VEIL OF MAYA INDIA TOUR ANNOUNCED!

American metal band Veil of Maya will be making their debut in India in January 2018. According to an announcement on entertainment company Bohemian Live's social media, the band will be playing a four-city tour from 10th - 14th January 2018. The cities include New Delhi, Chennai (IITM Saarang to be confirmed), Guwahati and Mumbai.

Terrific news! Dj0ntboys, jump! I've been waiting to watch Veil of Maya since I was a kid, hoping I'd one day successfully host an Indian edition of Euroblast and get them down but hey, I don't need to do that anymore because fuck, have you seen the amount of international acts coming down to India in the next 4 months!? Out of that 3 of them have played Euroblast before! Insane scenes.

Watch Veil of Maya in your city, dates below:

Promoters Bohemian Live have produced Cultfest in the past, bringing down death metal giants Cannibal Corpse and deathcore band Suicide Silence to India in 2015. On speaking to co-founder Amarjeet Singha about doing a tour over a one-day concert, he said, "We had never done an India tour before so we wanted to do that. Also, it makes better financial sense than doing a one off show. I guess this is the only way forward (3-4 city tours at least) where it makes sense to both band and promoter."

Our promoters are as geared up as all of you. Team member Suhas Vk, when asked about how he's feeling, said, "I'm very excited for this gig! I've been a huge fan of the band even more since Matriarch and I'm looking forward to their next release 'False Idol' due this 20/10." Amarjeet added, "Really excited to have a band like Veil OF Maya onboard for our first tour, and it will definitely be a treat for the Indian modern metal fans!"

Tickets for the event have already been announced along with links for each city except Chennai. The early bird tickets for Antisocial dates (Delhi and Mumbai) are priced at INR 1299 and the Guwahati ticket at INR 999.

Get concert tickets and watch Veil of Maya live for the first time here:
Delhi |  Mumbai | Guwahati

Please note that tickets can be purchased exclusively at Instamojo from the above links only.

Follow Bohemian Live on Facebook for updates. See you at the gig!

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS? (CHAPTER 2)

Hello hi! I'm back. 

Here's a list of some nice Indian Metal bands you may or may not have heard. I've broken up the list into three parts, so for now enjoy, thank me later. I'm really excited to share a bunch of sick bands to you and I hope to do so more regularly. There's definitely no lack of metal music in India!

 1. Tangents 
Progressive Metal from Bangalore

2. Plague Throat
Death Metal from Shillong

3. Sycorax Death Metal from Darjeeling

4. Spine Break
Rap / Nu Metal from Solan, Himachal Pradesh

5. All Seeing Eye
Tech Death Metal from Bangalore

6. If Hope Dies
Progressive Metal from Darjeeling

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Discover new bands every now and then! Follow Metalsphere on Facebook and watch out for interviews, videos and more news.

GODDESS GAGGED IS BACK!

This may be very exciting news for many of you.

Mumbai band Goddess Gagged returns after a hiatus of over a year. The band will be kicking things off again with the 2 Stroke Tour, courtesy Mr. Sarmaaah of BlueTree, who has been doing a fantastic job in the Indie scene over the past 2-3 months.

The band is scheduled to play a total of 7 cities this August-September. Gloomy weather and indoor gigs are a very sexual thing in general. GG will be playing with a bunch of bands from the respective touring cities like What Escapes Me, Dossers Urge, Lucid Recess, Dark Carnage, Kraken, Soul Inclination, Tails on Fire, Diarchy, Gumbal and Ferry Tales.

Below are the tour dates with the respective venues:

Date	City	Venue	Along with
26th Aug	Kolkata	Jamsteady, Princeton Club	What Escapes Me
27th Aug	Shillong	Cloud 9 - Resto Lounge	Dossers Urge
28th Aug	Guwahati	Terra Mayaa	Lucid Recess & Dark Carnage
31st Aug	New Delhi	antiSOCIAL HKV	Kraken & Soul Inclination
2nd Sep	Pune	The High Spirits	-
3rd Sep	Bangalore	The Humming Tree	Tails on Fire & Diarchy
4th Sep	Mumbai	antiSOCIAL, Khar	Gumbal & Ferry Tales

You can visit the event page on Facebook by clicking HERE. Tickets will be available on Insider, so keep an eye out for details.

