Nepali metal bands info

LINE UP:
Zivon Gurung - Guitars
Sandeep Gurung - Vocals
Rajkumar Gurung - Drums
Subash Karna - Bass

DISCOGRAPHY:None

DOWNLOAD: http://www.pkrrocks.com

GENRE: Black and Death

STATUS: Active

BIOGRAPHY:

Initially named as ‘BEHELD IN SHROUD’
Location: Pokhara
Year of Inception: 2006
Formed by: Zivon Gurung

Influences: Burzum, Emperor, Opeth, Cradle of Filth, Lamb of God

Album(s) released - None

They are more into performing their own originals rather than performing covers. Originals till date: 4 numbers with full composition with one nepali number called ‘Atripta Kaal ko Yatra’. All the songs written and composed by Zivon Gurung

Fav Local Band: Refused 13, Beyond, Cruentus, Albatross

Future Projection: to organize a gig on June 6, (667 theme concert) it should have been 666.

LINE UP:
Anil (drums/vocals), Sushil (bass/vocals), Vishal (guitars/vocals)

DISCOGRAPHY:
Ke Bhako Timi
Chup Laga Timi
Insert Album Cover Here

DOWNLOAD: http://www.geocities.com/officialstoopid

STATUS: InActive

BIOGRAPHY:

I2ST : Ramailo-core Punk !

Inside 2 Stoopid Triangles was formed in early 2001. Sushil, Anil and Vishal first met during a gig at Jump Club. Vishal was in 5th Grade Dropout back then and luckly for him Sushil (ex-Malai Dogle Tokyo and Rai Ko Ris) and Anil (ex-Malai Dogle Tokyo) were looking for a guitarist.

The band started as a trio, with the sole intention of having fun, since a lot of punk these days were more about preaching, and less about having fun. They created their own unique style of punk rock: Ramailo-Core punk, which is also a take on the thousands of “this-core and that-core” bands around.

Their first ever gig was at Upstairs, azimpat, “That place usually had jazz bands playing. We managed to piss the owner off by saying Hami pani jazz band ho,” reminiscences Sushil. The fun and a phenomenon called “Pissing people off anywhere anytime” had just started for the band. After the gig, Kshitiz, who was singing for Kottocks, joined the band.

“In 2001, our first ever album, Timi Ke Bhako, was recorded in Rai Ko Ris practise room. It was really raw a lot of early ’80s punk/hardcore influences are reflected in the album. We had to spend only Rs.200 to record that, and the recording was finished in just a day. We had one of the crappiest sounds ever, but the songs we recorded were some of our best. That’s what we think,” Vishal boastfully says.
“Back then, we had nothing to prove to anyone. We had perform in so few shows and we had not much of any background. So it was easy for us in some ways. We just wanted to create a rag-hanney music, just to have fun, make people irritated, dang-dung type of loud noise,” Sushil tries to explain. “We didn’t even know how to play our instruments properly.. hahaha,” Vishal adds again.

The second album “Chup Laga Timi” (which had Dhiraj Rai on the album cover) was recorded totally live at Studio 2000. “We had to record a song for Music Isles 2 compilation and were given a whole day for the song. After finishing the song in 2 hours flat, we recorded 13 other songs live in another hour, or maybe it was two,” informed Anil. “We made a huge mistake while recording “Ladai” for the comp. But no one noticed. Haha. One of the advantages of playing original music! But we think we played far better in the first album than in the second album. Chup Laga Timi was simple, hard and really fast. We took a lot of time for the second one. The first one has a lot more variety and ramailo-ness.”

The originators of Ramailo-core thus speak out: We started this band with one reason – to piss and rag people while we have fun doing it. Rag hanna lai nai form gareko ho. All of my friends were really good at playing their instruments and I wanted to piss them off with my style of playing. Babbal ramailo. We play what we like to play and that’s the most important thing. Everyone should do that.. make a choice to sing and play what and how one likes… jasto garey pani huncha ki hudaina.. ramailo huncha ki hudaina..

