Begho Are The Newest Metal Band on the Block
Comprising members from Mumbai acts Albatross, Primitiv, Carnage Inc., the band make their stage debut at gig series Rampage on Sept. 8
Mumbai metal band Begho - (from left to right) Varun Panchal, Kiron Kumar, Biprorshee Das (seated), Jay Thacker and Saurav Das. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Taking their name from ghostly Bengali folklore, metal band Begho are making their live debut on Sept. 8 as part of gig series Blackblood presents Rampage, at Antisocial in Mumbai.
The band started off in early 2024 with guitarists Kiron Kumar (from metallers Primitiv) and Varun Panchal (from thrash metallers Carnage Inc.), vocalist Biprorshee Das and drummer Jay Thacker (both from heavy metal band Albatross) and bassist Saurav Das (from rock band Twist To Break Seal). Kumar says he and Das first dived into tracks written during the pandemic. “Bipro, Jay, and Varun joined once they caught the vibe we were after,” Kumar adds.
Some ideas were meant for Primitiv, the doom/death metal band that called time on their career after the passing of vocalist Nitin Rajan in 2020 and guitarist Rajarshi Bhattacharyya in 2021. Kumar assures that there’s an influence that’s carried forward into Begho. Das, for his part, says he missed being in a band and writing music after Albatross went on a hiatus a few years ago. “I even tried putting together another project with Jay that was a bit of a nod to Albatross, but it didn’t quite work out,” the vocalist says.
Das recounts that he and Kumar’s friendship precedes their days in the metal scene, originally neighbors. When the guitarist sent riffs over to the vocalist and asked for ideas, Das says it was a “no-brainer” to get involved. The band soon began jamming, but it was more than that. “I love saying this – I don’t want to be in a band with the best musicians, but people I could go out on a picnic with. The common thread that runs through here, I think, is the fact that the five of us can get together, crack a few jokes, and slap each other’s backs. The riffs happen somewhere in between,” the vocalist adds.
Playing live, then, was not on their minds so much. Bassist Saurav Das says Begho gave them the space to come back to playing metal, a “space where we belong.” Panchal adds, “I’d say it was the love of the good old riff that made us lock in together from the first note. We’re all on the same page about wanting to write music that’s memorable, heavy and gnarly – minus the 10-minute solos and virtuoso level playing.”
There are a “bunch of loud songs” being prepped for their show this week. Bassist Das adds about Begho’s sound, “It’s simple really. Imagine taking five different slabs of metal, putting it in the biggest industrial grade grinder, melting it inside an active volcano and creating an even heavier slab of metal that’s more metal than your grandma’s hip.”
Begho are joined by Bengaluru metallers Eccentric Pendulum (launching their album Perspective Invertalis), space-rock band Space Is All We Have, Mumbai metallers Carnage Inc. (which means double duty on stage for Panchal) and metal band Festacorn. Kumar says to expect five “fierce, no-nonsense” songs for Begho’s set. Vocalist Das adds, “For now, the debut gig is just the shot in the arm we needed […] I am very keen to see how they react to the songs at the gig. We definitely want to be in the studio soon after. So, yes. I am hoping there will be more than just a single this year.”
Get tickets for Blackblood presents Rampage V 8.0, which takes place on Sept.8, 2024 at Antisocial, Mumbai.
