The Gathering Storm 2011

KOCHI: Die-hard metal fans were left on a euphoric high at the ‘The Gathering Storm 2011’, organised by the Moshpit concerts in the city on Tuesday. Fans from across the state gathered at Merchant Navy Club, Willingdon Island, to groove to the music fest, that brought together diverse music genres such as blues rock, reggae, post punk/ alternative rock, experimental instrumental, psychedelic rock, trash metal, heavy metal, death metal, black metal, and metal core.As many as 14 bands from Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Bangalore, come together for the fest much to the delight of the thousands who had arrived learning about the musical exravaganza either  from a friend on seeing the invitation on Facebook. Most of the bands did covers of international bands such as Metallica, Sepultura, Pantera, Black Sabbath and Slayer. Thiruvananthapuram-based heavy death metal band, ‘Alchemy Eclipse’ opened the concert with three of their own music covers and American thrasher Sepultura’s ‘War of Territory. Their own composition was a song on youth and terrorism. Though the show was slightly delayed, the intial hiccups were wiped off with the zippy performance delivered by major South Indian bands like Dark Desolation (Bangalore), Blind fate (Thiruvananthapuram), Kaav (Kochi), Grass Hoppers (Thiruvananthapuram, Black Water Blues (Alappuzha).Bands like Bestial Murder (Kochi), Trend Kill (Thiruvananthapuram), Black Letters (Kochi), Mushroom Lake (Thrissur), Darkest Red (Kochi), Dhwesha (Bangalore) matched up to the others giving  highly-enthusiastic performances. Wind Spring, one of the bands from Kochi, rocked the show with their new song on Mullaperiyar Dam issue. “It is dedicated to the government for not taking speedy actions on the Mullaperiyar issue,” said Rashik, guitarist of the band. The highlight of the show was a guitar performance by Baiju Dharmajan, one of the best guitar players in the country.Says Baiju, “The band scene in India lags behind by 25 years as compared to the international scene. But in Kochi it lags behind by 35 years. There is no one to support the bands in the country; there are hardly any recording companies. Parents too are not very keen on their children making a career in music, especially a band,” he adds.Blind Fate, a Thiruvananthapuram-based band stole the show with the crowd going berserk over the perfomance of its vocalist Sandeep. Grass Hoppers from Thiruvananthapuram was the only band not in the Metal genre. “The show relied solely on the ticket price. We didn’t seek sponsors this time. The ticket price was Rs 250,” says Arun, a member of the organising committee, who is also a percussionist with Kochi-based ‘Kaav’.Kaav, an instrumental band performed on six songs from their yet-to-be-released album. “In Kochi, there are hardly any rock concerts. We are expecting to bring more shows in the near future. Lack of sponsors is the main hurdle,” says member of Moshpit Concerts Vivek Chiramel.