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Goddess Gagged is:

Siddharth Basrur - Vocals

Jeremy D'souza - Drums

Arman Menzies - Guitar

Devesh Dayal - Guitar

Krishna Jhaveri - Bass guitar

INTERVIEW WITH ORION (MUMBAI) - PROGRESSIVE DEATH METAL BAND

Orion is a four-piece progressive death metal band from Mumbai. They've been playing a few gigs here and there, been composing music and they're rising real fast. I remember playing a few gigs with these guys (in my Chronic Phobia days) so we go waaay back. My brother (Pritesh) later joined the band on drums, after which they released their EP 'On the Banks of Rubicon' in 2012, and have been on the rise ever since. These are some of the sweetest, sappiest and asshole-ist metalheads I have met. Travelling with them, I know they're absolutely fun to be around!

Orion also recently launched their CDs in jewel cases and t-shirts for 'On The Banks of Rubicon' through label Transcending Obscurity. T-shirts are available for Rs. 600/- and CDs for Rs. 150/-
You can also digitally download the album from HERE.

As Kunal Choksi (Transcending Obscurity) said, "Orion's debut release 'On the Banks of Rubicon' is a masterful album with pulsating energy, memorable riffing and catchy hooks masking the complexity of the music. The music has shades of melody counterbalanced by aggression and growls, a perfect balance for music that can only be justified with the tag of Progressive Death Metal."

Here's a small but detailed interview I did with them. Check it out!

Your favourite food.
Orion: Anything served with beer.

Q. A brief history of the band
We've been around for a while now. Had a few line up changes, that lead to a lot of soul searching and sound searching. Finally we believe we've found what makes us Orion, both in our music and mindset. We released our first EP in 2012 and, things have only gotten bigger since then. We're progressive death metal, so that gives us the freedom to tilt towards any direction, music-wise. We have a simple thumb rule, if it's epically unexpected, it goes on the album!

Orion is (left to right) Pritesh Prabhune (drums), Ashwin Kulkarni (guitars), Vigneshkumar Venkatraman (Vocals, guitars) and Anshuman Bhattacharya (bass, backing vocals)

Q. How has your journey been so far?
Rough in patches. Although since the album launch, it's only gotten better. The past few years, according to us, have been preparation to become the band that people know us to be today. Hopefully it only gets better from here because well, that's the plan.

Q. What has the band been doing of late? (gigs, composing, recording)
We just finished a semi-India tour of sorts. Starting with playing the WACKEN METAL BATTLE India finals in Bangalore, we played at Hyderabad, Jaipur and Pune. We played Mumbai also (Thunderstorm) recently. Now we're taking some time off to work further on our upcoming album which we intend to launch sometime early next year. Our first t-shirt is out, hope you'll have gotten yours already.

Q. How was your experience at the Wacken Metal battle this year?
Epic. It was a huge boost for us. Playing with the best bands from around the country was one hell of an experience. Plague Throat deserved to win it. We're already gearing up and pushing ourselves harder to be the ones next year.

Here's a video of Orion's trip to the Wacken Metal Battle national finals in Bangalore! 




Q. Something we should expect coming our way from you any time soon?
So in the near future fans can expect some single releases and a lot more shows.

 Q. Your favourite Indian bands
Apart from the big 4 that is Bhayanak Maut, Scribe, Demonic Resurrection and Devoid, we love Gutslit, Eccentric Pendulum, Providence, Zygnema, Albatross, The Down Troddence, Anthracite and Plague Throat.

Q. Your favourite international bands
Everyone from Opeth, Meshuggah, Veil of Maya, Karnivool, Alter Bridge, Whitechapel, Metallica.... This list has no end.

9. A message to all your fans..
We just make the music. You  make the scene. So keep coming for shows and keep growing metal here. Thank you for the support you've shown us so far! Also dump ice in your drink, not on your head. Just fucking donate. \m/


You can find Orion all over!
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Soundcloud

Listen to their song 'Oh Sweet Ebullition!' right here!

