Audiocancer magazine reviews dying out flames -shiva rudrastakam ...really a great and honest review ... In the over-saturated world of Death Metal, standing out is a key factor to be remembered. Every single week, there would be a Metalhead with his/her guitar trying to write a riff as a homage to their favourite bands but end up sounding like another clone. Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Vader and the list goes on. What that kid in that basement doesnt realize is that there is somebody else few hundred miles away, is also doing the same and probably has 3 albums worth of material. (In the case of Indonesia, it might end up every few meters. Kidding.) This problem becomes even worse due to the internet. Back then, when Death Metal bands gather, they play at the same gigs in their region, and thus creating scenes that have distinct sounds. Certain sounds were much more preferable in that enclave and is repeated by the other newer members of the scene. That distinct sound then become he identity of the scene. For example, one could easily guess that Morbid Angel is from Florida, due to their traditional Death Metal sound, a person could guess that Kreator is Teutonic because we know that form of Thrash Metal could only breed in that region. However, with the internet, we dont have those specific scenes, creating unique sounds that are native to a certain region. The whole world gets influenced by the same record that came from Gothenburg. Everyone starts adopting techniques and methods that are praised in the same blog/magazine that everyone reads. Now, it is a double edge sword. It is positive in the sense that now people get to be influenced by more bands around the world (like Slugdge, who end up being post-modern due to their vast influences) but it is negative in the sense that so many bands will sound the same as everyone tries to imitate each other, rather causing that unique local sound. This problem clearly affected modern genres like Metalcore or Deathcore where all those Myspace bands were trying to imitate that same band all at the same time, leading to a grave over-saturation. So how do bands combat this? Well, bands that fall in the 2nd category mentioned above, combine their influences as much as they can. Another way to do it, is to pick a certain sound that has been sparsely used in Metal before and reference your material to a certain civilization or a historical event. In other words, the band puts in the extra effort to isolate themselves from the wave of generic bands out there. Enter, Dying Out Flame, a band from Kathmandu, Nepal. Now, I little have information whatsoever about this obscure scene in the country. Apparently, they have a thriving scene and regularly have gigs from time to time. Its easy to underestimate a scene when you dont imagine huge metropolis associated with the town, unless youre in Norway. Dying Out Flame, takes the extra effort of being influenced by Eastern Classical music and scales on the guitar that imitates the folk music of Nepal, giving that specific identity you can hear from their sound. The guitar punches you in the face, just like your flavour of the week Death Metal but the melody lines can only be made if the writer actively tries not to imitate too much from their Metal heroes. This active isolation (or maybe its passive, considering how the scene is solated) certainly benefited them. The addition of traditional Hindu music, goes beyond, the exotic and strangely ethereal feel, and gets dropped into the brutal section of the music. Obvious comparisons would be bands like Melechlesh or Nile that uses a Middle Eastern scale that they actively confine themselves to. Fortunately the band went beyond confining themselves into those form of Oriental-esque scale and the band has included Nepal folk instruments. From the Indian sitar to the tabla, they accompany the chants and at times catchy guitar melodies and hard solid Death Metal riffs. The drumming is phenomenon due to the variety attached. Rather than going full on blast, the drummer is willing to step out of the traditional Death Metal spotlight, and allow the tabla to take its course. At times, both drums come together, creating a frantic tribal-like concoction. This priority on atmosphere, takes us to a different land that turns Death Metal into something more exotic rather than the visceral audio we have been served since the late 80s. It is even more helpful that Black Metal influence also seep in with tremolos, adding to the atmosphere. The band isnt afraid to take a step back needed when engineering the song. In fact, I also sang along to Om nama shivaye, Om nama bhagwata rudraye and the vocalist was growling! The melody line being stuck in my head shows how good are they as song writers. Aside from the Death Metal vocals, that sound a lot of like Vader, clean vocals come in to create that epic feel. A female singer was hired to give a calm, almost meditating like feel in Sanskrit, something that would well belong in a temple. An allegory I could point out to in the Gregorian Chants used in Ulvers Bergtatt. Just like how Bergtatt turned Black Metal into something beautiful, Shiva Rudrastakam turned Death Metal into music you can meditate to. The style, dubbed Vedic Metal, was not created by the band though. Singaporean Black/Death monsters, Rudra did it first. While Rudra focused on the grand themes of Hinduism through stories of epic battles, Dying Out Flame, sings about the philosophical side of Hinduism. This plays well in the atmosphere they carry on, where the Death Metal does not sound gory at any point but puts the listener into a state of transcendence. Similar to how Pagan Black Metal bands sing about the glorification of deities, Dying Out Flame praises the deities of Hinduism. Now, I do not know much about the content of Vedic scripture nor the tenets of Hinduism. From the English parts of the lyrics, I can only assume as so. The album though is not without its faults. While the band is able to create an amazing atmosphere for most of the album, the last track, Trinetra Dhari (Three Eyed One) sounded a bit out of place. They sounded as if they had one technical song with jazzy influences and just decided to slap it on the track. Now, the track isnt very technical but the sudden dissonant sound sort of distracted me when I was listening. It was just a minor gripe but makes me fear what is the future of this band. What I fear is that the band might thread to similar waters that a thousand western bands have done in the past. Taiwanese Black Metal band Chthonic, went through that exact problem. Most of their tracks then sound as if regular Melodic Black Metal with interludes of Taiwanese/Chinese folk music rather than a proper blend of both Black Metal and Folk. If this band wants to keep their identity, they need to make sure they do fuse the styles. With the advent of the internet, there are only 2 ways for bands to stay unique; active isolation or fuse styles from various influences. Dying Out Flame, managed to actively isolate themselves and made on hell of a record. Heres to them being more popular. audiocancer.blogspot/2014/08/dying-out-flame-shiva-rudrastakam.html
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 10:52:27 +0000