Interview with the Hindu mythology influenced death metal, Asura.
Hello Asura! How are things at your end? I think this is the first time you are giving an interview for an Indian zine, tell us how are things in the Asura camp?
Pranaam Atul!! Things are fine at our end and yes you the first Indian zine, that we are giving an interview for. We are thankful to the Metal India team for giving us this opportunity to share our views with fellow metalheads. Things at the Asura camp at the moment are hectic and chaotic with so many new tracks in the pipeline in terms of recording. In short we are busy as hell!
You are probably the only Indian band, which is into Vedic metal, tell us what made you decide to play this genre? Are you personally driven by Hindu mythology?
Well, it was not a conscious decision at all actually! The original members of the band Rahul, Nanda & Vishal had this inclination towards Vedic concepts even before the band was formed. Also during the earlier jams, before the band was formed we realized that the music also had that feel to it. So we just decided to follow the combination. That was just the start. As time passed, the inclination has transformed into a zest to awaken the world with our music and the wisdom passed on to us by immortal time. We don’t understand the concept of black metal bands, for example in India. In a country such as ours where one does well to know what Christianity really is, how can one write about anti-christianity? So the way we see it we write songs about what we know and what we want to say to people who listen to us. All the members of the band are fascinated by Hindu mythology although we do not thoroughly align ourselves to the contemporary Hindu beliefs and school of thought. Among the members of the band we have an atheist, and agnostic and a couple of them whose religious stand falls in no category whatsoever. But we look at ancient Hindu teachings with the utmost reverence.
How closely have you been following RUDRA the biggest Vedic metal band around? Have you seen them live during there 4 visits to India?
As far as our musical influence is concerned, Rudra are more than just our mentors. Although our lyrical and musical styles are different from them, we respect them a lot for being the pioneers of the genre and also doing justice to it by making brilliant music consistently for almost a decade and a half. Personally, we have only seen them at one of their gigs in Bangalore. We were lucky enough to even have a chat with them after their set and it was an absolute pleasure. We interact with Rudra on a personal basis via the internet as well and share our updates with them so on the communication front, it is quite frequent.
Apart from Rudra what all bands influence you, what other styles of metal you admire?
This question will get you various answers as Asura as a band has members who listen to diverse genres of music. Rahul is into mainstream black metal. Bands like Marduk, Dark Funeral, Belphegor etc. Anil is into old school brutal death metal. His favourite bands are Immolation, Hate Eternal, Nile etc. Naveen is inclined towards black metal too but his favourite band is Death. He also follows Melechesh. Nanda is into older black metal the likes of Ancient, Emperor etc. He is also into bands like Stormlord, Marduk, Satyricon etc. Vishal is into extreme death metal. His favourite bands are Putrid Pile, Prostitute Disfigurement, Malignancy Nile, Aborted, Dying fetus etc. Collectively as a band we try making music that defines a new style. But we have found traces of Rudra, Amon Amarth, Dying Fetus, Stormlord, Immortal and a few other bands in our music so I guess you can say as a band, these are the other bands that inspire us.
P.S. All of us get our own doses of extremely commercial music as well. Stuff that we will keep far away from the pages of an Indian metal zine!!
Tell us more about Shatru Samhara, the 4-track demo you released? Was it an independent release, how have the fans received it? Elaborate on the lyrical themes of the songs on the demo?
Shatru Samhara was more like an experiment to us than a professional release. There was absolutely no commercial aspect involved in releasing it. We just wanted to get some studio time so that we could handle future recordings better. It was completely independent. We had initially thought of presenting it as a promo to a few record labels but we were not quite satisfied with the sound so we scrapped the idea. It was received well and we got some really helpful suggestions from people who listened to it for future releases which was one of the most positive outcomes of the demo. Also, tracks from there have been uploaded on our myspace link www.myspace.com/asura666 and have received accolades from listeners all over the world. The songs on the demo have different themes. ‘Asura’ is about our ideology as a band. ‘Lateral Divinity’ is purely an invocation. ‘Atmasiksha’ talks about self penance and torture in the name of God and ‘Saffronised Nightmare’ condemns all sorts of communal conflicts.
