You may not count on it from metal music, however there’s something for everybody on the upcoming second version of Stress//Test, a gig collection began by city-based organisers Spectral Decay, that includes performances by Dirge, The Earth Below, Megadrone and Maneating Orchid.
If you’re into ambient, psychedelic music, Megadrone will likely be ditching their guitars for modular and semi-modular synths and results on the gig. Founder Ganesh Krishnaswamy tells Metroplus that it’s going to be an hour of drone, spectral music and Seventies-inspired psychedelia and minimalist kinds. Given their strategy, Krishnaswamy — who is an element of stoner/doom metal band Bevar Sea and Kryptos — hopes everybody will get snug, stays off their telephones for some time and sit or lie down. “We have a generative video to complement the music, they will select to watch that or shut their eyes and nod off. The concept is for them to utterly immerse themselves, their bodily and psychological states, and journey for an hour,” he says.
For those that dig rock, grunge and noisy form of heavy music, Mumbai-based The Earth Below is making its reside debut at Stress//Test 2. It is the primary time that singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Deepak Raghu’s solo work will likely be carried out reside. As a drummer, Raghu has fronted sludge band Shepherd and sat in for seasoned acts together with Millennium, Bevar Sea and Dying Embrace, plus rock band Mad Orange Fireworks. When the time got here to put his personal band collectively for The Earth Below, there was a sure dread (logistically talking, at the very least) however jamming with guitarist Ashish Niraj Dharkar and drummer Shreyansh Kejriwal infused the correct amount of enthusiasm to get issues off the bottom.
There was no higher platform to launch The Earth Below’s reside set than Stress//Test, in accordance to Raghu. “We’ll be performing songs from our debut full-length Nothing Works Vol 2 in addition to highway testing some new materials that we’re at the moment engaged on.”
Plotting a launch of their very own are Mumbai-based band Dirge, who’re returning to carry out within the metropolis at one other Spectral Decay present (their final was in mid-2022). This time, they’re touring with their second album, a self-titled document spanning 40 minutes of doom and post-metal, out on March 10. Guitarist Varun Patil says, “We’re actually thrilled to be taking part in the complete album reside, particularly after getting such an awesome response over our singles.” Bengaluru holds a particular place for the band for being a receptive viewers each time they’ve performed through the years. There are CDs and merchandise of their new launch made obtainable on the present, with Patil noting he’s wanting ahead to share the stage with all the opposite artistes within the lineup.
Local mathcore/metal band Maneating Orchid’s vocalist Kaushal LS says they may preserve the power “frantic and unhinged” for the viewers to be on the sting. Their chaotic fashion of music makes that a straightforward job, finest heard on their debut album Miasma and the follow-up album Hive Mind. Kaushal, who additionally doubles up because the co-organiser of the present with DSimon Santiago, says Maneating Orchid particularly relishes lineups the place issues are unconventional, even inside metal gigs. “The bands on this invoice are completely stellar. Even although each band could have a reasonably completely different sound, the need to categorical our sincere inventive selves is what ties us all collectively. We’re fairly stoked to watch all of the bands on this lineup. It’s going to be wild!” he indicators off.
Spectral Decay presents STRESS//TEST 2 on March 12 at Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined, Koramangala. Tickets: ₹799 obtainable on Insider.in + ₹499 cowl cost payable on the gate.