Amidst the sound and fury

The fifth edition of the underground extreme metal festival, ‘Trendslaughter Fest’, to be held on October 10, will help create a new narrative for the metal music culture in the City. Presented by ‘Cyclopean Eye Productions’ and the Trendslaughter Crew, the festival’s main aim is to promote Asian metal, provide a platform for acts from South-East Asia and spread awareness of a different side of metal.

This year, the festival will see a few power-packed performances. Demilich, a Finnish band, will headline the festival. Japanese death metal veterans ‘Anatomia’, the Singaporean war metallers ‘Balberith’ and Indonesian black metal mercenaries ‘Hellucinate’ are the other power-packed groups who will play in the City. ‘Dying Embrace’, a local doom metal band will also share the stage with these international bolts of lightning.

For the past four years, the festival has been instrumental in bringing the independent rock and metal scene in India to the forefront and has promoted acts from South Asia, South-East Asia and the Far East. International underground bands such as ‘Abigail’ from Japan, ‘Impiety’ from Singapore and ‘Cauchemar’ from Canada have made grand entries to the City and enchanted the audience with their energy.

The story started when Sandesh, one of the organisers, watched a band perform in Thailand and wished to see similar acts in the City.

“It was difficult to watch Asian bands perform here. Most of the music that we were exposed to was from bands from the West and young bands who were influenced by them. So, with my friends Vikram, Kiran and Preetham, we decided to organise a festival where we can provide a platform for Asian metal bands who are equally good.”

They have faced a number of challenges throughout the editions like curating the bands, trying to bring in different genres within metal so that there is variety, finding and booking venues and managing the entire logistics all by themselves.

Sandesh adds, “It’s stressful adhering to quality every year. A big achievement is when bands go back and recommend the festival to others. We have had Japanese bands coming every year and each band has loved coming to India. However, managing the show and keeping the quality is a stressful task.”

According to him, the Asian continent has an array of troupes and a rich musical talent that they can pride themselves on. “Every Asian country is unique in its music. While bands in Indonesia attract a vast audience, Japan is a country where metal is widely accepted and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have the best emerging metal scene. So there is a lot going on in Asian metal but it is not projected enough. This maybe because Asia is very culturally rooted to tradition and metal is seen as a Western act. However, the entire face of metal is that music is a cathartic act of daily life and songs talk about revolution, poverty and politics, rather than glorifying these subjects. It’s a genre where one can learn a lot.” The festival will take place on October 10, 5 pm onwards at No Limits, opposite Garuda Mall. For tickets, visit bookmyshow.com