Albatross to Premiere New Song at Control ALT Delete 12
The Mumbai heavy metallers, now joined by lead guitarist Akash Kar, talk about introducing a new thematic universe with ‘The Neptune Murders’
Mumbai heavy metal band Albatross - Riju Dasgupta aka Dr. Hex, Akash Kar, Jay Thacker, Biprorshee Das, Vigneshkumar Venkatraman. Photo: Aditya Ranga
Even in his usual jovial voice, we know Albatross bassist and co-founder Riju Dasgupta aka Dr. Hex is serious when he says the Mumbai heavy metal band “were on life support” for most of 2019. It was in March 2018 that they released their last song, “Where Do Sheep Disappear?” but after guitarist Purujit Srivastava left the band following a short stint, the search resumed to complete the lineup.
Dasgupta says, “The logistics of it was very difficult. Purujit would be based in Hyderabad and then Indore and we could see he was very tired of traveling to be part of the shows.” After about a year of searching and seeking recommendations, Albatross have now recruited Akash Kar, who’s also part of thrash metallers Sceptre. “We’ve had terrible luck with guitarists, but we know that they have to be of a certain caliber. There’s anyway only a handful to choose from,” Dasgupta adds.
With Kar on board, 2020 seems to be on track for the band, who will now perform at crowdfunded festival Control ALT Delete in Mumbai, between February 1st and 2nd. Albatross knew they’d have to write a new song for their set, but Dasgupta jokes that there’s still a lot of the existing material they’re trying to figure out with Kar. The bassist goes as far as to say this might be “the most important gig we’ve ever had to play.”
For Control ALT Delete, Albatross will premiere “The Neptune Murders,” which is the middle part of a three-part storyline that broadly delves into how religion can be misinterpreted. In this particular track – featuring major contributions from guitarist Vigneshkumar Venkatraman – Albatross jump from the origin story of the King of Atlantis to the modern day where “serial killers have misinterpreted religious texts and murder women, throw them into the ocean as a sacrificial offering to Neptune.”
Sonically, Dasgupta describes it as “weird” and jokes that the biggest surprise might be how the song has just one guitar solo, compared to tracks off their 2015 album Fear from the Skies. The bassist adds that Albatross are in no hurry to record the song just yet, but are already working on artwork. “I think things will kick into gear on that front whenever Akash is up to speed with the rest of the material,” Dasgupta says.
