Dark Carnage To Headline Headbanger’s Assault

Photo: Raunak Hazarika

An allegiance to Finnish melodic death metal band, Children of Bodom, a soft spot for war-based themes and djent combined with a need to write original music is what got six school-going gig-frequenting metalheads from Guwahati together to form Dark Carnage in 2010. “We were sick of attending gigs where bands were only playing covers,” says 17-year-old guitarist Madhurjya Daka.  Two years on, Dark Carnage has actively played all across Assam, participated in the Scavenger Rock Idol in Aizawl in 2011, won the TechXetra Rock  fest at Tezpur University in 2011, and this week, the band will headline the day-long metal fest in Darjeeling called Headbanger’s Assault.

The band members juggle school, tuitions, homework and sports to jam whenever they get time. “It is hard and a little scary sometimes. We are all very committed to music, so that’s how we manage to make time for shows. We want to fight through the pressure and stick together,” says Daka. Alongwith Daka, the band comprises 18-year-olds Edwin Singha on vocals, Farhat Hussain on guitars and Saurav Lakhmani on keyboards. Twenty-year-old bassist Sumit Dey is the oldest in the band and drummer Tanfiz Hussain is just 15.

Daka sounds older than his age when he attempts to reason that their underage status works for the band. “There are times when we can’t play active gigs in pubs and bars because most of us are underage. We have even been turned away from competitions,” says the guitarist, “But at the same time, we are very driven and most organizers are amazed when they hear us play. It’s a double-edged sword.”

Last year, Dark Carnage released their five-track debut EP called Abominat . Annihlate that was driven by the themes of war and destruction. “Themes of war and unrest inspire us a lot. They come to us very naturally when we are writing songs,” says Daka. The EP was extremely well received and touched around 3,000 downloads on their bandcamp page. The all-originals EP had djent and melodic death metal tracks that were influenced by deathcore bands like Born Of Osiris and of course, Children of Bodom.

For their one-hour set at Headbanger’s Assault, the band plans to play a cover of “The Walk,” by Periphery, tracks from their EP and some new songs they’ve been jamming on recently. “This is definitely a big stage for us, so we want to make sure our sound is perfect. We have been staying up late to jam all night long,” says Daka.

Dark Carnage will perform at Headbanger’s Assault on September 15th, GDNS Auditorium, Darjeeling.

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