Hear Guitarist Sandesh Nagaraj’s Return to Death Metal as The Replicate

Artwork for ‘A Selfish Dream’ EP by David Brosky.

It’s been about five years since Bengaluru-bred, Los Angeles-based guitarist Sandesh Nagaraj turned away from metal to concentrate on his role as a producer, and start on experimental projects such as The Sonic Chameleon and Syreim.

But earlier in 2016, Nagaraj, who was part of Bengaluru’s metal bands such as Myndsnare and Extinct Reflections, dug up his old collection. He says, “I revisited and listened to a lot of records by bands like Kreator, Morbid Angel, Immolation and Slayer this past year. I became very nostalgic of the energy and passion I had in writing and performing metal as a teenager. I realized it was time to tap into that space of freedom and creativity again.”

That led to the creation of the dark, noxious soundscape of death metal called The Replicate. He recorded his debut four-track EP A Selfish Dream in August last year. Nagaraj says, “I wasn’t too inspired during my initial attempts so I came up with a random tuning on the guitar (I tuned my guitar in minor seconds) which then pushed me into sounds which I hadn’t explored earlier.”

The old school seething brand of death metal features Nagaraj on guitars, with all his compositions brought to life by drummer Ray Rojo (Nagaraj’s bandmate from L.A. tech-death band Fractalline), vocalist Morgan Wells (on the pummelling opener “Chainsaw of God”) and more. He says, “I had my friend William Von Arx play a guitar solo and man, did he make his guitar sound like a chainsaw! Will is definitely one of the best guitarists in the L.A. scene.”

While Syreim collaborator Kaitie Sly adds bass on the diverse “Eugenicide” with Fractalline growler Jordan Nalley, the lightning quick track “The Saline” features Arun Natarajan (from Extinct Reflections and now part of prog metallers Eccentric Pendulum) on vocals. The EP closes out with the title track, a chilling outro led by Nagaraj on the keys.

Plans are already on for the next release, while Nagaraj says he’d “love to play these tunes live if possible”. He adds, “I’m gonna start writing for another release early next year [2017].”

Listen to A Selfish Dream EP