The best Indian metal bands live

There are many similar posts out there on the internet. Honestly, I wasn't the most pleased with many of the lists, so I decided to make this small little compilation myself.

To sum up, I've used the below criteria to evaluate the top 10 bands from India who absolutely kill it live.

1) The Song, of course
2) Tightness on stage
3) Audio quality
4) Video quality
5) Currently active
6) Other smaller factors, like stage antics, technical skills etc

I might be missing out on a few bands since I'm considering only those videos on Youtube, and of reasonably good quality. Why? Because as awesome as a band might be, a shitty recording always destroys the video and thus your opinion to a great extent.

Here goes, in no particular order. Random info and gossip about the best bands in India. And of course, a bit of their music

• Bhayanak Maut (BM)- Meaning Terrible Death, in Hindi. One of the oldest metal bands from India. Their songs don't appeal a whole lot to me, but I just go wild in their live shows. Their stage presence with 2 vocalists is simply phenomenal! Rightly titled - the black metal Raghu Dixit Project, with them donning Sabarimala costumes (Indian temple attire) as shown in the video below! Taking part in their moshpit is almost like facing a pack of wolves in your underwear. So in the gig shown below, I remember them challenging us to take down 'the fat guy in the Arsenal shirt', with them promising to buy us beers if we do. And after that gig, I personally feel BM has got to keep ambulances on the side with their engines running during their gigs. Sounds crazy? Just watch the video and you'll see

• Demonic Resurrection (DR)- I think they were literally one of the first few metal bands to become popular in India. I remember Millennium being one of the first, then there were probably a few in between, and then came along DR. These guys are still very strong, especially within the Mumbai circuit, which has now triumphed over Bangalore to take the throne of the Metal city of India. Their frontman Sahil Makhija also runs a local show called Headbanger's Kitchen, modeled somewhat over the famous Hell's kitchen. Who wouldn't want to see insane food recipes coupled with deep interviews with Indian domestic and International Bands (namely Lamb of God, Karnivool, Gojira, George Kolias etc)?! Their gig at Bloodstock in 2012 was probably one of their best shows, and is also probably one of their best videos online

• Kryptos - The first metal band be signed by an international record label! Also my first Indian metal CD purchase! Right timing I'd say, I was able to save enough pocket money and shell out Rs 500 to grab their disk (which was no joke to a teenager 8 years ago). I've watched them live a lot since they're from my home city, Bangalore. What I love about them is their old school melodic metal style infused with some classic thrash. If you want to stalk them, they are regulars at the good ol' India Coffee House on Church Street, Bangalore (I read about this somewhere, stop getting ideas of me watching their every move). If you haven't already, listen to their track 'Descension', their first track (i think), which is literally their Hotel California. But for now, the below video of their gig at Ragnarock Open air in Germany will slay enough

• Scribe - One of the most unequaled and talented band from India! They are a 5 piece hardcore act from Mumbai, with sharp influences of Korn, Textures etc. Any person attending their gig will never forget this band, even if he/she hates the music - cause of their stupid jokes and their funky costumes! I'm drawn to melodies like a bee to honey, so my evaluation of this band is probably a lot lower than what they actually are. But here's how splendid they are - they are probably the only band to have caused an all girl moshpit (at NH7 weekender Pune while covering 'What Comes Around', by Justin Timberlake). I'm also a big fan of their guitarist Prashant Shah and his older death metal band, Exhumation.

• Bevar Sea - A South Indian would rightly guess that these guys are from Bangalore. And yes, the name does mean Bastard in Kannada! Now they are truly a treat because they are so unlike the others. The best stoner/doom metal from India, hands down. Their riffs have Black Sabbath, Sleep, Electric Wizard etc oozing out of them. I overheard someone mentioning that these guys sold more than double the merch of what many reputed Indian bands had sold since their inception, within 3 months of production! And they reward us with free beers at every gig (me being shameless enough to have tried to grab one at every show haha). Their band line is very catchy - "We are BEVAR SEA, and so are YOU!". I've been to almost every gig of theirs, and to see the whole crowd chant their title track Abhishtu in unison, every single time, is something which many popular international bands still struggle to do

