In the Studio: Demonic Resurrection Wrap up Fifth Album

Demonic Resurrection: (from left) Ashwin Shriyan, Sahil Makhija, Nishith Hegde, Mephisto and Virendra Kaith | Photo: Aneev Rao.

It might be their fifth album, but there are still a few firsts that Mumbai extreme metal band Demonic Resurrection (DR) are embarking on. The follow-up to their 2014 album The Demon King is nearly complete in just two years, making the yet-to-be-named record one of their fastest. Vocalist-guitarist Sahil Makhija aka The Demonstealer adds, “The process has changed this time. The story and the concept was written first so the lyrics had to go with the songs, not just fit over it.”

In his 16th year running the band, Makhija says he’s lucky to be surrounded by “guys who are top-notch musicians.” In addition to featuring one of the band’s earliest recruits, keyboardist Mephisto (who joined in 2003), the band includes bassist Ashwin Shriyan, guitarist Nishith Hegde and drummer Virendra Kaith, who is now on upping his game on his third album with the band. Makhija says, “We pushed him [Kaith] harder to play faster on every album. He definitely has had to play faster on this one, so if he nails these songs in a live setting, it’ll just solidify his position as the best extreme metal drummer in India.” Hegde, on his part, contributed ideas that developed into a full song. Makhija adds, “They just nail the stuff.”

Demonic Resurrection’s drummer Virendra Kaith (left), guitarist Nishith Hegde (top right) and frontman Sahil Makhija (bottom right) recording for their upcoming fifth album. Photo: Courtesy of Demonstealer

Makhija feels he’s made improvements of his own as well, as producer, singer/growler and guitarist. The clean singing comes from his second solo album This Burden is Mine, which released earlier this year and featured a range of vocal styles. Drums were recorded at That Studio in Mumbai””Makhija’s own Demonic Studios underwent a few upgrades in terms of software and gear just ahead of the album recording.

While pre-production is a continual process for the band””ideas mostly written by Makhija exchanged and mulled over cloud computing apps like DropBox””DR sat down to write the album in March and began recording in June. With bass and keyboards logged in last month, Makhija says the album will be sent to a mastering engineer later this month. “I’ll ask Victor [Bullock, recording engineer at Germany’s Woodshed Studio who mastered This Burden is Mine] to master it, I’m hoping he’s free.”

Although he won’t give away any song titles or themes, DR’s fifth album””going by video snippets from studio sessions that Makhija has been posting””stays in the band’s black/death realm. Makhija, however, reveals that the album is an adaptation of “existing stories.” He adds, “Once we announce the title, the cat’s out of the bag.” The album also features guest artists (although no George Kollias this time!) who, according to Makhija, “will bring in a very interesting element to DR.”

Slated for release early next year, the 10-track album was meant to be completed even faster than it took time to. Makhija explains, “I have to do it faster, because it’s a full-time thing for me. I can write a great song in a day.” He cites bands such as [Italian symphonic tech-death band] Fleshgod Apocalypse, who have an album out nearly every two years. Makhija adds, “It shows our band’s best songs right now, at this moment. We have to put these ideas out right now and move on to the next one.”

Pre-order Demonic Resurrection’s upcoming fifth album via their PledgeMusic campaign.