Watch Obliterating Vortex’s Anguish-Driven ‘Unconquered War’ Video

Darjeeling tech-death metal band Obliterating Vortex shine a light on mental health and its associated anguish on their latest single “Unconquered War,” providing positive reinforcement to those fighting their inner demons.

Guitarist and vocalist Sailu Rasaily says parts of the song were written a few years ago, with guitarist Aditya Darnal giving it more shape by mid-2021. “It took us around two to three months to finally assemble it properly and complete the writing process,” Rasaily adds. Released on May 1st, Obliterating Vortex throw a volley of relentless riffs and rhythms to live up to their razor-sharp style of death metal, with the lyrics addressing mental health struggles. Rasaily terms the lyrics – written by Pratik Ghataney – and the message as “the best part to work on.” Particularly, the band passes along a message of perseverance and extends support to those “fighting this war between themselves.”

In the music video directed by Darjeeling filmmaker Topax Bro aka Tshering T Yalmoo, the protagonist is seen isolated and venting out frustrations, with little respite. Inching toward the six-minute mark, “Unconquered War” is one of Obliterating Vortex’s lengthier songs, something that Rasaily attributes to the fun that the band – Rasaily, Darnal, drummer Brison Baraily and bassist Abhishek Moktan – had while writing. “We tried to focus on each and every detail, like giving the lyrics and the music their perfect places, and focused on the character that feels the song and its emotions. We had a hell of a team where we got a chance to collaborate on each other’s ideas, and that is why the song became quite lengthy this time,” the frontman adds.

The song and music video come just as there’s a flurry of activity in the Obliterating Vortex camp after 10 years in the game – they performed at Guwahati Death Fest on May 8th and joined the lineup for multi-genre gig Alter Wave on home ground in Siliguri on May 15th. It was their first set of gigs in two years. Rasaily said about the latter gig, “It’s like we’ve been waiting for this day to come for a long, long time now. We are very thankful to the organizers for hosting such an event at this particular moment. Not just the bands, but metalheads around Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Siliguri and Jalpaiguri also wanted this.”

Following the shows closer to home, the quartet are slated to travel to Bengaluru to participate in band competition Wacken Metal Battle – whose winner goes on to represent India at German metal mecca Wacken Open Air festival later this year. Rasaily notes that the band did participate in a zonal final of Wacken Metal Battle India in 2019, and even got selected for the final round. “Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the finals were postponed several times but this time it’s different, with a new mindset and the same goals. We want to experience the best time of our lives competing with some of the finest bands from Nepal, Bangladesh and India itself. So we’re really looking forward to this,” Rasaily adds.

Watch the video for “Unconquered War” below.