'Our songs are narrative pieces'

It was their love for music that made ‘Chaos’ the band it is now. From 2005 till today, the band has gone through a series of lineup changes yet their music is power-packed and the songs are all tied together with a common thread.

In a candid chat with Tini Sara Anien, the band members, Nikhil, Manu, Jayakrishnan and Vishnu, shed light on their musical journey.

How did you come together as a band?  
  
Jayakrishnan: It was during our college days that we decided to come together. The main reason was that we wanted to voice out issues in a powerful format — metal music. We went in different directions but the band came out with an album ‘Violent Redemption’ later on. It is after a series of lineup changes that we have a consistant one now.

How has the band evolved over the years?
Nikhil: Finding people of the same taste is always challenging. It is harder than keeping a relationship alive. Now we are all at peace and we all know what we want to achieve through our music.

What is your inspiration?
Nikhil: We are inspired by the music we used to listen to. This includes ‘Metallica’, ‘Megadeth’ and ‘Iron Maiden’.

Metal music is usually associated with dark subjects...
Manu: Our songs are about things around us. Metal is an aggressive form of music. If it’s a topic that has to be dealt with delicately, metal is not the genre for it. We write about things we need to shout out or that make us angry.

Can you elaborate about your compositions?
Jayakrishnan: Our first album had a work called ‘Merchant of Death’, which was about the Godhra riots. Our songs are narrative pieces about communal and political issues. ‘Game’, a song which had a music video, was
about how people with power manipulate the system.
‘Heaven’s Gate’ was about how religion drives people to violence.

How do you describe your music?
Nikhil: We have been experimenting with our sounds for a while now. We zeroed in on thrash metal around 2010. There are no reasons one can pinpoint for this, it just sounded right. And here we are!
Tell us about your latest album ‘All Against All’...
Vishnu: This album is about things that separate and segregate people like religion, racism, patriotism etc. Prejudice exists among people who discriminate, despite the education and exposure they have.

What is music to you?
Nikhil: Music is an expression of what the state of mind of the creator is at that point of time. The changes in our music reflect the changes we have gone through.