Exclusive Premiere: Orchid’s Snarling New Song ‘Zero-Sum Game’

On their debut full-length album Miasma, Bengaluru’s mindboggling metal band Orchid take aim at societal ills. The short burst of chaos shown on their first single “Master Supreme” rages against godmen and how “religion and spirituality is the biggest scam in the world,” and now their second offering “Zero-Sum Game” is about the fraudsters in the corporate world.

Vocalist Kaushal L.S. says events as early as 2001’s Enron scandal have shaped the narrative of companies cheating their way through to wealth. “[It’s] about how investment banks help firms deliberately sell complex financial instruments to make money off unsuspecting people,” the vocalist adds. “Zero-Sum Game,” released with a playthrough video featuring guitarist Vinay Prasad, returns to the frantic, moody space that the band introduced with their self-titled EP in 2016. After ploughing through riffs and picking their way into dissonance, drummer Mayur Nanda and bassist Rahil Ahmed allow a glimpse into a seemingly Latin swing-like passage. Prasad adds about his guitar parts and nailing them for a playthrough video, “This song was a tricky one to execute because of the angular guitar lines that jump across the strings in a seemingly haphazard manner, especially in the first couple of riffs.”

The vocals too, are much harsher than we have ever heard from Kaushal, who also fronts metal bands such as Gutslit, Godless and Eccentric Pendulum. He says, “I guess it’s more visceral [with Orchid] because a lot of the lyrical themes I explored on this album are quite personal to me. A lot of things piss me off, especially with how things are in India, and the vocals reflect that — it’s definitely more angry and violent than the previous record.” Thematically, while Orchid EP put forth a psychological, surreal scape, Miasma looks outward with sociopolitical themes over mathcore, prog and tech-death influences.

The eight-track Miasma ”“ set to release on January 10th ”“ is mixed by Mumbai-based Apurv Agrawal (who’s also worked with sludge band Shepherd and hardcore band Death By Fungi) and is mastered by New York engineer Colin Marston. Soon after the release, Orchid will support German metallers The Ocean at their Bengaluru show as part of gig series Unscene on January 13th. Kaushal adds, “It’s more or less our launch gig. We’re working on playing a few shows across the country in support of Miasma. Mumbai, Hyderabad, and New Delhi are definitely on the cards.”

Pre-order ‘Miasma’ on Instamojo and Bandcamp. Listen to  Orchid’s first single “Master Supreme” below.