Metal band Midhaven’s new single ‘The veiler’ boasts high energy.
Believed to be the heaviest-hitter from their releases yet, this song is penned on the raag Todi of Hindustani classical music and it tackles the subject of arrogance personified as asura (anti-gods).
The Mumbai-based band was formed in 2011 and it drew fame for one of
its albums, ‘Of the Lotus & the Thunderbolt’, a homage to Shiva as Mahakaal. The band is known for fusing Indian mythology and classical music with intense metal tunes.
“‘The veiler’ addresses the themes of hubris and conceit,” says the Indian psych/sludge metal band’s lead guitarist and vocalist Aditya Mohanan. “There’s more than meets the eye with this song — layers that can be picked at, meanings that may just be more than what they seem,” adds Midhaven’s guitarist and vocalist Karan Kaul.
The musicians share something interesting from the production. “We recorded dual guitars together. I do not think something like this has been attempted in the Indian metal scene until now. Aditya and I sat down and recorded all the rhythm parts together with his mic picking up my frequencies, my mic picking up his frequencies, both of us playing the whole song together,” says Kaul, adding that the idea came from producer Apurv Agarwal.
“Raag Todi has different meanings in the Karnatik and in the Hindustani traditions. It is an extremely complex raag in Karnatik music and by far the most challenging one that I’ve worked with. But we created ‘The veiler’ in the dhrupad style and I’m glad we used the Hindustani raag here,” says Mohanan, who has a background in Indian
classical music.
Talking about the popularity and relevance of indie metal in India, Mohanan says, “Post the pandemic, the genre has received far more attention and love in the country. Earlier, there was a structure that was set in stone. Indie metal was confined to colleges while now it’s seen in diverse venues. Now, we have newer people, especially Gen Z kids, interacting with metal quite a lot and they have also been bringing new trends to Indian metal.”
In early December, Midhaven is travelling to Japan to support the metal bands Origin and Defleshed. In May 2026, the band will perform at the Desertfest in London.