Every time one sounds the death knell for heavy metal in India, the headbangers spring to life with a deafening growl. Niche audience notwithstanding, metal musicians in India have been consistent in making virtuosic music.
The Mumbai-based metal band Midhaven is out with their latest Shiva-inspired concept album Of the Lotus & The Thunderbolt — a seven-track collection juxtaposing Indian strains with traditional and progressive metal. The band comprises Karan R Kaul (vocals/guitar), Aditya Mohanan (guitar /vocalist) and Aviraj Kumar (drums).
Their album explores the concept of time by paying homage to Shiva as Mahakaal - the ‘ruler of time’. Says Aditya, “The album is conceptually philosophical, and time is spoken in a cyclical manner rather than a linear fashion. The Kalpas and Yugas in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism are also taken to portray our understanding of universal time.”
With an Indian motif at its core, the album has tracks like the ‘Para Brahman’ ‘Codeman’, ‘Zhitro’, ‘Mahakaal’ and ‘Bhairav’ among others. The album launch was preceded by a video single release of a heavy-duty track called ‘Primal Song’, where the primal emotions manifest through riffs and rhythms.
Soul symbolism
Decoding the content of their album, Karan says, “The ideas were in our head and it came together through our friendship, via discussions, which led to the creation of this album.” Aviraj emphasises the organic progression of their album. “It came naturally to us as part of the creative process. There was no forcefulness.”
Cover art of Mahakaal, an album by Midhaven
On being asked to throw light on the meaning behind the title, Of the Lotus & The Thunderbolt , the band unanimously nominates Aditya for the job and he holds forth. “This is heavily inspired by Vajrayana Buddhism that is practised in Tibet — a combination of Buddhist elements and Tantra at the same time. There’s a lot of symbolism at play. Lotus is a beautiful flower that grows out of the muck. For us, the lotus translates into the human soul and then there’s the vajra, which means a thunderbolt, which in tantra is described as latent potential within every soul to attain emancipation. So the album is about the human soul going through a cycle before reaching the state of moksha.”
Stating that metal bands have to struggle to be heard in India, Aviraj says, “Metal is not mainstream for sure. But, not all artists have the same following, right?” Though it is tempting to assume that the rebellious rage and aggression of metal is what makes it challenging for an Indian audience, brought up on softer melodies and catchy film music, to appreciate, Aditya says it is more because metal is a niche genre. “I have grown up seeing a lot of anger in India... metal is not accepted because people don’t understand it.”
Making of Midhaven
Midhaven’s journey started in 2010 when Karan and Aviraj realised they wanted to make similar music. In 2012 they formed a four-piece band and released a couple of records by 2016. Then came their album Spellbound with Universal Music. A split in the band saw the exit of some members and the entry of Aditya in 2017.
Indian metal trio - Karan Kaul, Aditya Mohanan and Aviraj Kumar
Karan, who calls himself an amateur astronomer explains the process behind the name of the band. “While in astrology ‘mid heaven’ means something else, in astronomy it means a local self-point, the one celestial object that is directly above you is mid heaven. So I was playing on the word and arrived at ‘mid haven’.”
The three musicians have very different day jobs: Karan is a e-sport coach, Aviraj is an advertising and marketing professional and Aditya, a budding archaeologist. “We do separate things but come together to invest money and time in making music,” says Karan.
Although individually all three created different kind of music, as Midhaven band, they create pure Indian metal. “Indian metal is at a weird stage right now, it had its ups and downs,” says Karan, adding “Right now it is in limbo and could go anywhere: it could stop tomorrow or could blow up.”
