Monday, June 5, 2023
  • Login
The South First
  • Home
  • States
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Karnataka
    • Kerala
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Telangana
  • Politics
    • Behind the News
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
  • Health
  • Videos
  • Karnataka Elections 2023
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • States
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Karnataka
    • Kerala
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Telangana
  • Politics
    • Behind the News
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
  • Health
  • Videos
  • Karnataka Elections 2023
No Result
View All Result
The South First
No Result
View All Result

Home » Featured » The expanding metal scene of South India and its growing fan base

The expanding metal scene of South India and its growing fan base

Heavy metal found its Indian roots in Bengaluru through the band Millennium in the 1980s. It was the first heavy metal band in India.

Anand VenkitachalambyAnand Venkitachalam
Published:05/04/2023 8:00 am
A A
The ban Kryptos. (Supplied)

The ban Kryptos. (Supplied)

Heavy metal is burgeoning in India, and though still a somewhat underground genre, the music has quite an avid and devoted fan base.

Many bands in India are coming up and adding to this heavy brand of music, which has had at most a niche following in the country.

While there is an active scene in Maharashtra, North-Eastern states like Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, and Assam, and to some extent in Delhi and West Bengal, perhaps the best bands from India have been coming up — at least in the past decade or so — from the southern states, where the whole heavy/extreme-metal scene is exploding.

Heavy metal found its roots in the country in Bengaluru through the band Millennium in the 1980s. It was pretty much the first heavy metal band in India.

Today, there is no shortage of heavy metal music in the South, be it Kryptos (Bengaluru), Against Evil (Visakhapatnam), Inner Sanctum (Bengaluru), Chaos (Thiruvananthapuram), The Down Troddence (Kannur), Blood Covenant (Chennai), Amorphia (Cherthala), Bevar Sea (Bengaluru), Diablous Arcanum (Chennai), and Djinn and Miskantonic (Bengaluru).

Ask and you shall receive! Whether it is retro Iron Maiden or Judas Priest-style 1980s heavy metal, old-school Overkill-flavoured thrash metal, brutal Obituary-style death metal, European-style black metal with a death metal flavour, or progressive metal with complex and technical arrangements as well as slow and extra heavy doom metal, the Indian scene has it all.

And the South of the country is where it’s at — in almost every city of every state.

What’s adding to the scene are standalone festivals and performances that are part of music fests, even as sub-genres like black metal start rearing their heads.

The emerging scenario

Some of the best bands in the country that represent the metal scene of India globally in major metal festivals are from the South. (Creative Commons)
Some of the best bands in the country that represent the metal scene of India globally in major metal festivals are from the South. (Creative Commons)

While copying trends of the Western metal scene or simply doing the whole djent sound or even going the brutal extreme metal way is a problem that plagues many bands across India, including the ones in the South, there are several that have established their own unique sound.

It is not just that South India has bands aplenty with a lot of killer material that is worthy of appreciation. Some of the best bands in the country that represent the metal scene of India globally in major metal festivals are from the South.

These include Kryptos and Against Evil, alongside bands from other parts of the country, such as Demonic Resurrection (Mumbai) and Bloodywood (New Delhi).

Kryptos said during a gig at Ragnarok Open Air in Germany: “Compared to Germany, a younger audience is listening to what is hot right now in India; but the music we play comes from an age bygone. And it is catching up slowly, and you know eventually it will catch up one day. But, for now, Europe gets us.”

The band added: “We play a mix of ‘80s metal and thrash metal. That’s what we grew up on. [Black] Sabbath, [Iron] Maiden, [Judas] Priest, Rainbow, Dio — bands like that. Plus, some of the thrash bands — especially German thrash bands like Sodom amd Kreator and also a lot of early Metallica and Testament. That is pretty much what forms our sound.”

The evolving diversity

The band Willuwandi. (Supplied)

While Kryptos has gone down the more retro road with a retro production reminiscent of an 1980s heavy/speed metal band, it is true that compared to the North, genres like metalcore and deathcore have not made as much of an inroad in the South as a large chunk of the bands in the scene is still playing either heavy/speed/thrash metal, groove metal, death metal or black metal.

This is not as much an over-generalisation as an observation, because the core style has not made too much influx into the Indian metal scene in the South — whether it is Bengaluru, Kannur, Hyderabad, or Chennai.

