Bhayanak Maut

When Bhayanak Maut’s latest album’s linear notes say ”˜Welcome to Bhayanak Maut. Now perish,’ they’re only half joking. With an album that ups the stakes tremendously in both the music and production departments, it’s going to be a quite scramble for other bands to catch up. Old favourite ”˜Habemus Papam’ opens the album in a frenzy of pinch harmonics and dual vocals, but ”˜Ranti Nasha,’ with its meaty opening riff that you could sink your teeth into, might have made for a better opener. Most of the album is a relentless headbangfest ”“ from the slam-first-talk-later ”˜Ungentle’ to slow-burner ”˜You’re Perfect, Now Change’ ”“ but the album finds strongest ground on tracks like the happily profane ”˜MNS Messenger.’ ”˜Light.Lotus.Lily’ a spine tingling spoken-word piece is a bit of an odditity in the album sequence; it’s the penultimate track and seemingly works as the intro to ”˜You’re Perfect, Now Change’ but it makes for a strange pause in the proceedings. That the band’s sound has expanded considerably is visible all over the album and the addition of a second guitarist and vocalist has lent size and texture to what could have been a humdrum record. Producer Anupam Roy’s set most of the songs on a bed of guitar textures, giving the riffs, distorted basslines and outstanding drumwork a foundation to ride over while boosting the density of the overall sound. The vocals in places are a bit subdued but this is as close to perfect production that any Indian metal band has ever come to. If there’s a grouse with the album, it’s that it tends to get a bit monotonous towards the middle and lacks a bit of cohesiveness but that hardly takes away from the fact that this is easily the best metal release of the year so far.