September 28, 2013: Set in the happiest of malls in Vashi, Entombed Metal Fest Volume IV Powered by Transcending Obscurity held at Crazy Blue, Raghuleela Mall, was probably one of the most extreme gigs that the region has seen in a long, long time, barring Domination- The Deathfest V held earlier this year. However, given the impressive line-up that played this comes across as no surprise at all. Each act outdid the last, culminating in eargasms, mosh pits, walls of death and the recurring chants of Madarchod- Behenchod (which thanks to Gutslist bassist Gurdip singh, suffered an awkward premature death).
Fragarak from Delhi were the first band to play, and they brought down the place with their impressive brand of death metal. Unfortunately, crowd at the gig had not yet reached the distant venue, and in turn, the band had to play their set to a small gathering. Mumbai’s Dormant Inferno were up next, and having played a live set after a long time, the audience were treated to a grim repertoire of doom metal at its intermittently slow, and heavy best.
Guwahati’s extreme metal trio Insane Prophecy took the stage next, and those who saw them live at Domination-the Deathfest V, knew what brutality was going to churn out soon. True to the band’s signature style of black/death metal, Insane Prophecy played to an audience looking to smash each other, and that’s precisely what they did. Vocalist, guitarist Xulfi Nawaz needs to be specially mentioned for his unparalleled prowess at tackling both the responsibilities. The fact that the band always plays with one session member makes you wonder how musically adept the North-East metal scene really is!
Bengaluru’s Grossty was the fourth band to play, and they left the crowd spellbound because they brought grind pandemonium in a way that has never been seen in the city before. An unstoppable force hitting into an immovable object is what describes their music best, and those who were not at the gig missed out on something really special. The two vocalists ripped the place with alternating guttural growls and animalistic screams.
There are few bands in the city that can exude the amount of energy that Gutslit do at every one of their performances, and at Entombed, they were no different. The Gutslit set took the audience right into the slaughterhouse with their death grind barrage, and Aditya Barve on vocals was aggression personified. Their set saw the largest pit scenes, and after quite a while an impressive wall of death too. So intense was their set and the ensuing mosh that one of the PA units almost fell during one of their songs.
Ending the night was the second wave of brutal North-Eastern metal in the Plague Throat trio. While their music was as brilliant as hell, perhaps the coolest thing in their music was the sudden breaks in their music, with perfectly synced restarts in almost all of their songs. You could hear a collective yells from the crowd every time that happened, and people mesmerizingly smiling at each other. It was a gig that no one wanted to see get over, and the band decided to give the gig a fitting end, by covering Cannibal Corpse’s Hammer Smashed Face.
Sure the sound was not the best, and the lights seemed to be beaming straight from the sets of Mithun Chakraborty’s Disco Dancer, but still when the music was that good, few things can stop a gig from being as good as this edition of the Entombed Metal Festival was.
Pictures - Dhananjay Mane
