Metro Plus
Chennai
Hyderabad
New metal wave
|
Forget getting `Comfortably Numb,' and get rocking with Onslaught and their brand of `new metal,' a sound that has its band of dedicated followers in the twin cities.
|
CONTROLLED NOISE: Onslaught had the crowd eating out of its hand.
"THEY ROCK!," said the audience at Let Loose Night, at Lagoon the Pub, Himayatnagar, featuring the six-month-old `new metal' band, Onslaught. With Static and Drowning Pool as their inspiration and Mumbai's PDV (Pin Drop Violence) as their counterparts in the country, the band comprises Tamar Chatterjee on vocals and lead guitar, John Baptist on back up vocals and drums, and Anoop Peter on bass guitar.
The music is controlled and noisy, with a rap core mixed with metal. "There is harmony and melody in the shouting and screaming. You should keep an open mind and listen," says Tamar. With no extended guitar solos, the music is very direct. "It is music with attitude," says John Baptist, which was reflected in the songs they played including, Toxicity and Chopsuey and two of their own compositions Sky and Take.
"Sky is about aiming high and making sure you get there. It's about pursuing your thoughts. While Take is talking to the inner conscious," says Tamar who has composed the numbers. "We are looking at recording the numbers shortly," he says.
"It is a different band. Not just that they play different music, they also have very good on-stage co-ordination that is very essential and they are serious," says band manager Vikram. "Birds of a feather rock together," says Anoop.
OPEN MIND: The sound has a rap core mixed with metal.
Tamar, a Computer Science student at CBIT, John, a B.Sc Computer Maintenance and Engineering student from Loyola Academy and Anoop, pursuing his B.Com in Sales and Advertising at Loyola Academy, have sustained and evolved over the years and are as serious about their music as they are about their academics.
Their music finds resonance with the "Yo Dilly!" Y2K1 generation (that is some classification!), who choose music as an outlet from the angst of the technology and communication era. "The music is pure and hard and has passion and aggression," says Arjun, a new metal aficionado. The city has a potential new metal following among teens, he says.
"The audience has been great especially when there was mere word of mouth publicity for the gig. The group, like in the West, plays what they want to and have a niche audience. Hyderabad is maturing when it comes to music and we want to promote newer and specialised music genres. At the end of the day, if Deep Purple wants to come to Hyderabad, we need to bridge the gap and integrate those qualities here," says Sriram, the event manager. Music for deeper recesses of the mind after a hard day is what the band provides. And you need to know the music to get the onslaught, as they say.
S. F
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
