Mephisto: From Hindustani Classical to Black Metal

Over the past couple of years, a series of strong live performances and some great original music has cemented Demonic Resurrection’s reputation as one of the best metal outfits from this side of the world. And their recently-released, exemplary debut album ‘A Darkness Descends’ has done that reputation no harm whatsoever. The album, currently being sold everywhere from India, China, Singapore and Japan to Russia, Canada and even Mexico, has already sold over 500 copies in just five months since its release.

Headbangers all over India can’t seem to get enough of Demonic Resurrection’s music. International heavy metal critics don’t have enough good things to say about the album — esteemed metal e-zine The Metal Observer rated the album 9/10 and said that the production “puts many European and North American productions to shame”. Rock Something gave it a 4/5, along with acknowledging that the band has “helped give Indian metal nothing if not a good name”. With all this going for them and lots more still to come, Demonic Resurrection are clearly the new flagbearers of Indian metal, worldwide.

First of all, a lot of people would like to know how you came about joining Demonic Resurrection.

I’ve always wanted to play music… not many bands [in India] use keyboards, and even fewer [use them] effectively. I saw Demonic Resurrection for the first time when they played at I-Rock, and believe it or not, somehow “From The Ashes” seemed impressive to me. I was in SIES when a friend told me that DR were looking for a keyboardist and I wrote a mail to ‘Demon’. I tried to sound as kvlt as possible since I was told that he doesn’t really reply to mails and in general is a difficult person to deal with. Well, I got his number, and after a lot of interaction over the phone I finally caught up with him at Mood Indigo, where he along with JP and Husain played as Bombay Butchery \m/

We had a chat and he told me that he was looking for serious musicians and if I was interested I could come and audition. So I went to his place with my dinky keyboard (I’d already practiced a couple of DR songs). Husain joined us and we had a jam session where we played those two songs and then did a random jam with Sahil on drums. That was about it, he gave me a CD, we had a chat about the “scene” and I was in.

I remember people laughing a lot when I joined DR. Mind you, DR wasn’t a popular band then and some felt I was making a big mistake.

From playing on a small one-octave Casio keyboard to now playing on a Korg Triton LE, how would you say the transition has been?

I’m not really a keyboard player. I learnt Hindustani classical harmonium, so it took some while to get used to the Triton. I still compose some parts on my one-octave and then improvise later on the Triton. In fact, most parts on ‘A Darkness Descends’ were composed on my one-octave keyboard. (Smiles)

How has the rise to fame been for you? Many feel that you are an important part of why the band is so popular today.

(Laughs) It feels awesome when you get compliments after a show. The band is popular because we all have great chemistry and are on par as musicians.

Not many people know that you’ve had 5-years training of playing the harmonium and around 10 years of learning Hindustani classical singing.

Well, now you know! I’m out of practice when it comes to singing, so I’d rather stick to growling.

Why don’t you sing the clean parts in DR songs like “Frozen Portrait” in live shows?

I don’t feel comfortable doing them. Maybe in the future we’ll start. I’d rather do it right than do it for the sake of it.

You guys have just recently released your first album in your new avatar, ‘A Darkness Descends’. Now that a few months have passed since its release, how do you feel about it, and is there anything at all that you would change about it now?

Hmm… there are a couple of new solos that [new guitarist] Pradeep had added to two of the songs, “Frozen Portrait” and “The Summoning”. It would be cool if we could have them on the CD. Also, the drum sound is a little too digital. Especially the toms. Our next album will be better sounding in all aspects.

Coming to the actual songs on the album — can you talk the readers of Resurrection magazine through these songs?

[1] The Summoning: Summoning’s my baby. I’m so proud of this song. It’s got a grand orchestral feel to it. It’s a great song to play live too. One of my favourite songs on the album.

[2] Carnival of Depravity: Carnival is a complex song; it’s very different from other DR songs — feel-wise, and structure-wise as well. It’s got a lot of energy. Warren’s done a brilliant job with the intro.

[3] Apocalyptic Dawn: We wanted to do something different with “Apocalyptic”. So, if you notice, it just flows from one part to another without any repetitions. It’s another of my favourite tracks [from the album]. Warren’s solo is just \m/

Please rate the following shows you’ve played on a scale of 1 to 10:

[1] Independence Rock XX: It was an average show as we got the opening band slot. I hate playing during the day but yeah, as compared to the previous experience it was good! No one got hurt this time. [Rating: 7/10]

[2] Great Indian Rock 2006: GIR Delhi was amazing! The Delhi venue was packed to full capacity and the crowd was just amazing. We got excellent sound thanks to Anupam on the console and we had the crowd going with “Frozen Portrait”. I saw this dude in the front row holding a DR poster!! Met him after the show, a lot of people told me they had come only to see DR. That makes you feel good, man! All you Delhi-ites rock!! [Rating: 8/10]

Bombay was disappointing. We had to open again which means playing in daylight. ARRGH!! That was as a result of Medusa dropping out. The crowd was disappointing and for most of the part non-responsive (except for one section). It’s boring to play to a dead crowd. [Rating: 5/10]

[3] NLS Strawberry Fields 2005: We were all ecstatic after qualifying for the finals after two years of trying. It was a special feeling to play there finally and the stage set up was straight from some black metal show. Huge roaring flames in front of the stage added to the Demonic stage act. That was the first time we played “The Summoning” and I would say we couldn’t have chosen a better venue to do so. [Rating: 8/10]

[4] Resurrection 4: All Resurrections have been fun to play. You know these people expect some metal and they’ve have come to see you play your music. That just makes you go on stage and give it your all. All Resurrections have had kick ass lineups and Resurrection 5 promises to be a hell raiser! [Rating: 7/10]

Do you have any final comments for the people reading this interview? What can people expect from you and DR in the future?

People can expect more Demonic Metal and since Pradeep has joined as our lead guitarist, you can expect some crazy solos from him. Cheers and stay Demonic.