Baptized in Alcohol

This is just a small proportion of the total amount of alcohol that was consumed at this year’s BoltFest at HMV Forum, London. Attendees can try looking for everything that kept their hands busy before, during and after the gig. Your time starts now.

No luck? No worries. Alright, now all of y’all, raise your whiskey glasses, beer mugs and vodka shots high up in the air and get a glimpse of what is going to flow down your throat. You don’t really need a reason to drink, do you? So let’s get wasted this one time. Cheers!

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Bolt Thrower live at BoltFest, 2012

Autopsy live at BoltFest, 2012

Benediction live at BoltFest, 2012

Vallenfyre’s second ever live appearance of their career at this year’s BoltFest

Reviews of latest metal releases. Read and stay updated.

Karnivool live in India – a sweet overdose of music

Come December, and these progressive musicians from Australia are going to take Bombay by storm with their uniqueness!

All you music freaks in the house, why so sewn and silent? Come on make some noise!

They say if a bird poops on you it is good luck, but this coming December the amount of progressive stuff Karnivool is going to drop on everyone in India cannot be measured. The moment I first heard Themata I wasn’t a simple boy anymore, in fact a whole new galaxy opened up. I was forced to walk through an alley of progression, that turning back from there was not an option. Boy, did I feel l1fel1ke or what!

Post-Themata came Sound Awake, in 2009. Fvck your definition of music, when I poured Karnivool‘s second full-length into my ears it sucked me in. I got trapped in a rubik’s cube and there was no way out. Music aimed at making even the extra terrestrial beings meditate, Sound Awake stalked me enough to be at one with myself.

Watching Karnivool play their tracks live, with Ian Kenny‘s vocals that give me a boner, eliminates the need to ponder over things that are insignificant. If you believe in a higher power then you definitely need to be present at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay on the 18th of December. Karnivool are not only way above the higher powerless shit, they are visible too. Oh! Now you got it. IIT Bombay has set a benchmark in getting down bands that need to be here. Hitting the bull’s eye, yea baby. Be there!

I haven’t missed this event for the last five years (except for Porcupine Tree) but unfortunately I might be fvcking off to UK before this humongous event happens. Unlucky is a small word to explain what point my mind is trying to drive home. If not here, I will catch them somewhere, sometime but I just hope destiny sets up my appointment with Karnivool on the day in question here. After all a standard deck has fifty two cards for a reason.

The rest of you are closing in on that feeling of a spacecraft that will take y’all to a place you’ve never visited. You are not even required to eat roquefort before attending the gig, you can enter the venue anyways. Now that’s a bonus! Adventure is in store. For all I know, you might even go through a metamorphosis after the concert, a change as they call it, unless of course you don’t allow that to happen. Just let yourself go.

Never heard Karnivool? And don’t have the time to? Make sure you at least learn the lyrics for the track New Day so you can sing along with them. You’re welcome.

Witness how your soul illumines itself and interacts with music, from a band that probably no body can not like. For the record, I will forever be indebted to Karnivool‘s brand of progressive rock.

A Vooligan. That’s what I am. Always was, always will be.

Also read -

Gig review : Katatonia’s gig at Mood Indigo, IIT Bombay 2010

An Addiction called Themata

This is how I had felt when Lamb of God’s Bangalore gig was announced

Gig review : Lamb of God live in Bangalore 2010

An Addiction called Themata

There isn’t a last time when I was this excited about anything that had to do with progressive music. So that ways I did not give history a chance to repeat itself. Talking about the ongoing progressive excitement, all ears and eyes should shift to Australian metal band that goes by the name of Karnivool. Oh yes, I forgot to add how much I love my name.

Being a little too open to understanding things have cost me a fvcking lot. But every once in a while life has provided me with something to hold on to and bang comes a band that is mind-blowingly progressive, speaks the language of music my way thereby standing tall on my playlist. They even have a name like that. Should I add how mesmerized I am by those rich velvety riffs they play. Beyond awesome material!

Now time for what their music means to me. I have spent a whole week listening to their debut album Themata. Ladies and Gentlemen, as much as I can boast about my music collection I have never, I repeat never, spent a week playing any album by any band. Times have been tough. Despite of that Karnivool has given me a giant hug, made me feel like I have put on weight, knocked me out of my senses, forced me to forget all the worthless women I have dated so far, even allowed me to like my job and most importantly they make me want to live my life to the fullest. I promise that it would be a song from Themata that’ll be played first in my new car, whenever I buy one.

Their second offering Sound Awake is also on my playlist but I will be able to enjoy it only after I take a break from Themata, which is not happening anytime soon. Here’s some scoop. The band and hence their debut have been so effective that they have assured me of making even my dead body croon along with them. In memory of an entire week that I spent listening to them I’d be celebrating 8th – 13th of May every year as Karnivool week. Every drop from the lake of their debut Themata has been holy water to me. I love you, Karnivool…!

documentary review : Until The Light Takes Us (2009)

Rejoice black metalheads! Not many are interested in taking up the black metal scene as a subject on which a documentary/movie can be made, but Until The Light Takes Us is another valuable addition to the short list of black metal documentaries. Released in late-2009, the movie is based in Norway. It has musicians who lived through the early-nineties Norwegian period telling us exactly what happened then. I always repent the fact that I was not present at the right place at the right time. The movie has answered most of the prickly questions that I had accumulated in my mind concerning the scene. And the sources of my answers could not get more authentic.

