X-Mantra

x-mantra

Line Up:

Rojesh (vocals), Rakesh (guitars), Piyush (Bass) Rajan (drums)

Discography:

Crying For Peace Kurshi X-mantra (s/t)

Download:

http://www.soundclick.com/ktmrocks

Status

Active

Biography:

LET'S face it, we all hate politics, at least the way politics here in Nepal currently poses threats of uncertainty. Uncertainty and yeah, ironically, the very existence of the band responsible for making a huge impact in the underground metal scene with a harsh anti political statement in the form of a landmark debut album Crying For Peace, came really close to ‘uncertainty’ due to line up changes and personal preferences. When suddenly the founding bassist and guitarist had to leave the band right after the release of X-mantra’s second album Kurshi, the future of the band and the motive for continuation as a band seemed overtly blurred and to some extent unthinkable. "It was really hard for us," said Rajan Pradhan, drummer, "when two of our founding members left the band. Rojesh and me, we were really totally clouded with indecision whether to continue the band". However, with the undying passion and dedication to playing metal and eventually to help shape the snail-paced metal scene in Nepal, X-mantra is still here to drill metallic vengeance and shred even tiny traces of disbelief into pieces. Yeah Yuddha Ajhai Jari Nai Cha. Making their initial mark in the underground metal scene with a thrash metal album Crying for Peace that behold rooted and vengeful musical taste, serving up to lyrical inclinations with strict, concrete political connotations and social revelations, X-Mantra, with undeniable gravity, structured themselves marking the scene with a definite and aware stream of musical application which defied all the factions of labeled expectations and counter anarchical meetings. "The album did well enough to break any idealogical and musical barrier and even smashed the rumpled opinion of naysayers 'nepali lyrics and metal ? huh? '," exclaims the master of awesome vocal range, Rojesh Shrestha. The singles Shalik, Shahid and Chidiyaghar were explosive and soon the aftermath could be seen in the gigs where multitude of metal fans would start chanting and singing the mantric words along with the band. "I was totally amazed that they knew almost all the lyrics and would sing word to word with me", adds Rojesh. Stepping into the more faster and heavier realms of sonic torture their second album Kurshi, in many ways seemingly surrealistic yet fruitfully acclaimed, proved to be a static step into shaping communal underground perspectives and motivational factors. The follow up to the first album depicted a more brutally aware and musically elevating face of the band, which proved to be another milestone into the layering up of a legacy, critically acclaimed yet convincingly evolutionary. "We just wanted to be more heavier and faster without losing our own sound and groove. Even though hindered by incompetent mixing skills in the studio for one more time, the album solidified into a thrashy record with sporadic influences from death metal bands too", explains the vocalist. "Lyrically, the songs have the same messages of political, historical and social stories but delivered this time with more venom and spite. Songs like Jaa Maar, Raata Raat, Juka are a direct smack on the faces on the impotent social heroes". The legacy of X-mantra continues, their bold proclamation of Yuddha Jari Cha bravely tramples all the obstacles in the band's way. "Recently after the line up change, we entered Sacred Sounds to record our third album which is yet to be titled. We have tried to create a heavier side of balance between Crying For Peace and Kurshi", informs Rojesh. "We are so far happy with the recordings and mixing which is definitely far better than our two previous ones. We are planning on releasing the album soon after the Nepali New Year". Indeed, the Yuddha is still on.

UGRAKARMA

ugrakarma

Line Up:

Sunil (Vox/Guitars/Bass), Prateek (Guitar/Vox/Bass), Aayush (Drums/Bass/Vox)

Discography:

2001 - The Himalayan Metal Of Death (Demo) 2002 - Blood Metal Initiation

Download:

http://www.soundclick.com/ktmrocks

Status

Inactive

Biography:

Ugra Karma, the first Death Metal band from Nepal was formed in 2000 with the line up of Sunil (vocals and drums), Aayush (bass), Subash(guitars).Prior to this, all of the band members used to play with different bands. Back in Kathmandu University, Sunil, along side 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 the band because of musical differences. Later the band decided to change the lineup a bit so this time, the line up was Sunil 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 the "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 HongKong for the contest. They also perfomed 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 & Subash. In May 2001, Ugra Karma released their demo record called The Himalayan Metal Of Death with the line up of Sunil, Prateek and Aayush. Currently the band is recording their full length album which will be coming out soon. (Aayush has gone to USA for his further studies but he is still a member of the band.) For more info on UGRA KARMA visit their official website : www.ugrakarma.net

I2ST

inside 2 stoopid triangles

Line Up:
Anil (drums/vocals), Sushil (bass/vocals), Vishal (guitars/vocals)

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

Download:

Site:
http://www.geocities.com/officialstoopids

Status
Active

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."



(From Ktmrocks Mag Issue 4)

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."

Antim Grahan

Antim Grahan

Line Up:

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

Discography:

Forever Winter Tales From The Darkened Woods

Download:

http://www.soundclick.com/ktmrocks

Status

Active

Biography:

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.

CRUENTUS 'profile

Cruentus

Line Up:

Ranav (vocal), Allan (drums), Alice (Guitar), Brij (Vocal), Deepak (bass)

Discography:

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

Download:

http://www.soundclick.com/cruentus

Status

Active

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.

Ryan (Bass), Allan (Drums), Brij (Vocals), Alice (Guitars), Ranav (Vocals)

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.