• Eccentric Pendulum (EP)- First Indian band to play at Wacken Open Air. Rolling Stones India Metal Awards Best Album 2012. Best Drummer. Best Bassist. Probably the band with the best resume in India! These guys, like Bevar Sea, are fairly new (4-5 years old i think), are known for their oddities in time signatures and influences from the newer progressive metal (and a bit of math metal) bands. They were on a great band trajectory, but seem to have lost their charm offlate. But nevertheless, this video of them at Rolling stone metal awards is so TIGHT. What an intro, especially the one liner of Nikhil saying "Good evening Bombay. We are Eccentric Pendulum from Bangalore." kicking into the song. 

(Click the below youtube link for the song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKFuFpGHxL8

• Inner Sanctum (Nobody calls them IS!) - What surprises me about Inner Sanctum is that they are a fairly old band, but not many have actually heard of them. What I don't like about Inner Sanctum is that they've released very few songs in their bandspan of 8 years or more. What I do like about them is their HEAVY, HEAVY music. These guys again are absolute veterans. The vocalist Gaurav Basu is so horny that he has to mention atleast one of tits, pussies, penises or jerking off during every gig (haha I hope by the time Gaurav reads this I'm far far away from Bangalore)! Gaurav also creates artwork in his free time, mostly for other bands (check ACID TOAD). Great riffs and great guitar solos - I remember back in the day when these guys covered Arch Enemy, only wish we had better cameras back then. The crowd from BITS Goa is surprisingly a lot better than people at other college fest gigs, in the below video. And of course, the drum solo + Agent of Chaos is sick as hell.

• Devoid - Angry. Aggresive. Fierce. Thrash. Death. Metal. From. Mumbai. Third band from India, after Eccentric Pendulum and Zygnema to play at Wacken. My initial impression of these guys was that they just like to smoke and drink a lot and play metal. But they are really funny! Their episode on Headbanger's Kitchen is pretty hilarious, especially of their drunken escapades at Wacken, really making the India camp stand out! Vocalist Arun Iyer was so smitten with the openness of the women at Wacken (go wild with your imagination here). Their album titled 'A God's Lie' is really making waves across the metal scene in India

• 1833 AD - Black metal from India! Don't expect anything fancy here. These guys are straight up, no fancy frills/costumes/corpse paint. Just pure unadulterated black metal. Not too different from the usual, but hey, I haven't seen any black metal band that is radically different from the famous ones. What stands out is the vocals for these guys - somewhere in between DarkThrone and Gorgoroth - Scares you, especially when the gig is in a dingy pub. I saw them at Bangalore open air, and that was in the evening, so the impact was a lot lesser there. And believe you me, Nishant actualls pulls it off perfectly live. I don't have much other info about these guys, so hope the song by itself will do. 

(This isn't a live video, but their live show at BOA isn't embedding, so this should do for now)

• Zygnema - Zygnema, again from Mumbai (Phew, how many bands from Mumbai), are a thrash band heavily, and I mean HEAVILY, influenced by Pantera. The second band from India to play at Wacken (after EP and before Devoid). The vocalist Jimmy sounds a lot like Phil Anselmo, but of course, has a long way to go to be as cool as Phil on stage. Their guitarist Sidharth is always calm as a kite, but is a war machine on stage! He is also very musically erudite, and is the head of faculty at a music school in Mumbai. These guys are really chill. So the usual culture in India is to drink up at a local bar prior to a gig because drinks at the venues are really overpriced. So we were tanking up at this shady bar before the Slayer gig in Bangalore, and when I say shady, compare it to an abandoned warehouse from the movie Saw. There was no other bar close to the venue, and we were the ONLY ones there. I was wondering if we were gonna get assmolested by some locals, and right then a few familiar faces walked in. I didn't recognize at first, but then realised that it was the guys from Zygnema! Went over and said hi (like a lame fan lol). Long story short, these guys are really chill and their music kills.

There are few other bands that missed out here because of lack of good quality videos

Undying Inc (New Delhi)

Artillerie (Not sure if these guys are still active) (New Delhi)

Providence (Mumbai)
Skyharbor - I've spoken enough about them in my earlier blog posts :)