Domination: The Deathfest Heads to Delhi

Artwork by Jigmet Wangchok.

Despite the country-wide venue and sponsor crunch for metal gigs, there seem to be no signs of slowing down for metalheads — the return of the country’s oldest metal festival series Domination: The Deathfest is proof enough of that fact. The independently-organized day-long Mumbai metal fest, which sowed the seeds of Indian metal with its inception in 2000 and has since traveled to Pune and Hyderabad, returns to make its Delhi debut this year for its eighth edition. On May 1st, Domination: The Deathfest hosts Bengaluru sludge band Shepherd, Mumbai stone age metallers Primitiv, Pune doom band Dirge, Jaipur death metal act Wintergate and a set by Delhi death metal band Fragarak.

Fragarak bassist Kartikeya Sinha, who is also co-organizing Domination: The Deathfest, says, “We have been planning this gig since a long time. It’s also been a long time since Delhi has seen an extreme gig.”

Fortunately, the organizers–comprising co-founder Nitin Rajan and bassist Riju Dasgupta, who have teamed up with Sinha and heavy metal enthusiast Kunal Batra–did not have much trouble convincing their local metal-friendly venue Antisocial to host. “The Antisocial people said yes to us from the first go; and even the bands agreed, because most of them will be playing here for the first time,” says Sinha. Domination: The Deathfest VIII marks the Delhi debut for both Dirge and Shepherd.

Deathfest has previously hosted the likes of Bengaluru old school metallers Kryptos, brutal death metal band Exhumation and death grind band Gutslit over the years.

Domination: The Deathfest takes place on May 1st at antiSOCIAL, Delhi. For more details, click here.