Demonstealer Announces Collab-Heavy New EP ‘The Holocene Termination’
Hear the gnarly title track from the Mumbai metal artist, featuring instrumentalists from bands like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Six Feet Under and Equipoise
Metal musician and multi-instrumentalist Demonstealer. Photo: Ashish Kamble
If there’s one thing that Mumbai’s seasoned metal artist Demonstealer aka Sahil Makhija has taken to with total gusto, it’s collaborations with musicians from India and around the world.
Where he may have taken the foot off the pedal with extreme metallers Demonic Resurrection (whose permanent members are now him and drummer Virendra Kaith), Demonstealer has added fuel into his solo work. His February 2021 single “Sic Semper Tyrannis” featured the dexterous rhythmic combo of drummer Gino Banks and bassist Mohini Dey, resulting in a scorcher of a song.
Although Demonstealer is a drummer, guitarist, bassist, producer and vocalist himself, he calls in international artists for his upcoming EP The Holocene Termination, out on December 3rd. The rattling title track – which opens the EP – was released on October 15th, putting the focus on drummer Eugene Ryabchenko (from extreme metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse), bassist Jeff Hughell (from American death metal band Six Feet Under) and a ripper of a solo from Nick Padovani (from metal band Equipoise).
More collaborators across the four-track EP include drummer Simon Schilling (from black metallers Marduk), Russian bassist Anton Zhikharev (better known on YouTube as InsaneDeathMachine), Polish drummer Krzysztof Klingbein and sticksman Robin Stone, among others. Demonstealer has often counted Fleshgod Apocalypse as one of his crucial influences, which has perhaps led to not just Ryabchenko being enlisted for “The Holocene Termination,” but also guitarist Fabio Bartoletti (on the track “From Extinction Begins Evolution”) and vocalist Veronica Bordacchini (on “What She Creates She Will Destroy”).
Unlike his 2020 EP And This Too Shall Pass, Demonstealer’s upcoming record is not accompanied by a crowdfunding campaign. The artist cited reasons like the closure of Indian crowdfunding platform Wishberry as well as the regulations preventing accessible use of websites such as Indiegogo or Kickstarter to putting out The Holocene Termination on his own. Instead he’s opting for the tried and tested approach of putting out the songs, merchandize and pre-orders to recover costs of making the EP.
Watch the video for “The Holocene Termination” below. Pre-order the EP Bandcamp and on Redwolf.