\m/ 

THE ROLLING STONE METAL AWARDS PLAYLIST

These are the nominees for the Rolling Stone Metal Awards 2014.
Voting for best song, best album and best band (Popular choice) is open here on their event page, so RSVP too.


Cosmic Infusion
6 nominations
Best band
Best album 'Cosmic Infusion'
Best song - Burial of Thy Own
Best vocalist - Sushan Shetty
Best guitar player - Amnish Lohire
Keyboardist - Sushan Shetty

Facebook

For the full song, visit their Bandcamp page, the embed link wasn't working.
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Gutslit 
6 nominations
Best band
Best album 'Skewered in the Sewer'
Best vocalist - Aditya Barve
Best guitar player - Dynell Bangera
Best drummer - Aaron Pinto
Best bass player - Gurdip Singh Narang

Facebook

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Reptilian Death
7 nominations
Best band
Best album 'The Dawn of Consummation and Emergence'
Best song - O
Best vocalist - Vinay Venkatesh
Best guitar player - Sahil Makhija
Best drummer - Sahil Makhija
Best bass player - Ashwin Shriyan

Facebook


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Reverrse Polarity
4 nominations
Best band
Best album 'Reverrse Polarity'
Best song - Cross Poly Nation
Best drummer - Gautam Deb

Facebook


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The Down Troddence
6 nominations
Best band
Best album 'How are You? We are Fine, Thank you'
Best song - Nagavalli
Best guitar player - Varun Raj
Best drummer - Ganesh Radhakrishnan
Best keyboard player - Sushin Shyam

Facebook


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Undying Inc
4 nominations
Best song - Ironclad
Best vocalist - Shashank Bhatnagar
Best drummer - Nishant Hagjer
Best bass player - Reuben Bhattacharya

Facebook

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Zygnema
4 nominations
Best song- Shell Broken Hell Loose
Best vocalist - Jimmy Bhore
Best guitar player - Sidharth Kadadi
Best drummer - Mayank Sharma

Facebook

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Theorized 
1 nomination
 Best bass player - Sankalp Narayanan

Facebook


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When Stories End 
1 nomination
Best bass player - Gaurav Roka

Facebook


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Dark Helm
1 nomination
Best keyboard player - Aniketh Shankar

Facebook


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Lunatic Fringe
1 nomination
Best keyboard player - Gaurav Dutta

Facebook


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Slain 
1 nomination
Best keyboard player - Jonathan Wesley

Facebook

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Rolling Stone India
Rolling Stone Metal Awards


\m/ May the best musicians win! \m/

STUDY MUSIC FOR HEAVY LISTENERS

Studies claim that listening to more of instrumental and classical music helps, especially after the discovery of the 'Mozart Effect', saying listen to Mozart improves your mental performance. Well honestly, I've tried listen to Mozart and Beethoven, and I kept reducing the volume because it didn't seem so helpful after having listened to so much progressive and heavy music for months together.

Some people prefer going into that 'No, I can't listen or watch anything during exams, it's very distracting!' trip, but most of us need something. You will be in different moods, so I hope this helps keep up with your changing moods. It's my last semester, and I'm relying on this.

Few tips:
1. Don't let the music be too loud. it gets distracting. Keep it at a moderate/low volume because you're not playing the song to listen to it. It's more like music creating an ambience/background music.
2. Don't listen to heavy/extreme music, you'll either get mindfucked or tear pages and break stuff, considering no one absolutely loves studying.
3. Instrumentation is important. Beautiful note selection and sweet progressions keep you in the mood.
4. People recommend listening to waves and waterfalls and crickets. Dude, just don't. You'll land up somewhere else if you're high. Ambient music, however, helps.
5. I do not advise people to do this, but I drink when I'm studying sometimes.  It isn't a necessity. Moderate drinking, 2-3 pegs max. :P
6. If you do not care about any of the above suggestions, it's cool. Maybe you'd prefer listening to music that you've been accustomed to for a very long time.

Progressive music is a boon to this time of the year. With many lengthy songs, making a playlist is less time-consuming and there's variety. I do recommend a few instrumental bands, and a few kinda heavy bands.

