JOIN USThe world is their stage and music their religion. Started in 2006, ‘Inner Sanctum’, a Bengaluru-based band, is known for its death metal music. One of the few bands from the City which is popular all across the country, ‘Inner Sanctum’ consists of Gaurav Basu on vocals, Chintan Chinnappa and Suraj Gulvady on guitars, Narayan Shrounthy on bass and Abhinav Yogesh on drums.
Their nine-year-long journey into death metal began when founders Chintan and Michael (who is no more a part of the band) decided to join forces and start a project that would reflect their musical influences. The auditions kickstarted and the best of the best joined the team. There were a couple of changes that happened in the line-up but the band never deviated from the area of death metal.
Influenced by noted bands like ‘Death’, ‘Testament’, ‘Martyr’, ‘Atheist’ and ‘Arch Enemy’, ‘Inner Sanctum’ took to distorted and low tuned guitars and matched it with aggressive sounds from the drums. Their first performance as a band was at the Sunday Jam. “We did not have a vocalist finalised. We auditioned right before the event and then sealed the deal with Gaurav. The audience needed refreshing music and we were successful in giving them just that,” says Chintan. The band has been evolving ever since and today, they are the country’s premier metal outfits and one of Asia’s most popular bands in death metal genre.
Having performed tonnes of metal shows in the City and a couple of tours across Europe and Asia, the band has to its credit many affiliations and awards including the ‘Band of the Year’ 2007 and 2009 and ‘Jack Daniels Rock Awards’ for ‘Best Emerging Band’ of the year. They pride themselves in having had the privilege of opening gigs for many prominent bands like ‘Metallica’, ‘Slayer’ and ‘Cradle of Filth’.
They also have two successful albums to their credit — ‘Provenance’ in 2009 and ‘Legions Awake’ in 2015. “In 2009, we entered Resonance Studios to record ‘Provenance’, which turned out to be highly acclaimed. The album had a crushing sound and its four tracks unleashed a rage of sorts upon the listener. The record even made its way into various top 10 lists for 2009-10 and more or less pushed the boundaries of metal music in Asia,” adds Chintan. The band’s new release has eight tracks, which are ‘groovy and melodic’ and they are looking forward to the local and international tours to promote their artwork.
He comments on the music scene in the City by saying, “Bengaluru is definitely the metal capital of India. The bands are treated well here. But there should be more gigs happening frequently. The City is good in terms of promoting music culture, but it should definitely concentrate on logistics and use professional equipment to improve the scene further.” Currently, the band is gearing up to tour South East Asia and promote their new album. Their next performance in the City will be at CounterCulture on October 28, where they will open for ‘Megadeth’.