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Kryptos, Bevar Sea and Albatross To Perform In Mumbai

Top Bengaluru metal bands to headline the west zone leg of the Wacken Metal Battle band competition this month

Jun 07, 2013

Bevar seaDespite the demand for metal, Mumbai hasn’t seen too many performances by Bengaluru bands such as old school metallers Kryptos and stoner/doom band Bevar Sea. While Krpytos hasn’t played in the city since 2009 [their last Mumbai gig was as part of a college event, Powerchords], Bevar Sea’s debut gig was canned when the state shut down to mourn the death of political party Shiv Sena’s chief Bal Thackeray [they were slated to perform in Winter Metal Fest, Nasik and Metal at the Tavern, Mumbai] last year. 

However, on June 30th, the two bands will headline the Mumbai west zone leg of Wacken Metal Battle India, a band competition, which gives Indian bands a chance to play at Wacken Open Air in Germany. Mumbai heavy metallers Albatross will play an opening set of half an hour. Bassist Riju Dasgupta, who organized Metal at the Tavern where Bevar Sea were slated to perform in November last year, is organizing the Mumbai leg of Wacken Metal Battle India. “We’ll try not to play any of the stuff from the Rolling Stone Metal Night last month, and throw in a few new covers,” says Dasgupta.

Ahead of their Mumbai gig, Kryptos and Bevar Sea will share the stage in Bengaluru on June 22nd, playing at the Doom Over Bangalore pre-party to Bangalore Open Air. Both bands say they will play songs from their Motorhead India Tribute compilation, which will also be on sale in Mumbai.

Srikanth Panaman, guitarist of Bevar Sea, says he is pretty eager to finally perform in Mumbai. “If we all catch our trains without missing them and if no big politician dies on the day of the gig with Bombay going all apocalyptic on us, this is really going to happen.” Bevar Sea will play their version of “Turn You Round Again,” their yet-to-be-released crowd favorite “Sleeping Pool” and songs from their self-titled debut album as part of their 40-minute set. “We’ve never played ”˜Turn You Round Again’ together, as the song was arranged and recorded completely in the studio, so we’re looking forward to it,” says Panaman.

For Kryptos, it’s also the last gig before they undertake their Coils Around Europe tour in July. “We’ll use all these gigs as a warm-up to Germany. About 90 percent of our setlist will be our faster stuff, which is mostly our newer stuff from Coils Of Apollyon,” says frontman Nolan Lewis. The old school metal band, which turns 15 this year, also plans to organize a special event between September and October this year.

Wacken Metal Battle India also takes place in Guwahati [east zone] on June 16th and Bengaluru [south zone] on June 22nd, though the headlining acts at the two events are yet to be announced. In addition to the headliners, the four competing bands in Mumbai are groove metallers Providence, thrash/death metal band Devoid, progressive death metal band Orion and death metallers Atmosfear. The South zone round features a contest between technical death metal band Nihilus, experimental/prog metal band De’Sat, prog metal band Ebonix [who are North zone finalists] and goth/prog metal band Fragile Silence. East zone eliminations include competing bands such as thrash/death metal band Sycorax, prog metal band Midnight Garden Factor, symphonic extreme metal band Judas Ancestry and deathcore band Fatal Malice. Semifinals take place on July 5th in Bengaluru, followed by the final round at Bangalore Open Air on July 6th.

 Headbangers Merchandise Wacken Metal Battle India ”“ West Zone qualifiers featuring Albatross, Kryptos and Bevar Sea takes place on June 30th, 2013, 4.30 pm onwards. Entry: Rs 500. Event details here.

metal battle poster