all; even musicians who were usually supportive turned their backs on us. Friends thought we were nuts!”
However, because of them, an early phase of Power Rock was started in Bangalore with bands like Hydra and Threinody playing both Blues material and some harsher metal beats like Iron Maiden covers. Bands like these that subsequently sprouted over the 90s only had the chance to perform at big rock festivals. There was no separate ‘scene’ for rock and metal earlier. It was regarded as one and the same platform, and rock promoters would also frown down upon their louder more versatile counterparts. Gigs like The Great Indian Rock Festival or Independence Rock were basically the only platforms where these metal bands could actually play.
Iron Maiden. The band that changed the scene. Forever. When Maiden came down in 2007, it ignited a national metal spark. Veteran rockers from renowned bands across the country such as Parikrama were all lining up along with the common crowd outside Palace Grounds just waiting to get a glimpse of Eddie and the boys. It was the first time such an act had ever come to the country and this just propelled the metal scene exponentially.
After the Maiden gig, organizers got more confident about bringing down international metal artists and thus, the national metal music scene began. Since, there have been scores of popular metal acts gigging in India, along with hundreds of even smaller and more niche metal acts that local organizers are bringing down. Bands like Lamb of God, Meshuggah, Satyricon, Sepultura, Iced Earth, Megadeth, Textures, Tesseract and a whole lot more have gigged in Bangalore alone!
The rise in numbers came about as a result of the rise in confidence of event organizers to host metal shows. Earlier, Bangalore had seen an initiative called Undergrind. A brutal and infamous series of underground Grind metal gigs that often left the crowd literally in pieces, and that actually started off in a basement. But now, metal is getting more attention. Rock pubs started to play more Metaallica, Maiden and Megadeth. Free initiatives like Bangalore’s Sunday and Freedom Jams also saw an influx of local amateur metal acts participate. A large number of impressive national metal acts made their debuts after this shift too. Kryptos, Scribe, Demonic Resurrection, Bhayanak Mauth, Undying Inc, Blind Image. A second phase of more refined or niche sounds in the genre started to emerge from Bangalore too with acts like Theorized, Inner Sanctum and Eccentric Pendulum, while in Pune there was Abraxas and Reverrse Polarity in Mumbai. This also led to the diversifying of genres inside the broader context of metal itself. New sounds like Grindcore, Technical death and progressive experimental saw multiple bands trying out different styles for the best fit. With these levels of public interest, venues were obliged to sit up and take notice. Raspberry Rhinoceros in Mumbai was one such venue where metal was played long and loud through the week even back in 2007. Hard Rock Cafes then opened up across the country and so did the Blue Frog, and thus we see the progression till the metal of today.
Now, with most venues and competitions willing to host metal acts, the scene is definitely growing for metal heads around the country.
