Live Inferno, OFD Pub, Hyderabad

This post was saved in the drafts section of my blog. Didn’t get time since the time I saved there, and so the post got late.

I was lucky enough this time to catch up a gig here at One Flight Down Pub, which is quite famous for gigs. Before I was leaving for Hyderabad some two months back I was expecting that I'll definitely get a gig somewhere around the city. I missed one gig - that of a band called Wreakage (don't remember the name, because I was told so). The gig started with Kamoflagodz and after the soundcheck on "Keep on rocking in a free world" the front man announced that the band is now changing their name to Ethereal Rush. They played an OC (I suppose it was called "Still we believe" something), which was good. I downloaded this from RSJ few days back. And then there were some great Iron Maiden covers - Fear of The Dark, Wasting Love and then again an OC, which initially seemed soft but had good drumming in the end by Jaideep and great riffs, loved this song. The last one was their very famous cover of Iron Maiden’s Hallowed Be Thy Name. I sang along, and banged my head for the full set with the band being feet or two distant from me. This seriously was a great experience. I forgot to mention, in between there was one more cover - "Breaking The Law".

Next band was AfterDeath. I had heard a lot about them before coming to Hyderabad and I followed the reviews of most of the gigs they played in Hyderabad, at RSJ. The set was so damn brutal. Two Six Feet Under, and two Sepultura covers, and two OCs - I was crazy banging my head for the full set! The OCs were kickass. I'd like to see them release their EP soon.

The band headlining was Devoid, from Mumbai and which should I say about then.. They owned! With a soundcheck ("Dead Skin Mask" by Slayer) they started off this very speed/thrash metal set. Then came some great OCs, of which I liked their latest song the most, plus "Black Fortress", "Kali" and "Devoid of Emotions". The covers they played were "Angel of Death" and "Possessed". There was some serious moshing and crazy headbanging throughout this set. Though I did not mosh but I stood there for full 3 hours in the front row (would you call that a front row?) headbanging. Having experienced only two gigs in the past, this gig definitely was the most kickass gig I've ever been too. The Hyderabad crowd was good, too many people turned up for the same. Good moshing and extreme heabanging, what more would a metalhead want!

Some days back I read an interview of "Nile" on metal-rules.com which spoke of the spirit of metal brotherhood. Here's an excerpt from the same:

"Q: I think it truly pays you off when you go on the stage and see that excited crowd in front of you – headbanging and yelling your name from the top of their lungs...

A: Yeah, that’s rewarding. I think the important thing though is metal just survives and continues, then metal people have to be able to come together and the metal show is where you league with all your other metal fans – and other metal people that are just like, but you don’t know. But you know what, we are all pretty much the same and a metal fan from here, is not drastically different from – in spirit, a metal fan from Canada, or England, or Belgium, or Marocco, or Japan or Australia; we are all metal people. And I think metal is what brings us together, and that is the beautiful thing about metal shows. It’s not necessarily just about having a minute of glory. I mean, that’s ok, but I don’t think about that. I really believe metal is an international language of solidary which we all metal fans share together. The brotherhood, the spirit we all feel, whether we are all headbanging together or in the moshpit or throwing goat horns with each other – man, that spirit is empowering; that’s the great thing about metal. People say bad things about metal because they don’t understand it. It’s a communal spirit. Manowar is kinda cheesy band – ok, but when I was a kid, man, their spirit of metal brotherhood was just empowering; you felt like raising your fist and, you know, fuckin´ throwing up the horns and saying: “Death to false metal...!!” - or whatever, and that spirit continues, no matter what band it is, being it Morbid Angel, Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse or whoever the fuck it is. As long as that spirit is alive, then, you know, we are strong.

Q: Those were wise words for sure, but it’s sad that MTV´s way to think about metal is way different. They show bands like Korn, Deftones, etc. – and say these bands are metal...

A: They are not metal..."

So true!

PS: It’s 22nd today and today is the release day for us at TCS-ILP, Hyderabad. Tomorrow, I’ll be back at home.