“There’s a huge politics in punk scene these days. It’s really rigid confined and narrow-minded. There’re lot of theories and statements, which we never want to follow. Anti-corporation, Anarchism, ke ke.. We hate the preachy mentality of a lot of punk rock these days. That makes people very intolerant, and intolerance was never meant to be a part of punk. Punk rock to us is about doing your own thing, thinking for yourself. We may not agree with someone’s ideologies but we don’t tell them “you’re wrong.” We have a lot of friends who don’t share our ideologies and we’ll play with anyone, regardless of whether we share the same philosophies or not.”

The band has been doing everything on their own since Day 1 – from organizing gigs to distributing albums. Vishal, along with Subel of Tom, Dick & Harry, have their own record label called Hamro Records Ramro Records. “People either hate our band or love our band. There is no middle path. We’ve always had a wicked sense of humor, and people who don’t understand us hate us and we’ve offended quite a lot of people. We’ve never tried to imitate foreign punk bands. We may share the same ideologies, but we know what works here and what doesn’t. We have our own take on what happens in this country, and we relate ourselves to that.”

Sushil muses on, “… Music matters the least, the people playing it matters. We matter. Why what and how we play, that matters. What kind of fun you are seeking, it all matters and then only the music matters.”

Their third album, which is as yet untitled, will have a change in sound. Vishal explains, “We still have our basic sound, but this time we’ve brought together a lot of our influences, which isn’t just hardcore or punk rock. There’s ska, there’s reggae and rap too. As usual, it’s going to be a ramailo album which everyone must listen. We have even improved our playing skills a little.” Sushil interrupts, ‘”And the recording will be cheap and will be recorded in the best studio of Nepal..hahaha.”

LINE UP:
Alice Shrestha – Lead Guitars / Vocals
Avinesh Rana – Rhythm Guitars / Vocals
Sudip Hada – Drums
Rohit Shakya – Bass

DISCOGRAPHY:
GOD OF DEATH EP

DOWNLOAD: Soundclick

STATUS: Inactive

GENRE: Progressive Death Metal

BIOGRAPHY:

Holocaust was formed by three guys Alice, Avinesh and Sudeep in mid 2002 in order to quench their thirst for DEATHMETAL; having a similar taste .They started by doing covers of foreign bands. Their first performance was at ALLIANCE FRANCISE on the auspicious occasion of the International Music Day. They are certainly acclaimed as one of the best death metal bands around. Now a days they are focusing more on their originals rather than covers.

These guys cite their individual influences as follows:-

Alice:
Kirk Hammet, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, Six Feet Under, Cannible Corpse, Deicide, Death, Cradle of Filth, Immortal, Pantera, November’s Doom, Burzum, Dusk, Faraz Anwar, Sepultura etc

Hada:
Vinnie Paul, Lars Ulrich, Nick Menza, Nikko McBraine, Black Street, Death, Vader, Dream Theater, Testament, Beatles, Carcass, Opeth. etc.

Avinesh:
Alexi Laiho, Chuck Schuldiner, Dave Mustaine, Marty Friedman, Inflames, Lamb of God, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Metallica ,Slayer, Dusk etc

Rohit:
Flea, John Myung, Alex Webster, Billy Sheehaan, Stu Hamm, Victor Wooten, Noel Redding, Ytimk, Cliff Burton, Dying Fetus, Cryptopsy, Hate Eternal, Gordian Knot, Liquid Tension Experiment, Steve Vai.

Favourite local bands/musicians:

Cruentus, Plebian, Naïve, Karmavalanche, Sarthak, Dead Soul.

They have recently finished recording their first album entitled God of Death in BMI studios, which consists of their originals God of Death, Unparalled Divinity, Bleeding Throne, House of Pain, Broken Silence, Frailing to Kill. They explain that they arrange their music individually and later as a group, and Hada and Alice do the job of writing lyrics. Their lyrics are related to sadism, current scenario and inner expression. They comment that in the current local scene bands are increasing which is a good sign but also remark that the scene needs more quality than quantity. Their aggressions are ironically towards the poor sound system in gigs and some of the pretending metal fans who think stating and presenting themselves as metal fans is COOL .Their future resolutions are to preferably continue the band till possible. All the band members are involved in other side projects and Avinesh is soon to come up with his interesting one man band SADIST. Wish them luck and a more stealthier projection of their aggression!!