On the newer forms of metal music — like metalcore — that are penetrating India, Kryptos made its stand clear: “..But you know that sort of stuff doesn’t really bother us because we just do what we gotta do. But, you know, if people like that stuff, then it is their thing. We come from a completely different headspace; it’s not our trip but they like that stuff. So, you know, good for them.”

Then there are the rebel-with-a-cause bands. Willuwandi is an all-Dalit band from Kerala, and has been using its performance to highlight the “othering” of their communities,

And providing a platform for such bands are live events that are starting to come up across the southern states.

Platforms like Bangalore Open Air have been doing that for years, and the Covid-19 pandemic is being now seen as only a temporary setback for the performers, some of whom had taken to performing online for their fans and patrons.

Over the years

The band Amorphia
The band Amorphia. (Supplied)

Heavy metal has always been rebellion music at its core — rebellion against established norms, traditions and structures.

That was perhaps the reason why a couple from South India co-opted heavy metal into their wedding in 2016.

Akshaya and Shriram had met in the US, and when they got married, they formed what they christened the “Dulhan Brass Band”, and performed at the wedding.

In India, while metal was introduced back in the late 1980s, the music gained very little traction until the advent of the internet, and even then until the late 2000s or 2010s did Indian metal barely begin penetrating the international market.

Among the handful of bands that has gained some level of global traction, a big chunk comes from South India.

They are stylistically different from the bands in North or Central India, mainly because metalcore, deathcore, and djent do not influence the scene as much there. Instead, they have a more classic metal influence.

With the advancement of technology and people having access to more and more content, heavy metal could well be expected to reach more into the houses of people and the South Indian metal scene which is already expanding will expand and develop a great deal more.

Recommended For You

Kerala aims at encouraging people to adopt sustainable waste management methods. (Supplied)
Featured

Kerala bucket list for World Environment Day: Green assembly, green audit, waste-free offices

June 5, 2023
Delayed monsoon Kerala
Kerala

Kerala: Conditions favourable, says IMD; but the Southwest Monsoon plays hide and seek

June 5, 2023
Animal Husbandry Minister stoked controvery why not cows be slaughtered.
Karnataka

How a Karnataka minister sparked a row by linking buffaloes with cows

June 5, 2023
Kozhikode beach
Kerala

Bodies of 2 teenagers who went missing from Kozhikode beach are found

June 5, 2023
As Telangana tops CSE report in overall performance know where rest of South states finished, World Environment Day
News

As Telangana tops CSE report in environment performance, know where other South states stand

June 5, 2023
Drug ban India
Health

India cites therapeutic irrelevance and risks to ban 14 fixed-dose combination medicines used for cough, fever, and infections

June 5, 2023

Top Stories

Delayed monsoon Kerala

Kerala: Conditions favourable, says IMD; but the Southwest Monsoon plays hide and seek

June 5, 2023
As Telangana tops CSE report in overall performance know where rest of South states finished, World Environment Day

As Telangana tops CSE report in environment performance, know where other South states stand

June 5, 2023
Sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik pays tribute to those who died in the Balasore train accident in Odisha.

Triple-train accident: Odisha grapples with challenge of identifying the dead; 88 identified so far

June 4, 2023

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Subscribe to our mailing list to receive daily updates direct to your inbox.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Like and Follow

Follow @TheSouthfirst

Latest

Kannada film industry has achieved a feat with the release of 100-plus films in five months since the start 2023.

Sandalwood scores a century in 5 months but with limited success. Here’s why

June 5, 2023
Kerala aims at encouraging people to adopt sustainable waste management methods. (Supplied)

Kerala bucket list for World Environment Day: Green assembly, green audit, waste-free offices

June 5, 2023
Delayed monsoon Kerala

Kerala: Conditions favourable, says IMD; but the Southwest Monsoon plays hide and seek

June 5, 2023
The South First

CATEGORIES

  • News
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Entertainment & Culture
  • Featured
  • Health & Wellness
  • Andhra Pradesh
  • Karnataka
  • Kerala
  • Tamil Nadu
  • Telangana

PAGES

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

© 2023 The South First

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • States
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Karnataka
    • Kerala
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Telangana
  • Politics
    • Behind the News
  • Entertainment & Culture
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Health & Wellness
  • Karnataka Elections 2023
  • Dakshin Dialogues
  • Videos

© 2023 The South First

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our