Bevar Sea Gear Up for Mammoth Second Album

Bevar Sea guitarist Rahul Chacko recording acoustic guitars in Bengaluru. Photo: Srikanth Panaman

The members of Bengaluru stoner/doom band Bevar Sea are in a brand new environment to work on their second full-length album ”“ an actual recording studio. The band’s self-titled debut 2012 album was recorded entirely by guitarist Srikanth Panaman at his home studio, The Doom Cave, in Bengaluru, and included drums that were taken from a live show’s recording. Says Panaman, “The first album was done when we were all amateurs.” But since then, Panaman went on to helm recording duties for bands such as death metallers Dhwesha and mastered Shillong death metallers Plague Throat’s 2013 EP An Exordium to Contagion and is now handling production, along with Bevar Sea’s live sound engineer Nikhil Pai, for the second album.

The band is spending two weeks at Adarsh Recording Studio, which was recommended by fellow metallers Inner Sanctum, who recorded their debut album in May. The band is recording 55 minutes worth of material, with an aim to release six tracks [two more than their four-track debut]. Says Panaman, “The album will have to fit into the LP format of 45 minutes, so everything else will be bonus tracks, including one Pink Floyd song, ”˜Astronomy Domine’.”

While their debut was nearly four years in the making ”“ which Panaman calls “frustrating” ”“ they went into record new songs only when they were fully certain two years to promote the debut album was enough. Their oldest song for the as yet untitled second album is “Sleeping Pool,” written back in 2011 when bassist Avinash Ramchander joined. The album also contains three songs which the band has been “practising every day for the last month,” according to Panaman. The nasty-sounding, punk-inspired “Bury Me in NOLA,” which, at five minutes, is Bevar Sea’s shortest song. Then there’s the longest one ”“ 11-minute track “The Grand Alignment” which continues their worship of metal godfathers Black Sabbath and ends with a bluesy guitar part. Just as their 17-minute mammoth “Mono Gnome” closed their debut album with a hidden acoustic track, the new album also includes guitarist Rahul Chacko picking up the acoustic guitar. Says Panaman, “Chacko grew up playing acoustic guitar for nearly 12 years before he picked up an electric. Every now and then, he writes some great acoustic stuff.”

Thematically, vocalist Ganesh Krishnaswamy is writing about cosmic fantasies. Says the vocalist, “One constant theme is how we are a small speck in the cosmos we live in.” With horror/fantasy songs like “Bearded and Bizarre” and “Where There’s Smoke (There’s A Pyre),” Krishnaswamy talks about Elder Time, what is called “a time before the concept of space and time.” Adds the vocalist, “What is known is that if there are humans, there is a lot of crap we bring along.” Chacko, who is also the band’s visual designer, is working on the artwork to fit Krishnaswamy’s themes.

Unlike most Indian metal bands, Bevar Sea aren’t too worried about budgets. Krishnaswamy says they’ve been saving up all revenue from gigs, merch and album sales for studio time and for their upcoming show at American metal festival, the Maryland Deathfest in May 2015. Says the vocalist, “We made a decent amount from the album. We sold more than we thought we would. All that helps us take this band more seriously. It’s allowed us to take it to the next level.”

Watch a studio update from Bevar Sea here