LINE UP:
Almoda Upreti- Vocals/Keyboards
Anish Bhandari- Drums
Bardan Pradhan- Bass
Deep Samsher Rana- Guitars/backing vocals
Iman Bikram Shah- Guitars

DISCOGRAPHY:
April 18, 2007 - Currently in the studio, First LP on progress

DOWNLOAD: None

GENRE: Hard-rock

STATUS: Inactive

BIOGRAPHY:

Formed in February 2006. Played various gigs playing covers of classic 70’s Hard Rock and 80’s Heavy Metal bands. No permanent vocalist initially. Vocals were covered by guest vocalists Sarthak Upadhyay, Karan Pal, Garima Gurung and Ranav Adhikari until November 2006 when Almoda Upreti joined as a permanent fixture on vocals and keyboards.

Working on a new EP to be released soon and a full length LP by the middle of this year.

LINE UP:
Raju (Lead), Bhuwan (Bass/Vocals), Ganes (Drums), Kumar (Guitars)

DISCOGRAPHY:
Album on progress

DOWNLOAD: http://www.soundclick.com/ktmrocks

STATUS: Inactive

BIOGRAPHY:

Straight out of Pokhara, Grease (Rage Of Angels) is that anger channeled into gigantic slabs of sonic aggressions. There is aggravation that comes from their dark environment . There’s no trace of romance in their devastating metal-on metal grind, delivered with hardcore intensity and viewpoint that rivals and challenges against the dying life. Grease (Rage Of Angels) takes their music seriously, but never without sacrificing their trademark urgency.

“Our music is like our attitude. It’s very upfront, and maybe obnoxiously, offensively in your face, but hey, that’s us. We believe in this more than anything else in our lives, the fact that we started it in the first place and have taken it so far has helped our lives out individually so much. It gotten us away from drugs, it gotten us out of trouble and given us a purpose. It is a positive outlet for a lot of negative emotions. ”

We think people realise that we’re into misfit music above everything else. If we were just using the music to get on a stage, we’d be bloody stupid to be in a hardcore band because this music, loud fuck-off guitar noise is what we are into. Our friends think we are mad but they know it’s what we believe in and they respect that.

Grease (Rage Of Angels) doesn’t play brass-nuckled music from the street they play music so blunt and honest that it hurts. ” We are Nepali 100%. That’s what inspires us-every environment, it’s all from our environment. It’s not just Nepal; the song can about any country and places. The problems are always the same:drugs,racism,crime,corruptions and violence. When you see somebody you know dies, you realise how short life is. How can you not be fed up with it all? ”

“If you are into what you are playing that’s the most important thing. If it sells or not atleast you are happy doing your own shit. We are never looking to play big stadiums we are happy doing small clubs. Just stick to your own shit and if you are true to ur shit you can never go wrong”

Current activities:

They were the single unsigned band to record a song on the compilation which is about to release straight out from Hong Kong, and apart from that they are busy recording for their forth-coming album in H.K which is believed to be butt kicking, brain shattering and offcourse head banging.

LINE UP:
Bibek - guitars
Rajiv - guitars
Pranay - bass
Bibek - drums
Pushkar -vocals

DISCOGRAPHY: None

DOWNLOAD: Deadefy @ myspace

GENRE:Blackened Death

STATUS: Active

BIOGRAPHY:

Initially named as: DEAD DEFY
Location: Kathmandu
Genre: Metal
Year of Inception: 2005

Influences: Slayer

Fav Local Band: Ugra karma, Cruentus and almost all active bands.

