EP Review: Solar Deity ”“ Devil Worship

Aditya Mehta and Animesh Das from Solar Deity. Photo: Sanath Kumar BS

[easyreview cat1title = “Devil Worship” cat1rating = 3]

Devil Worship EP artwork

If you ever willfully listened to Mumbai black metal band Solar Deity, it’s because you were a fan of the genre. But if you were into metal in general and happen to catch the band [comprising vocalist/guitarist Aditya Mehta, bassist Animesh Das and guitarist Niraj Singh Chauhan] at one of their three gigs so far, you’d either dismiss the robe-attired band immediately or go home interested by their approach to black metal.

Vocalist Mehta, who also growls for brutal death metallers Exhumation and reviews beer and movies on his blog, is the principal songwriter in Solar Deity and continues their atmospheric, hypnotic black metal sound on what is the sequel to their debut 2012 EP, In The Name of Satan. While previous releases concentrated solely on a certain type of sound, the three-track Devil Worship mixes things up, especially on the almost-groovy old school-metal-influenced “Supreme Evil.”

The EP opener, “Raise the Horns” is exactly the mood-setting call to arms, with sounds of rain merging into blastbeats. The brutality weakens when you hear Mehta’s first growl, echoed for other-worldly effect. If you’re not already bored by the repetitiveness of it all and manage to stick through, there’s just one memorable bridge at the six-minute mark.

Repetitiveness is intentional for Solar Deity, as is evident from their closing track, “Through The Hallways of Narak.” While it’s finally good to see an Indian touch to black metal [apart from Mumbai’s anonymous black metal trio Heathen Beast], the 11-minute track starts out thunderous, but only picks up toward the four-minute mark. The riffs and beats drone on, as does a surprisingly audible bass [by black metal standards]. But we would have been just as content if “Through The Hallways of Narak” was even five minutes shorter in length.

Compared to earlier Solar Deity releases, Devil Worship is markedly better produced [by extreme metal band Demonic Resurrection’s bassist Ashwin Shriyan, who also programmed drums on the EP; and mastered by DR’s guitarist Daniel Rego], it’s more likely to get the horns up from black metal fans rather than the general metal audiences.

Key track: “Supreme Evil.”

Stream Devil Worship here