Reptilian Death are a Death Metal band based in Mumbai, India that began as Sahil Makhija, a.k.a The Demonstealer’s solo project in the summer of 2001. The project took off with the release of ‘5 Easy Ways to Kill People’, which was a light-hearted take on murder. Intense in terms of music and humorous content, the release was well received but the project was shelved due to Demonstealer’s work with his other renowned band, ‘Demonic Resurrection’. A couple of years later, the project was revived, with a couple of gigs bringing their work to the wave of death metal fans around the country. However, a consistent set of members came hard to find due to individual commitments. Yet, Demonstealer managed to come up with yet another brilliant solo EP, ‘Nursery Rhymes for Satan’s Children’, which true to its name was a humorously redone version of the classic children’s rhymes. This, although, was precluded by various issues and came out only after the fully fledged album ‘Total Annihilation’, which was the band’s first full on album. With reasonable critical and commercial success, Reptilian Death have since embarked on a journey they have never looked back at, seemingly set on becoming trendsetters in the Indian Death Metal scene. Enough jargon now…
Reptilian Death’s latest offering ‘The Dawn of Consummation and Emergence’ is a brilliant set of tracks that ooze aggressive and forcefully energetic death metal right from the words ‘This is you’ (the lyrics of the first song ‘Primevil’). All the 12 tracks that are bound to leave the listener with a chilly spine, with the likes of ‘Stimulate.Hike.Impel.Tear’, ‘O’ and ‘Emergence-the world, your playground’ being my stand-out tracks, that simply blow one’s mind off at first go. Also, with the album timed less than 40 minutes at full stretch, a shuffled playlist of the track-listing is a good idea if one wants to let out to some crunchy music, which I can testify to work.
The music is an eclectic mix of deep grunting as well as the occasional high pitch screaming, that blend well with the blaring breakdown riffs that occur quite frequently throughout the album. Those who are in touch with the Indian metal bands might notice the style of playing to be similar to Bhayanak Maut, a popular Indian heavy metal band. This doesn’t come as a surprise, considering the bands share the lead vocalist in Vinay Venkatesh, who also pens the lyrics in this album. Yet, all chances of a comparison are evaporated by Reptilian Death’s very own style of playing, with effervescent drumming by Sahil Makhija, the striking turn of tempo between verses and most of all, delivering THAT deathly punch expected from bands like these. Also joining the team is Daniel Kenneth Rego, Demonic Resurrection’s lead guitarist, on a couple of guest solos in the songs ‘O’ and ‘Emergence-The world, your playground’. Listeners who intricately look for the different instruments would be disappointed with the bass play but then Hey-this is PRISTINE DEATH METAL here. Kudos to Mr.Ventakesh for what according to me are the nastiest..NASTIEST lyrics ever made into a song. Just the very names of the tracks hint at the impact the whole verse could have, all of which are listed on the CD which is priced at only Rs.199.
On the whole, Reptilian Death is bound to growl, thrash and riff their way to the pinnacle of the underground death metal scene if they continue striking terror and fear in the hearts of their fans with music like in ‘The Dawn Of Consummation and Emergence’.
Rating: 7.5/10