About:

The band was formed by Bibek (guitars), Pushkar (drums) and Binay (vocals and bass) and used to cover Sepultura back then. Two new guys- Rajiv (bass) and Bibek (drums) joined in after Binay left, so Pushkar started with vocals. Finally, Pranay walked in for bass and Rajiv switched to guitars to complete the current line up. Deadefy covers only Slayer in concerts so it is also a Slayer tribute band.

Gigs played so far:
3 gigs - One Nation Underground at MPC, Show No Mercy at NMC and Hell Awaits-II at NMC.

Songs:
Till now the band has only covered Slayer on stage but are working on the originals and so far have completed 4 originals. The band is about to record two songs titled “Sovereignty of the Evil” and “Beast of Burden”

For the fans of:
Slayer and death/extreme metal fans

Line-up: Yuskey K.C. –Vocal
Yuvash Vaidya- Keyboard
Prabin Lal Manadhar- Drums
Kritagyan Shrestha- Bass
Nikhil Sikarmi- Guitar
Bhavin Pradhan- Guitar

Formed: mid- 2008
Genre: Experimental/ Progressive Rock
Status: Active

With intentions to create atmospheric, experimental and dynamic music, Stairs Of Cirith has just started getting involved in the local scene. The band comprises of similar aged musicians who have different musical taste but a common musical direction and ideas.

Seeing a good platform to perform in, they entered the 5th KCM Music Competition. They not only came first in the initial round, but also won the competition. The band was very much appreciated for their originality and the dynamic nature of their compositions. After this big break, SOC has been actively involved in the ktmROCKS scene playing in the Underground Uproar IV and Scene: Unseen.

The entire band was lifted when they performed ‘Sano Prakash’ with the incredible Sunny Tuladhar (Shadows, ex- Atomic Bush/Elysium). Psychologically lifted with such moments, the band has been concentrating on creating dramatic, virtuoso, progressive, yet heavy music. As the individual members draw influences from many genres of music, their main focus is to write materials that bring together all their influences and form a unique sound.

Influences: Everything.

Favourite Local Band: Atomic Bush, Karmaavalanche, Baking Space Cake, Lost Oblivion, Vhumi, Ushmaweg, The Time.

Line Up:

Bijil Shrestha - Guitars
Joseph Sthapit - Vocals/Guitars
Sam Limbu - Guitars
Srijan Bhattarai - Drums
Tandin Wangchuk Sherpa - Bass Guitar/Vocals

Formed: 2009
Genre: Black/Progressive Metal
Status: Active

Formed in the early 2008 by the students of Xavier Academy, the band performed in the 5th KCM Inter college event and other programs in the college as well. But the band did not show up in the underground gigs until the IDES OF MARCH IV organized by ktmROCKS.

Earlier, the band used to play heavy metal numbers in the college programs until Bijil joined the band in 2009. The band then emerged into a black-metal band with touch of progressive metal music. The band members then decided to name their band as “Spells Of Prophecy” during the 5th KCM Competition. The band name itself signifies the type of music they play. The band is highly into composing songs with powerful guitar riffs and melodious guitar solos with dual vocals and odd timings. Their originals contain the theme related with the darker side of the life.

The band is now currently focusing on their original compositions. Their future resolution is to preferably continue the band till possible.

Spells of Prophecy is currently active and is planning to record their first single named “Asafal Chu Ma”

Influences:
Opeth, Lamb Of God, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Dream Theater, Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom, Dark Tranquility, Emperor, Pantera, Cradle Of Filth

Favourite Local Bands:
Antim Grahan, Cruentus, Atomic Bush, Karmavalanche

Line up:
Kisor Tamang - guitars / vocals
Sumit - lead guitars
Sagar Tamang - bass
Rasu Raj Karnikar - drums

Formed: 2009
Genre: New age / Metalcore
Status: Active

Formed in 2009, the band was formerly named ‘Black September’ and had been performing in various local gigs, competitions since the early 2004. The band, however, had not been involved in the underground scene and was rather a dormant band until they finally started playing in metal gigs recently.

The band did not have any originals under their former name and did not even have a definite genre or stream to follow. Sumit came is after their first guitarist quit the band. The band then began composing originals and because of their love for aggressive guitar riffs, breakdowns, odd time signatures and dual vocals, the band headed towards the new age/metalcore approach of the music.