The opening sequence has Gylve Fenriz (Darkthrone) preparing himself for a shot. And the best part of it is I can already feel the right vibes. The movie traces the entire journey from the roots of Norwegian black metal through the controversies that brought Norway to everyone’s attention back in the early nineties, the reason behind arson, and the truth behind the murder of Euronymous (Mayhem).

from the docu : fenriz

Why this documentary is different from the other documentaries out there? – the movement that we know today as the True Norwegian Black Metal includes a couple of events that we have always been reading about. If I have to summarize the events it would include the church burnings and hatred towards the protectors of cross, Euronymous (Mayhem) opening a records store called Helvete, Dead (Mayhem) committing suicide, the killing of a homosexual man by Faust (Emperor), and Varg murdering Euronymous. Until The Light Takes Us makes the protagonists recall the events. The featured artists are Varg Vikernes (Burzum), Fenriz (Darkthrone), Hellhammer (Mayhem), Abbath (Immortal), Demonaz (Immortal), Garm (Ulver), Frost (Satyricon), Bjarne Melgaard (visual artist).

from the docu : varg

For me this movie is special for a simple reason that Burzum has got maximum footage. We are taken inside the maximum security prison where Varg had been kept until he was released this year. I would want to thank the makers for bringing out the real Varg and most of all his sense of humor. A very pleasant personality his wit makes you want more of him. Moments when you get a chilling doze for your senses include the part where Burzum tells you how it is to stay confined for so long and ofcourse the uncanny silence when he confronts stabbing Euronymous in the skull.

the makers : aaron aites and audrey ewell

The documentary has been well directed by Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell and has a personal touch to it. The production has also been handled by the duo. Norway has been depicted as we know it to be, absolutely enchanting. Background score has to be fine as we are talking black metal here. The song that appears to be the theme track of the movie is The Ballad of the Broken Birdie Records by Múm. I remember looking for the track after the movie. Enough said, too much of praise tends to spoil the watch. Buy the movie, download it or just steal but it needs to be watched. Well if black metal is your thing then I bet you already have watched this one.

Rating : 4/5

Check out this article on the Flaming Skull E-Zine here : The Flaming Skull E-Zine : August 2010 issue

Also read :

category : Recommendation

category : Diverse Articles

category : Polls

category : Album Reviews

The Flaming Skull Zine

The flaming skull troupe does not include superhumans, but they still do not get tired of being innovative and seeing their inspiring ideas turn into a reality. All of that to promote good rock and metal music. After smooching success with their previous ideas of The Flaming Skull Podcast followed byThe Flaming Skull Rockcast, both doing well, you will see the launch of an online magazine that will obviously be called The Flaming Skull Zine in a week’s time from now.

final flaming skull logo

Also a news that is no longer breaking and is another reason for you to wait for the zine even more are my cum-inducing articles on it. Yes, everyone at the flaming skull thinks I am good-looking and have a sense of humor that cannot be matched so they wanted to extend their friendship by having me in their team. Seriousness apart, I am glad to be doing this. An opportunity to work with friends and doing something you enjoy is not bestowed upon everyone.

The zine aims at a monthly release. Hold on a little more to know what is in store. Rest assured it will be something that has not been done before, around you. And most importantly stuff that will make you wait for the follow-ups, for various reasons. By the time you have finished reading this, you are a little more closer to the launch, which reminds me its time to celebrate. But then we don’t have anything that is named the flaming skull alcohol. That in no way means I’m not going to drink.

Also read :

about : the flaming skull Podcast

the flaming skull Forums – a writeup

Steal Deal

Amidst innumerable confusions yesterday being the first day of the weekend me and some friends took off to visit one of the only two malls Chennai has to offer. Its named Spencer Plaza – polite way of saying Spend Sir. Anyways its the month’s third week and anything being sold at even half the price will not help.

the plaza

This was my second visit to that mall and I must admit its huge. There are more chances of your kid getting lost here than a certain acclaimed mela can grant. Usually my visit to these malls is for Landmark – to hide myself behind the books and music sections so I can put my credit card to some good use. But yesterday was a little different. I was lost listening to the debut album of Arsis. Hearing that album is always a pleasure.

Douching around I got to a place where I saw some original DVDs of television sitcoms being sold. Now I am not much of a sitcom guy, but there is this particular one named The Orange County (The OC) which I used to watch when in college and was totally addicted to it. After ending four seasons later it remained something I always wanted to own or atleast download. But I have been a failure at using torrents as I never use it to download anything metal. So it never happened that I am searching for OC on torrents and it conveniently returned positive results. Time went by and other things became more important but OC was always at the back of my astute brain. Most other sitcoms are available in Landmark too but they never stocked OC.

