Demonstealer Launches Metal Supergroup

Hellwind: (L-R) Kadam, Kumar, Deodhar, Makhija, Bhattacharyya (Photo: Tushar Dhanawade)

Late last night, Sahil “The Demonstealer” Makhija announced the launch of a new supergroup of sorts. Called Hellwind, the band will principally play music in the “the direction of heavy metal/hard rock Mötley Crüe-Judas Priest space,” says Makhija. The band features Akshay Deodhar (Spook) on vocals, Rajarshi Bhattacharyya (ex-Workshop) and Kiron Kumar (ex-Colossus) on guitars, Aditya Kadam (Workshop, Funk The System) and Demonic Resurrection’s Makhija on drums.

Albatross mainman Riju Dasgupta and Deodhar planned for Hellwind to shape into a glam rock/power-metal project. They roped in Makhija as a drummer and considered launching the project as Ravendark, a short-lived (read one gig) power-metal band formed by Makhija in 2001. “But after Raj and Kiron joined and we began meeting and jamming, we realized we weren’t really doing anything related to power metal so we changed the name and the band’s musical direction,” says Makhija. But Dasgupta had to leave the band before the launch due to work and personal commitments and the band replaced him with Kadam from Workshop.

The band released their first single “Taste of Metal” on their Soundcloud page, a Judas-Priest-meets-Dreame Evil number with oodles of cheese. Is this going to be a regular feature? “We’re all about the cheese but we’re also dead serious about it. Expect some epic power ballads, some groovy, meaty riff-laden songs and some bastardized pop covers,” says Makhija.

 Listen to “Taste of Metal” here and stay tuned for gig announcements from the band.