The band’s originals contain elements of both aggressive breakdowns filled metalcore along with the dark and mysterious themes of symphonic black metal and guthenburg metal.

Black Sins Immortal is currently active and is planning to record their first album.


Influences:
Parkway Drive, As I Lay Dying, Dimmu Borgir, Dusk, Vital Remains, Mayhem, Origin, Gorgoroth, Emperor, Burzum, Slipknot, Ebony tears, All that Remains, The Black Dahlia Murder, Kreator, Lamb of god

Favourite local bands :
Vhumi, Lost Oblivion, Shannon Scam

LINE UP:
Ranav- vocal
Allan- drums
Alice- Guitar
Brij- Vocal
Deepak- bass

DISCOGRAPHY:
Massacre of the Holy One (EP)
Asantusta Aatma (Full Length Album)


STATUS: Inactive

BIOGRAPHY:

Cruentus has gone through another line up change as Ryan Jordan has left for Singapore to persue his higher studies. Deepak Shakya (ex Mystic) has taken over the bass guitar duties.

OLD BIO

The history of the formation of the band doesn’t go to far back, as they were formed about a year ago when Brij and Alice, having similar taste in music, decided that they wanted to do something about it. But they really had no idea how to go about getting the other band members. Hence they resorted to their friends Mahendra, Adoit, Girish. And the first ever ones to be names ‘Cruentus’ were Brij on vocals, Alice on lead guitar, Mahendra on rhythms, Adoit on bass, and Girish on the drums. With this line up they did played a few gigs covering sepulture songs.



Few months into their journey, they faced trouble as three of their members Mahendra, Girish and Adoit decided to leave the band to continue with their further studies. Mahendra left for UK, Girish went to Bangalore and well Adoit too wanted to concentrate more on his studies so, they left Brij and Alice in square one again. Five months went by before Brij and Alice made any progress with their search for new members. When, finally Allen, Ranav and Ryan came to their rescue. Well Allen is actually Alice’s brother and the other Ranav and Ryan met in high school. And the new and the current line up of the band is Brij on vocals, Alice on guitar, Ranav on second vocals, Ryan on bass, and Allan on the drums.



But just being another face in the crowd of the newly arising bands was not enough for these guys, they wanted to make a mark and well they have as they have chosen black metal as their genre. Why black metal and not anything else? “we find it very creative and unique and we wanted to expose the Nepali music scene to something new as the music being played in the concerts were becoming very monotonous,” says Ryan the bassist.
They came out with their first single called “Massacre of the holy ones.” Mahendra, their ex-guitarist, has helped them in many ways although he himself is in UK. You can almost count him as their sixth member as he is constantly sending materials for the band to work with. Anywayz when asked what the single was about they said “it is self explanotary, it speaks for itself”
Currently they have 2 other singles to their name, “Unknown Warrior” and “Bless me with thy Pain.”



The band indicates their influence as Immortal, Emperor, Burzum, Satyricon, Dark throne and so on.

LINE UP:
Pawan - Vocals
Samip - Bass
Prajwol - Drums
Pramithus - Guitar
Sushovan - Guitar

DISCOGRAPHY:
None


STATUS:
Active

GENRE:
Death Metal

BIOGRAPHY:

Formed in 2005 by the students of Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel. Winner of 2nd annual KCM Intercollege Music Competition. The band’s major influences include Sepultura, Pantera, Cannibal Corpse, Cryptopsy, Nile, Macabre and their favorite local bands are Breeding Pestilence, Atomic Bush, Albatross, Nastik, Cruentus, Holocaust and Karmavalanche.

LINE UP:

Khagendra- Vocals
Krishna- Guitars
Yoban- Guitars
Niraj- Bass
Pujan- Drums


“The Band’s history does not go too far. It was 2002 when we realize that we got some potential in us. So we started jaming up regularly. We used to jam up before but hadn’t formed a band . In 2002 we formed a band. We did covers for time being until we named our band as Epitaph. Then we started composing our own stuffs. After every member passed slc, we got together regularly and jammed.”