And it was only yesterday that I chanced upon this place and the first thing I did was to ask the owner for The Orange County. After a little hair-scratching he took out a box-set and on it was written – The OC seasons 1-4. I was too taken aback at that moment to even ask for the price. I had checked the price of the original box-set online at amazon few years back and it was close to 5K for the complete thing – shipping charges excluded. With the price tag removed on the one I was holding he spit out just 1200 bucks. I was all set to grab my card when my sindhi friend Hitesh Thadani interfered asking it for 500 bucks. Watching the man give some reaction I was startled. After a while both parties settled for 650. A deal turned upside down it was a steal for me.

Below I can see myself holding my prized possession. California, here I come!

yea thts mischa barton..

The Flaming Skull Podcast

tfsp logo

I would start the post by giving you a little trivia. The word podcast was not Apples Inc.‘s creation, considering everything that has a pod in it reminds me of them. But we did get the term through one of its products, i.e. iPod plus broadcast made it podcast. Whatever it is, podcast was never a masses-term in India. You either have heard the term or you do not care enough to know about it. Now you don’t have to swell your eyeballs, as I am not talking about you. There are exceptions everywhere. Things would have been different if you had an Indian-podcast you could boast about. You know what I am getting at.

2009 saw a revolution in the name of The Flaming Skull Podcast. What started-off as a medium to feature Indian metal bands, more so those you knew about, has now become a benchmark. A judging criteria for a band’s music. If you play metal and if you are good at it, then you ought to be on this very podcast. Tighten up !

The Flaming Skull Podcast (tfsp) is the brain-child of Malcolm Soans who was an ardent follower of metal-podcasts and wanted to see his own so that Indian metal is heard. Transforming this dream into reality was not going to be easy. It required a team that needed to think alike in terms of what has to follow. After all its not always that everything falls into place. The greatest advantage for the members of tfsp has got to be the fact that maximum of them knew the scene inside-out. They knew what exactly is working for the scene and what is not. Who need to be out there and who need not.

Tfsp is a team of 9 members that includes Abbas Rizvi, Aditya Rao, Akhila Shankar, Ashwin Sharma, Arun Iyer, Ayan De, Malcolm Soans, Roydon Bangera, Sean Pereira. Four of them can drink like a fish and still ask for more but we’ll discuss that some other time. The podcast is recorded at 2 studios – MotorG Studios and Studio72.

team tfsp

The latest move by the team is The Flaming Skull Rockcast wherein bands that play bearable rock music are featured. Now the listeners also have an opportunity to be on the voice-cast by simply recording the review of any gig they attended and mailing it to tfspodcast@gmail.com. You can also place your advertisements on the podcast. 8 episodes down and still going strong with new plans everytime, I will take the liberty of saying that the tfsp team is satisfied with the way their efforts have been received. With the only difference being now they are in a demanding position. It is very clear what I mean.

Also from where I see it, the podcast came as a savior to those metalheads who always say they will buy a new album later. Reason – because they know the very next episode will have atleast one track from an upcoming release. No seriously. Now that is really innovative. India has premiers for almost anything that sells, including an ugly duckling choosing a husband on primetime television. But whoever cared about premiering a metal album. Tfsp made every new release even more special. Whether it was Bhayanak Maut releasing their Untitled, Infernal Wrath coming out with Inside Of Me or Devoid showcasing a single from their upcoming debut album.

poster for the most recent 8th episode

Following a chest-swelling response over a period of time made them bother about the scene in a couple of neighbouring nations. Honestly, if not for the podcast I would not have even heard metal from Pakistan. I am saying that considering the fact that I download metal from places where traces of humanity are yet to be determined. Featuring Communal Grave from Pakistan, Funeral In Heaven from Sri Lanka, Chromatic Massacre from Bangladesh was an encouraging move atleast for the featured bands. Wonder what Shiv Sena has to say about this !

Like every other thing around, even this podcast has lot of scope for improvement. After my interactions with a lot of listeners, and I personally also feel that our host Malcolm needs to be a little more spot-on. Sometimes it does give a feeling that its script reading, but then there also has been improvements since the first episode. I’m sure Malcolm will make his listeners stop bothering on this issue pretty soon.

I wish all of you at The Flaming Skull Podcast all the very best. Featuring a band like Casket Garden makes it clear where they are headed. Lets aim for a day when Lamb Of God asks you to feature them. Yeah Roydon ?

Just a pricking thought, branching the podcast into a Rockcast was awesome but I hope there won’t be any temptations to start a pop-cast, considering some faggots are making their presence felt soon.

[For any details regarding the podcast visit their official site here : Flaming Skull official]

also read :

The Flaming Skull Forums – a writeup

album review : DR – The Return To Darkness

Burzum – Spell Of Frustration