Ready to Thrash: Systemhouse33

Systemhouse33. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

The year was 2005. Thrash metallers Systemhouse33 had just won college band competition series Campus Rock Idols in Chandigarh. Vijay Nair, then an artist manager for the likes of groove metal band Pin Drop Violence [PDV], liked what he saw. Frontman Samron Jude recalls that Systemhouse33 went on to play in Mumbai and open for PDV and could have gone on to bigger things had other commitments not intervened. Says Jude, “I moved to Mumbai but the rest of the band was still in Nagpur.”

A decade and a couple of releases later, Systemhouse33 is finally ready to take off. They will support American death metallers Six Feet Under as part of their annual tour series Xmas in Hell in December, with 10 consecutive shows in Germany and Austria. Jude says the tour was in the works since February this year, and the band is pooling their resources to be a part of the lineup alongside at least three other bands. The vocalist adds, “We couldn’t refuse. They say at least five shows are always sold out.”

For the tour, the band is jamming with thrash/groove metal band Zygnema’s drummer Mayank Sharma, since their founding member Atish Thomas has a busy schedule with retro rock band The Other People. Says Jude, “It’s something great for him [Mayank] as well, to tour on this scale.” Jude, the former vocalist of thrash veterans Sceptre, says the band is getting used to a solid practice routine for the tour.

“I look at music globally, so it can’t exist in a box, like just in Mumbai, We have to make our way out there, ” says Samron Jude. 

The follow-up to 2013’s Depths of Despair, the band is wrapping up tracking seven tracks for Regression and want to release it ahead of the tour in November. Jude and Thomas are using their own respective home studio setups and That Studio in Mumbai for tracking their parts. Says Jude of the new album, “It’s very catchy and has definitely raised the bar for us. Thematically, it’s about what we’re going through in India ”” which is regression. It’s like a negative energy, the growth of which you can’t stop.” Unlike Depths of Despair, their new album is no-nonsense thrash metal on tracks such as “Lift This Plague,” “Namesake,” and “Malicious Mind.” Says the frontman, “Keeping the music straight makes it so powerful, I’ve realized. Don’t forget, we’re still in a market that loves Metallica and Slayer.” Mixed and mastered by Mumbai-based sound engineer Anupam Roy, who has previously worked with the likes of metallers Bhayanak Maut, Regression is all about “the disintegrating country.” Says Jude, “We’re doing more and changing things around us, but we’re still feeling worse.” They also take aim at religion on “Detestable Idolatry,” which will be released with a lyric video in November.

Jude assures that this isn’t just a one off tour to promote new material or sell an album. Systemhouse33 already have another US or Europe tour on the anvil for March 2016. Taking cues from the likes of extreme metallers Demonic Resurrection and Bengaluru old school metal act Kryptos’ regular international tours, the frontman feels there’s much more chance of a return on investing in a Europe tour than an India tour. He adds, “My aim is to do two or three international tours every year. I look at music globally, so it can’t exist in a box, like just in Mumbai. We have to make our way out there. That [US/UK] is the culture that understand the music, so we really need to be that good to make it there.”