Friends since their childhood, the members are Khagendra Raj Ghale on vocals, Krishna Gurung & Yoban Gurun on guitars, Niraj Dhakal on bass and Pujan Manandhar on drums. All band member have their own influences and thus the mix up is able to form a tight band. So far the band has completed three originals, “Murdako Desh”,”Silhouettes” and “Binasak Agragnya”



The band is working their ass off for more originals “Sceptre of Dying”, “Barbaric Regulation” and “Campaign of Terror”.



Soon the band is moving to Studio 2000 for their first ever recording.

contact band : vex_infinium@hotmail.com

Band Members
Sunil - Guitars, vocals
Aayush - Drums
Prateek - Bass

Subgenres:

Ugra-Karma is a Sanskrit term that denotes a bad, harmful action.

What greets you when you open the website of Nepal's first death metal band, Ugra Karma, are the following words: "Welcome to the official death page of Ugra Karma. The first death metal band from the Kingdom of Nepal."

The band has a new album "Blood Metal Initiation" coming out soon. "The album has 11 songs available on both CDs and tape," Sunil Dev Pant, the frontman of the band, recently told SPOTLIGHT. "It's a follow up to our demo CD," Sunil says. "The lyrics are about hatred, nihilism, atheism, death, torture, gore, serial killers etc."


How could such gruesome and ghastly themes draw the attention music lovers in Nepal? "I was surprised myself when we received the awards," says Sunil. "Maybe some things only can happen in Nepal. We're probably the world's first death metal band to come onto the charts."

Ugra Karma recently topped the charts of Hits FM in Kathmandu. "It was the most amazing thing that ever happened," Sunil says. "These things do not even happen in the United States. This kind of music does not have a large audience. Maybe we were nominated because of the entirely different kind of music we play."

The band, which originates from Kathmandu, is a three-piece outfit playing old-school-style death metal. In May 2001, Ugra Karma released their demo record with the line-up of Sunil, Prateek and Aayush. It has survived with the line-up of Sunil (vocals and drums), Aayush (bass), Subash (guitars). All the members used to play with different bands.

Back in Kathmandu University, Sunil, along with Prateek, used to be in a band in which he used to "growl and abuse" his guitars. Aayush also used to play bass with a band named Yasht but he quit because of differences.

Later the band decided to change the line-up a bit. Sunil was on vocals and guitars, Aayush on drums, Subash on lead and Roshan on bass. They gave their first performance at Kathmandu Utsav 2000 in which the band bagged the prize for Best Rhythm Guitarist.

Their next performance was at Shikhar Beat Contest in which they had to change the line-up with Prasant on bass, who came all the way from Hong Kong for the contest. They also performed at "Metal-A Big Day Out" in which they performed covers of the bands like Slayer, Sepultura, Sodom and also two of their original compositions, this time with the line up of Aayush, Prateek, Sunil and Subash.

"Death in its purest form is what we represent," says Sunil. "We are getting ready for a gig with Subash and Prateek soon. Aayush left the country recently for studies in the United States, but he hasn't left the band."

LINEUP:
Anuraag (vocals), Sunny (Guitars), Diwas (Guitars), Avaya (Bass) and Dipesh (Drums)

DISCOGRAPHY:
HighFly (a full length album)

DOWNLOAD:http://www.geocities.com/therag

STATUS: Inactive

BIOGRAPHY:

The history of the band starts quite some time before it was actually formed. Back in their pre-SLC days (1997), Sunny and Avaya played in a band called “Applesauce” along with Massismo (Max). Max played bass, Avaya played the drums, and Sunny handled both the mic and the guitar. Covering artists such as Alice in Chains and Silverchair, Applesauce played a variety of live shows, establishing itself as a band that loves to perform. However, despite a promising future, it seemed that the band was destined to fail. In 1998, Max had to leave for Denmark, and while this deprived them of a nifty bassist and a close friend, their approaching examinations seemed to spell the word doom.

