Primitiv To Present Their Own Brand Of Metal In Debut Album

Imagine a dystopian universe 2000 years into the future, ravaged by a nuclear holocaust that forces its few human survivors to regress into their primitive selves. When they are not being mindlessly led into war by warlord Taurus, these disoriented beings are usually roaming the land awakening ancient lords, stumbling upon the occasional abandoned laboratory [guarded by robots, of course] and doubling up as finger food for Gonrod, the god of gluttony.

Trust Riju Dasgupta, bassist and resident storyteller of Mumbai-based metal act Primitiv to narrate a most fascinating back story for the band’s debut album, Immortal and Vile. Conceptualized by Dasgupta [who also moonlights as Doctor Hex for horror metal band Albatross] the seven-track album introduces the fictitious Primitiv universe, which he describes as “a universe where man walks side by side with gods and robots and tanks and artificial intelligence. Every song [in the album] is a separate incident based in the world.”

Primitiv started out as a comedy band in 2013, with a loose intention to take a jab at a few old-school metal bands that they encountered at the time. Says Dasgupta, “The band name was sort of a joke about old guys coming back into the scene and making music,” says the bassist. Anyone who has attended a Primitiv gig would probably have heard Rajan kick off the set with the band’s “motto” along similar lines: “Other bands are old-school, we are Primitiv.”

Slated for release next month, Immortal and Vile combines elements of death metal, doom, thrash and rock & roll to give rise to what the band calls Stone-Age metal. Says vocalist Nitin Rajan, “Because we predominantly use growls in all our songs, people may consider us death metal, but we sure are not only death metal. The very reason that we could not slot ourselves into an existing genre is why we came up with our very own genre for the sake of reference.”

Primitiv has seen a number of lineup changes over the years since their formation in 2013, including guitarist Shrikant Shrinivasan [of Mumbai prog-rock band Coshish], drummer Jay Thacker of Albatross and Avirath Kadam of Mumbai thrash metal act Wrath. Currently comprising Nitin Rajan on vocals, guitarists Rajarshi Bhattacharya and Kiron Kumar, bassist Riju Dasgupta and Pushkar Joshi [of Mumbai metal outfit Hellwind] on the drums, the band finally feels stable enough to put out a full-length album with a running concept. “We have been slowly and steadily writing songs ever since the release of our single ”˜Taurus’ in 2014,” explains Rajan.

Although there are no concrete plans for an album tour as yet, the band is already working on new material for the next concept release. Says Dasgupta, “This album is an introduction to the world of Primitiv and it’s going to become a lot more detailed and intrinsic as we go in depth into the lives of the characters.”