Gig Preview: Reptilian Death, Solar Deity and Albatross at Blue Frog, Mumbai

There’s a common love for drama among the bands lined up to play Rolling Stone Live Night at Blue Frog, Mumbai on May 19th. Three Mumbai bands ”“ death metallers Reptilian Death, heavy metal act Albatross and black metallers Solar Deity ”“ take stage this Sunday. The uninitiated should pack a pair of earplugs and check out our gig breakdown

Reptilian Death

Set: 45 minutes of death metal featuring songs from their first full-length album, The Dawn of Consummation and Emergence.

Watch out for: Face paint, masks and warrior garb turn this set into a theatrical act.Vocalist Vinay Venkatesh reaches deep into some nether world for the blackest growls he can bring to stage. Says drummer Sahil Makhija “Whatever apprehensions I had [about performing live with Reptilian Death] were gone after the first gig.”

Spin this: The lyric video for the song “O.”

Solar Deity

Set: 45 minutes consisting of five songs from the black metal band’s two releases so far, In The Name of Satan and The Darkness of Being.

Watch out for: Considering it’s their second gig as a band [they debuted at the third edition of Trendslaughter fest in Bengaluru in February], vocalist and guitarist Aditya Mehta is excited and nervous at the same time. “We play extreme music. It’s normal to see them [extreme metal bands] in black. I dress normally every day, but at gigs, I don’t want to see people in pink T-shirts jumping around and playing. We wanted to look the part and give this visual aspect of the band equal importance [as the music],” says Mehta, whose black-robed band members are ready to give their city their loudest set yet.

Spin this: The nine-minute stoner-black metal [if that exists] song “The Birth Of A Star,” off their second EP, The Darkness Of Being.

 

Albatross

Set: An hour-long set featuring material from their last EP, The Kissing Flies, and their upcoming release, Wings Of the Assassin. The heavy metal band also pays tribute to one of their genre’s most famous frontman, Ronnie James Dio, marking his third death anniversary by covering “Holy Diver.”

Watch out for: A dose of quirky stage antics. “People call me ”˜ketchup boy’ because of the bloodstains on my lab coat, but it ideally shouldn’t discourage you,” says Dasgupta, who doesn’t mind if people ridicule or rock out to the band’s horror story-influenced heavy metal. “We’re not into gore or blood. There’s a crazy sense of humor all my influences have ”“ King Diamond, Ghost and Alice Cooper.”

Spin this: “The Kissing Flies,” the 10-minute epic, bizarre tale of, what else, kissing flies that bring on a sense of ecstasy.