Premiere: Dark Helm Offer Searing Melancholy on New Song ‘Sever’

Pune metallers Dark Helm – comprising guitarist-composer Mohanish Deshmukh and bassist-composer Shubhrayu De – call on seasoned singer-songwriter and metal vocalist Sunneith Revankar (from New Delhi’s Undying Inc) for a grandiose yet crushing new song “Sever,” their first since 2018.

The song comes on the back of significant lineup changes for Dark Helm, with vocalist Dhairya Anand moving to the U.K. Deshmukh tells Rolling Stone India, “You either go big or go home. When we realized that we wouldn’t be able to work with Dhairya on the new Dark Helm song, owing to his insane schedule in the U.K., Shubhrayu and I faced a much too familiar exigency. But instead of closing up shop, we’re a ‘do it till it’s done’ kind of folk.”

They called on Revankar, whom Deshmukh calls “the best metal vocalist the country has ever seen.” The guitarist adds, “We used to joke that Sunneith was secretly part of the band, for years. It was time to find out if fate really had a cheesy sense of irony.”

Revankar adds, “I think we’ve been wanting to work on something for quite a while now. So glad that I got to work on Sever with the boys. The entire process was extremely organic and collaborative. Most importantly, it was a lot of fun. The track has turned into an absolute monster.”

“Sever” starts off true to the wide palette that Dark Helm have often adapted with electronic and production elements, letting a melancholic, gothic sound seep in at the start with Revankar’s sung vocals. The growls elevate the song as it descends into a more extreme, rattling pace and journeys into bass solos and dissonant breakdowns.

De says the song was written while he and Deshmukh were grappling with the loss of their close friend Ajinkya Joshi. The bassist adds, “The title ‘Sever’ captures the essence of that period — a time when we cut ourselves off from the world we once knew, retreating into our grief. It took time, but we have emerged, hopefully, on the path to healing.”

The process of collaborating with a new vocalist was new for Dark Helm, who last worked with Anand for the “Akasha” video in 2020 from their album Hymnus de Antitheist (2018). Deshmukh says they provided Revankar with a brief on the song’s “theme and soundscapes” and got a few demo recordings back. The guitarist adds, “However, we entered the recording session essentially blind, which proved beneficial since Shubhrayu and I can get overly caught up in minor details. We were amazed by what we heard in the studio during warm ups, and the session proceeded seamlessly from there.”