After surviving their exams, however, Sunny and Avaya planned to do anything but sit around feeling voiceless. The only problem was that with Max gone, the band was incomplete. It was around this time that Avaya started fooling around with a bass guitar, and discovered something very strange… he actually enjoyed it!. A few more slap-and-pops were enough to convince him that it was time to trade in his sticks for a plectrum. Looking for other musicians to help complete a group, the band came across Dipesh. Even though they had been friends for quite some time, no one had any idea that Dipesh could actually play drums. At that time, Dipesh was playing drums in his school band “Saboteur”, and after seeing him play, they knew they had found their new drummer. All it took was a little persuasion and a lot of threats (hehe), before Dipesh agreed to play with them. And with Nitesh on vocals, and Sunny handling axe duties again, “Albatross” was born.

While the whole music scene of Nepal revolved around hard rock and heavy metal, the band ripped through cliches with their furious live shows and their covers of unconventional bands like Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers. They performed quite extensively and became a regular feature at the Bamboo’s Club in Thamel. “Nitesh used to hang out with us and his style really reaped the hell out of my brains”, Sunny says. At this time, Albatross also recorded a single “Broke 17″, a track that pays tribute to one of their favorite bands, Rage Against the Machine, with its choppy riffs and jacked up rap. “We were (and are) really influenced and inspired by RATM and so we recorded a song Broke 17. It was recored at the Sacred Soundz Studio and produced by one of the coolest people in the world: Iman Bikram Shah”, the band says. Although this single failed to get the airplay it deserved, the band continued playing live shows (the lifeblood of Albatross), and even jammed with Axata at various events. Then, with Nitesh deciding to take a break from vocal duty, the band decided to take a slightly different musical direction and along came Sirish from Monkey Temple on vocals. With his distinguishing ability to throw his voice amazingly high, the band found that they could now play many other styles of music as well. ” With [Sirish] Dali we started playing covers of Korn, Creed, Pantera, Pearl Jam, Iron Maiden, etc. at our various gigs. And to top it all off, our new tastes helped us develop our original work as well.” The band recorded another single, titled “hellskitchen”, a metal-meets-rock track that features a very tight string section and precise drumming along with some lung-stretching vocal feats. The track has been featured on the Muzik Isles compilation album, and although it has fallen prey to poor mixing, any Albatross live show will bring this song up to its full potential.

The band had just barely begun to relax when it faced problems again. Sirish had to leave Nepal in order to continue his studies in America. The band was without a vocalist, yet again. Not knowing what to do, Sunny and Avaya thought things over and decided to take a risk. About a month ago, they had seen another band play at a GAA gig in Thamel. The band had just been starting out and went by the rather comical name of “Mop Handle Mama”. They decided to call up Diwas and Anuraag from MPH and jam with them for a while, and see how things went. To everyone’s surprise, they discovered they all had similar tastes in music, and their ideas about music flowed in pretty much the same direction. And so, after a month of heavy headbanging followed by some heavy bonging, Anuraag and Diwas officially joined Albatross.

Wishing to take the band along slightly darker and heavier roads, they are all dedicated to churning out the heaviest music they can. Twin-riffing and thrashing out solos with a characteristic precision that still houses the fury of the bands they are inspired by, the string section of the band, comprised of Sunny and Diwas, has attained a new heaviness that is multiplied by the slam of Avaya’s versatile bass-playing: from the teethy crunchiness of a full-blown metal song, to the engine-smooth groove of funk-rap inflection. Influenced heavily by Korn and RATM, Anuraag revels in pushing his voice to the limits and more than compensates for any lack of through frenzied doses of banging the very blood out of his head. And with the unique skinslamming abilities and almost jazzlike timing of Dipesh’s drums, Albatross is indeed flying high. In more ways than one.

CURRENT STUFF:

The band is working on its first ever full-length album. Wishing to address various topics such as the recent rather disheartening slander of the band’s name and more seriously, the state of the country, they would like to take their time and come up with meaningful songs that have all the “force and power of a punch to the gut”.

