There’s nothing like heavy grooves when it comes to metal. And when it’s thrown in like a curveball, you can expect chaos, pretty much like the music of technical/progressive/death metal band Escher’s Knot. Formed in July 2009, Escher’s Knot comprises Abijith Rao (vocals), Madhav Ayachit (bass), Manu Krishnan (drums), Anshuman Mishra and Siddhartha Ramanathan (guitars). After the release of their first EP, Tessellations , in 2010, the band has been playing in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad and working on their debut full-length album. Abijith Rao gives us an update on the album, saying, “We’re almost there, we are taking our own sweet time.
Two more new songs and probably late this year is when we’ve planned tracking for the album, while the pre-production is already on the way.” However, with two members in Bangalore, two in Chennai and one in Delhi, Escher’s Knot has been mostly working over the internet, sharing song ideas with each other in order to finish the album.
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Says Rao, “I went to Chennai to pursue sound engineering and met Anshuman in the same college. With common interests in metal and over a very short duration of time, we started writing songs and we were looking for musicians to start the band.
Later, after jamming with a lot of drummers in Chennai, Manu was the perfect fit for the band. Initially, we had Chunky on bass, but later Madhav replaced him to handle the bass duties.
Last year, Siddhartha Ramanathan joined the band as the second guitarist. With everyone playing for different bands prior to Escher’s Knot, it really helped us get a unique sound combining all our influences.”
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You guys play music because
“I don’t know how well people have accepted the music we play. We’ve always got mixed reviews from people who’ve heard us for the first time. We play for the love of this music . It’s just five like-minded people expressing our whole thought process with face of ‘Escher’s Knot’,” says Rao.
You’ll still remember the time when
According to Rao, some of the most memorable gigs the band has played have been alongside international acts such as British metal band Cypher16, opening for American metalcore band Lamb of God, Swedish melodic death metal bands Dark Tranquillity and Hammerfall. More recently, Rao recalls bringing the house down in Bangalore with Delhi metallers Undying Inc. and Chennai death metal band Crypted.
Toughest part about being a young band
Says Rao: “All of us have been around in the scene for a while, but the band and the sound is new! As mentioned previously, the only challenging bit is that we are scattered all over the country, which sometimes makes it difficult to bring down all the members for a gig. And for the last question, let’s just say being in a band itself and to keep it going is the toughest part! You can only do it if you're extremely passionate. Doesn't matter if you're a new or old band.”
Story behind the name
Inspired by graphic artist M.C. Escher, the band took the name from his famous woodcut, ‘Knots’, which cannot be untied. Rao adds, “Have a close look at our song structures and you could somehow relate them. It just suits the kind of music we play and it’s a unique name as well.”
Musicians that inspire you
“Meshuggah is just one of our influential bands. We have very versatile influences individually as we were all playing for bands playing different genres before. To name a few, Nevermore, Tool , Porcupine Tree, Textures, Mayhem, Vader, Decapitated and the likes,” says Rao.
Compositions over covers
We have more than enough original material, doing covers is completely a fun thing for us. We still cover a Meshuggah song (‘Humiliative’) because it’s just too much fun on stage.
Follow Escher’s Knot on >facebook.com/eschersknot