Bloodywood Make Indian Metal History with Debut Album ‘Rakshak’

Propelled by hordes of fans from around the world, New Delhi-based Bloodywood have become the first Indian metal band to break into the Billboard charts with their debut album Rakshak.

Released independently on February 18th, Rakshak debuted at number 93 on Billboard Top Album Sales chart, plus at number 46 on the Top Current Album Sales chart. Accounting entirely for digital album sales, Bloodywood also charted at number 5 on the Billboard Digital Albums chart, among a total of 13 charts according to MRC data provided by the band. Once physical CD and vinyl sales are logged, Bloodywood may make more moves on the charts in April. The band said in a statement, “A massive THANK YOU to everyone who bought the digital copy of our album! We made it to Billboard Charts. Unfortunately, 70% of our total sales (physical units) were not counted towards these numbers but we’re still glad to see our debut album charting so well nonetheless.”

Last month, Bloodywood also posted about the album scaling the iTunes charts – going up to number four worldwide, number one in India, number eight in the U.S. and other countries. The band appeared on the Official U.K. Charts as well within a week of release, going up to number eight in Rock and Metal Albums, number 10 on Album Downloads and number 62 for Album Sales.

Appearing in nearly 1,500 fan collections on Bandcamp, Rakshak hit the top spot on the platform for album sales upon release and currently stands at number 22 on all-time best-selling new releases and sits at the third spot for best-selling metal releases. An approximate total sales figure has been pegged at over 5,000 copies for Rakshak by the band.

The album comprises millions-streamed singles such as “Jee Veerey,” “Endurant,” “Machi Bhasad” and “Yaad” alongside new material. Recent singles such as “Gaddaar” took aim at the corrupt intermingling of politics and religion across the world, while “Dana Dan” launches a scathing attack on sexual predators. A cheeky takedown of broadcast journalism also appears on the chaotic song “BSDK.exe.”

Bloodywood’s success on the charts certainly comes at a time when they needed it. The band had to call off their Europe and U.K. tour which was slated for March. They pointed to “several European countries being unable to open up on time.” Bloodywood’s statement added, “We did everything we could to make it happen and spent everything we had on equipment to make sure our reunion after two long years would be an amazing one. In the end due to multiple cancellations, it just wasn’t possible.” New tour dates were announced shortly, with the Rakshak Tour of Europe now slated for March 2023.

Later in the year, a North American tour is in the works, with a performance at the four-day Aftershock festival in Sacramento announced so far. Bloodywood joins the likes of Slipknot, Evanescence, Killswitch Engage and Rob Zombie on day one of Aftershock.

Previously, Bengaluru-based hard rock/heavy metallers Girish and The Chronicles also updated fans about charting with their third full-length album Hail To The Heroes, reaching number 32 on Current Hard Music Albums, number 41 on Top New Artist Albums and number 106 on Record Label Independent Current Albums charts.

Listen to ‘Rakshak’ below. Buy here and stream on more platforms.