“We want to come up with songs that have indomitable strength and fury. Something as brutal as Pantera and yet with all the intelligence of Rage Against the Machine. When we get on stage, we want to be able to just explode… so that the sky and the ground change places for us. Nothing beats racking the hell out of our respective instruments and having a good time. And that’s the biggest factor in it all: Playing live. And having a fucking kickass time doing it.”

Members:

Rojesh Shrestha
Sandeep Tuladhar
Ritesh Shrestha
Anuj Shakya

Think of the loyals of metal music in Nepal and you’ll think of young boys and some adult men banging their heads with metal heavyweights like Megadeth and Metallica. And think about the first metal band of Nepal and you’ll surely think about the one and only X- MANTRA. They have already gained a solid cult following in the valley and their music and their influences have also made quite an impact on other major cities of Nepal.
Their first album made quite good impact on the Nepali metal scene. Now with so much to look forward to and new metallers emerging from the call of the metal pioneers, Nepali music (metal, in fact) can start anew itself.
X-MANTRA comprises of Rojesh Shrestha on vocals, Sandeep Tuladhar on lead guitars,Ritesh Shrestha on the bass guitar, and Anuj Shakya on the drums.
Their first single "Shaleek" was featured in Music Isles Compilation, which became one of the most recognized songs in the concerts. Shortly after that compilation, the band released their debut album "Crying For Peace"

Parash – vocals
Pankaj – guitars
Niraj – keys
Sabin – drums
Sunny – bass

With almost an apocalyptical name, Black Metallers Antim Grahan has returned once again to scorch the underground scene of Nepal. Formed in the early 2004, Black Metallers Antim Grahan rise from Kathmandu. The band took a hiatus for about 2 and half years when the front man of the band went abroad for his further studies, but as now he has returned, they are back in business with a few line up changes. Fronted by the vocalist Parash, Antim Grahan is Pankaj on guitars, Sunny on bass, Niraj on keys and Sabin on drums. The band has undergone a few line up changes as few of their members left the band due to their personal reasons. The band took out an EP titled 'Forever Winter' which was a joint production of KTMROCKS RECORDS, Mingmar Dolma Lama and Antim Grahan.

Antim Grahan is the first band to have a record deal in the history of Nepali metal scene. They got the label of KTMROCKS RECORDS which happened to be the first record company in Nepal for the local underground metal scene. The EP, 'Forever Winter' got an overwhelming response from the metal fans which created an immense popularity of the band in the underground metal community around the country. Songs like 'Infected' and the title song itself 'Forever Winter' was a massive success.

The band says that their music is representation of pain, suffering and sinister realms of dark fantasy worlds. About their music, the band says "We really don't want to give away any messages to our listeners whatsoever coz the whole music is represented in a very story like way, more of like fairy tales with a very dark and painful ambience and bitter endings. So all we want is that the people enjoy our music and have totally fuckin' awesome time while listening."After a very good response from the fans from underground community for their debut EP, "Forever Winter", they came out with their second album titled "Tales From The Darkened Woods". This album by the band had come in a very short time off its release of their first EP, but their 2nd album was much improved technically and musically. 'Tales From The Darkened Woods' is much more bigger, better and heavier then their first effort.

Carrying on to the melodic level that the band has been going on, they experimented with traditional 'Flute' on their 2nd album. This is the first time in Nepal that any underground metal band has introduced these kinds of experiments. The new album contains a very well received cover version of 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' originally by Iron Maiden. Again, this album was out on KTMROCKS RECORDS.Which started as a melodic black metal approach, now the band is craving towards a bit more brutal genre of the music that they play after their reunion after a long pause.

With already one EP and a full length debut album to their name, having not only Nepal but worldwide appreciation of both their effort in the countries such as Estonia, Slovakia, UK, USA, India, Australia etc, they are coming out very soon with their third outing which promises to be a one to be awaited for. After a long hiatus and with a few line up changes, Antim Grahan looks better then ever. And by the looks of things the supremacy of black metal has certainly begun.