These are the bands I normally listen to. There's also a list of instrumentals that I listen to below this list.

1. Porcupine Tree

This is one of my favourite bands when I'm studying, and otherwise too! Instrumentation is ace, I need not say more. I can't particularly select an album, but yeah, I could be more specific. If you want a long trip, Voyage 34 is at your service!
Albums: The Incident, Fear of a Blank Planet (whole album), In Absentia
Songs: Anesthetize and the title track (FOABP), Dark Matter (Signify),  Blackest Eyes and Drown with Me (In Absentia), Arriving Somewhere but not here and Lazarus (Deadwing), The Blind House and The Incident (The Incident).
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2. Opeth

Very enjoyable, plus there's variety.
Albums: Damnation, Watershed, Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries
Songs: Atonement, Isolation Years and Hours of Wealth (Ghost Reveries), The whole 'Damnation' album, Folklore (Heritage), Bleak (my all-time favourite Opeth song), Harvest, Drapery Falls (Blackwater Park), the whole 'Watershed' album.
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3. Karnivool 

Karnivool is not what I regularly listen to, but when I do, it feels awesome. Make sure you don't listen to Persona though :P I've been a fan of the first two albums and I haven't got the hang of Asymmetry yet. Maybe in a few months, let's see.
Albums: Sound Awake, Themata
Songs: Cote, Lifelike, Scarabs, Shutterspeed, title track (Themata), Deadman to Change 1 and 2 (Sound Awake), We Are, Sky Machine (Asymmetry)
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4. Deftones

I can't explain how awesome I feel when listening to this band! This is more on the heavier side. I mostly listen to Deftones in breaks or before going to bed, or the first thing in the morning. It doesn't exactly calm me from any stress, but it keeps me awake and motivated :P
Albums: Around the Fur, White Pony, Self-titled album, Diamond Eyes, Koi No Yokan
Songs: Mostly everything. Okay fine, here are some! My Own Summer, Be Quiet and Drive, Lotion, title track (Around the Fur), Digital Bath, Knife Party, (White Pony), When girls telephone boys, Battle Axe (Deftones), CMND CTRL, Rocket Skates, Sextape (Diamond Eyes), Swerve City, Leathers, Poltergeist, Graphic Nature (Koi No Yokan)
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5. Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails sets a very different mood. I'm pumped more than anything.
Albums: Broken, Downward Spiral, The Fragile, With Teeth, (Ghosts I-IV and The Slip are secondary)
Songs: Wish, Happiness in Slavery, Gave up (Broken), Closer, The Becoming, Reptile (The Downward Spiral), The Wretched, No you don't, The Great Below (The Fragile-Left), The Hand that Feeds, Only, Right Where it Belongs (With Teeth), Came Back Haunted, Copy of A (Hesitation Marks)
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Some songs that set the mood completely:
1. Textures: Storm Warning, Awake
2. Alter Bridge: Metalingus
3. Tesseract: Concealing Fate
4. Pantera: Psycho Holiday, War Nerve
5. Despised Icon: MVP
6. Fell Silent: Erase Begin, Immerse
7. Gojira: A Sight to Behold
8. Judas Priest: Painkiller
9. Iron Maiden: Aces High
10. Lamb of God: Ruin
11. Slipknot: Vermillion II
12. Led Zeppelin: Immigrant Song

I've also been listening to Indian bands Blakc and Paradigm Shift.

You may listen to other bands like Devin Townsend, Isis, Intronaut, some even listen to Tool. If you feel like listening to Slipknot also, I feel you. The frustration gets you there sometimes. Alter Bridge and Soundgarden also work well in the study leave, but not while studying.


Here are a list of a few instrumental bands:

1. Exivious

Discography: Exivious, Liminal 

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2. Animals as Leaders

Discography: Self-titled, Weightless, The Joy of Motion

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3. Cloudkicker

Discography: myspace​.​com​/​musicistight, The Discovery, The Map is Not the Territory, Portmanteau, ]​]​]​[​[​[, Beacons, Loop, Let Yourself be Huge, Fade, Hello, Cloudkicker - The warmth of the daytime seemed like a dream now. (t16 remix), Subsume

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All the best!