Looking at Rudra’s successful track record in India in terms of gig attendance and albums sales, do you think there is a sense of need amongst the Vedic metal fans to witness more local bands of that sort, what according to you is the most important element in bands like Rudra, Kaliyuga or Narsimha (Singapore) which has made them popular in India?
Of course, the fans definitely need more of this genre. Primarily because the music is something that they can relate to very easily. Also the scene here needs to have a definitive sound which is lacking at the moment. The thought of listeners all over the world categorizing Indian metal as a collective element on the lines of maybe Norwegian black metal or Swedish melodic death metal is something that inspires us and the emergence of local bands playing music of this genre would certainly help that cause. The most important element about Rudra and Narasimha would be their songwriting and lyrical style because there is so much passion involved. Kaliyuga would be all about melody. Their riffing is groovy. We wouldn’t term Kaliyuga or Narasimha as ‘popular bands’ in India as not many people even know they exist.
Even after the success of Rudra gigs in India, not many sponsors or promoters have encouraged music of this kind? Why is that happening?
That’s because Metal India is not doing enough to promote music of this kind.. You guys are biased!!! On a more serious note, that’s because sponsors are only willing to invest in crowd-pulling shows and the crowd within the local scene only seems to appreciate bands that ape other international bands. Originality is hardly ever encouraged in the local scene and the few listeners who really encourage original music get overshadowed by the whole commercial aspect.
Since you guys are 2 years old, tell us how has your music evolved, when can the fans expect a full length album and full time gigging by you guys?
We have evolved a lot in terms of our sound. Over the last two years we’ve shifted our sound (unconsciously we have to add!) towards elements of death metal. The new songs have a more brutal and aggressive feel to them. Also, the addition of Anil as a guitarist, who was absent in the demo, has expanded our scope to make music without having to lay back. We are planning to release our first full length album called ‘Mind’s Eye’ in the first quarter of 2008. We should be hitting the studios by next month to start recording. We have never believed in full time gigging as we don’t feel our music goes really well with the local audience. We play a one-off gig now and then to get our stage experience counting and for a few people who like watching us play. Otherwise we restrict our histrionics to the jam room. We are looking at getting the album done with so that people who would like to listen to us get their fair due.
Talking about the Indian scene, how closely do you follow that? The scene I believe has evolved over the years with an active involvement of bands from all genres at mainstream gigs, still many underground bands don’t feel like participating in big shows, given a chance would you play a GIR or an I-rock fest?
We try to attend as many local gigs in town and are and will always be supportive of the local scene and its progression. The standard has most definitely increased and hopefully in the next decade there will definitely be atleast one band that makes it big in the international scene. We prefer playing at small gigs with a niche audience. One of our best gigs till date, has been the Undergrind which had close to just about 20 people. But we don’t look at shows as being mainsteam or not. If we feel like getting on stage and playing, we would do it regardless of what gig it is.
Among the current Indian and Asian bands, are there any bands you admire?
Among the Indian bands we like IIIrd Sovereign, Narsil, Ehxumation, Kryptos, Blackhole Theory, old Extinct Reflections, Gruesome Malady, Perforated Limb and the likes. Other Asian bands we are into include Disconfirmity, Infernal Revulsion, Infected Malignity, Vomit Remnants from Japan, Regicide, Rest in Gore from China, Severe Dementia from Bangladesh, Oath to Vanquish from Lebanon, Cenotaph from Turkey (if you can all that Asian as well) etc.
Time to choose-
a) Om, The Aryan Crusade, Kurukshetra or brahmvidya primorodial?
(Screaming out aloud in unison) ‘THE ARYAN CRUSADE’
b) Scandinavian scene or NWOAM?
Scandinavian no doubt!!
c) Technical death metal or brutal death metal?
Brutal technical death metal
d) Rob halford or Ozzy?
Rob Halford
e) Japanese metal scene or Indonesian metal scene?
Indonesian metal scene times infinity still cannot be compared to the Japanese scene. The Japanese scene – \m/
Thanks Asura for you time! Metalindia team wishes you all the best!
Thank you for the interview and best of luck to you guys as well. Our wishes are with you in your endeavor to bring Indian metal to the forefront. Great job guys!!
Interview by Atul Sharma