#ReviewRundown: Sihie, Sabotage, Peach Blok and More

Splinter – Splinter EP

★★★★

Thrash metal should never play it safe and Kolkata/Pune band Splinter prove exactly that on their abrasive self-titled debut EP. Not only steeped in thrash influences from the Eighties to old-school death metal and more, songs like “Weapon X” start out like the apocalypse but settle into a melancholy to close out, while “Toxic Death” references the callousness that led to the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy. By now, you get that Splinter revel in eerieness but there’s also a fantastical storyline to the slow-burn “Eldritch Evil.” Things speed back up to brutal degrees on the politically-charged “Kill The Parasite,” rounding off a formidable debut EP that assures anyone of the potent power of thrash metal. 

Abhinav Srikant – Antifragile EP

★★★½

Mumbai producer-guitarist and composer Abhinav Srikant (formerly of jazz/blues/rock group Shorthand) embarks on a different kind of trip as a solo artist with his debut EP Antifragile. The instrumental EP thematically concerns itself with something that perhaps mirrors Srikant’s own journey with Shorthand and now going solo – about “growing stronger in response to adversity rather than merely being resilient and staving it off,” as he describes it. While the jazz roots shine just as bright, there are modern prog rock, metal and guitar virtuoso hues heard on songs like “Into The Light,” “Ours Is But To Reason Why” and “Cradle to the Grave.” Srikant crunches riffs and scales melodic hues with equal splendor, like on “Crying,” making Antifragile a mind-expanding look into emotions. 

Sihie – Kitne Paison Mein Bikta Hai Ye Pyaar? EP

★★★

Hitting the scene with her lush, soothing hook on hip-hop artists Arpit Bala, Bhappa and Abhinsane’s “Pink Plastic Kiss” in 2023, singer-songwriter Sihie taps into something much more filmy and clubby at the same time on her debut EP Kitne Paison Mein Bikta Hai Ye Pyaar?, produced by Mayur Koli. There’s a smoky jazz and soul cadence to “ASNA” but “Sonpari” gets into a disco-pop space, with much more dreaminess intact. Funk-disco makes “Kaatil Gulzaar” bounce and Sihie leads it ably, while the piano and horn-inflected “Nasha” rounds off the artist’s different perspectives on love. Sihie seems to move in and out of the spotlight on her debut EP and while all the vocal melodies may not seem unique, the artist makes the most of nostalgia and familiarity. 

Hybrid Protokol – Samsara 

★★★½

Seasoned electronic music duo Hybrid Protokol are peering further into the ambient space with their latest album Samsara. Across six tracks and about 43 minutes, there are plenty of things that familiar but also fresh – from the striking samples heard on “Ameyaa” to the tunneling energy of “Aandhi” and the Indian classical influence heard throughout “Dhariyan.” There’s also the ominous intent on their opening track “Arohan.” While the sample of a voice talking about LSD isn’t exactly clutter-breaking as far as ambient music tropes go, it does allow Hybrid Protokol’s producer and synth artist duo Soumajit Ghosh and Aneesh Basu to set off into a mind-melting realm. 

Peach Blok – Iris

★★★½

Bengaluru-based producer Peach Blok aka Rishii Rohra turns on the charm on his new EP Iris, offering “Organic Fruits” with a dreamy rhythm, while “Ticks and Mites” getting something more melancholic in its groove-heavy electronic-pop space, as Rohra fondly remembers his beloved dog. Indeed, Rohra might have sharpened his production skills over the years, but as a vocalist, he shines best like on the lush “Better Day,” which has all the makings of a lo-fi pop earworm. Like with this 2020 Quarantine Beat Tape titled Solitude, the best setting for these songs seems to be when you’re alone in your room and pulling some jams to draw the evening to a close, like the sparkling synths, bass and guitars on “Electric Avenue” with guitarist-produce Sakre aka Joel Sakkari or the twinkling guitar-led “Taser Gun.” 

Sabotage – Pishach

★★★

Mumbai thrash metallers Sabotage’s debut album Pishach comes nearly five years after their debut EP The Order of Genocide, and the intensity has just been dialed up. A clear highlight is their larger-than-life, almost arena-ready song “Sabotage,” complete with breakneck speed and rollercoaster guitar harmonies. Pishach clearly takes its name from the story of a vampiress as heard on “Love Undead,” but then there’s a Viking-like myth that drives “Victory or Valhalla.” Only “Valley of Death” feels overdone, in terms of the intensity somehow falling short and not exactly offering anything new when they sing about war. Thankfully, Sabotage doesn’t miss the mark on the rest of Pishach, bringing the brutality on “Melody of Betrayal” and blistering riffs on the tormented “Demons in Paradise.” 

Khus Fir – Forts and Forests

★★★★

Graduates from the boundary-pushing label Consolidate like Khus Fir aka Rishabh Iyer (who previously released under the moniker Worms Cottage) and Disco Puppet aka Shoumik Biswas have often gone on to defy easy categorization. Khus Fir carries that kind of experimentalism forward on his independently released new album Forts and Forests. Drawing broadly from Indian folk in terms of percussion (“Snow Leopard” and “Stations” shine brightest here) and singer-songwriters like Nick Drake, the 10-track album travels through different sonic treatments, Iyer’s warm and earthen voice leading us along. It’s lush (“Hive”), hypnotic (“Moon,” “Lion and the Sea”) and soulfully pensive (“Fortress”) which is what makes for a captivating, almost escapist journey into the wilderness.