Heretic is a 5 piece Alternative Metal band that comprises of Akhil Unnikrishnan (vocals), Abhijit Namboodiripad (guitars), Hareesh Kumar (guitars), Benjamin Thomas (bass) and Kevin Paul Richard (drums). The band was formed in 2005 in Cochin and has come a long way on the journey to create a sound of their own.

Before I’d seen Kaav play live at the Gathering Storm in 2010, I had no clue who they were or what genre of music they played. The trio threw in a mysterious Progressive Rock bordering on Psychedelic Blues set for what was predominantly, a Metal crowd. Many were bewildered, the rest in Trance. Two years later, the Kochi based band, Kaav has matured from its EP days to the development of a full-length album produced under the guidance of the legendary Baiju Dharmajan (ex-Motherjane, ex-Wrenz United) and even features him on some tracks. Kaav consists of Vypin Island localites - Shyam N. Pai handling Electric and Acoustic guitars, Shabeer P. Ali on Bass Guitar and Arun S. Kumar on Drums.

GODDESS GAGGED. A name I’ve been particularly keeping a watch out for. I don’t want to compartmentalise their music but I see a plethora of sounds in their music- PORCUPINE TREE, KARNIVOOL, TEXTURES, OCEANSIZE and a good amount of Post-Hardcore influences, each an elite from its respective genre of music. It is pretty cool how the GODDESS GAGGED sound has been shaped from a variety of these influences. I have mentioned the names of artists along with a review of each track to give a flavour of the album.

So what’s cooking in the underground metal scene for this month? We can count on the much anticipated album release by Delhi-based SKYHARBOR, the brainchild of Keshav Dhar to whip up some hardcore djent which borders on Ambient and Experimental Metal. It features appearances by Marty Friedman (Ex-MEGADETH), Daniel Tompkins (TESSERACT, HAJI'S KITCHEN, FIRST SIGNS OF FROST), Sunneith Revankar (BHAYANAK MAUT) besides many others, which would be announced soon. Judging by the demos distributed by SKYHARBOR on Soundcloud.com, what lies ahead in the album is set to be a class apart. This is Keshav himself sharing his experiences.(Photo Courtesy: Siddhartha Menon)

SPOOK is an Alternative/Pop Rock act based in Mumbai. The band comprises of Akshay Deodhar (Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Zain Calcuttawala (Drums/Percussion), Clavell Santiago (Violin), Anis Gandhi (Keyboard) and Sonam Lama (Bass/Vocals). The sound of the band, I must strongly point out, is very versatile. A listener is bound to look back and doubt as to whether he/she is actually listening to the same band throughout the length of the EP. The influences cited by the band are apparent in the music they make. There have been many times when I felt that the band struck very close to the GOO GOO DOLLS. Violin layers are gracefully laid out in the background of every track.

THE DOWN TRODDENCE is a Kannur-based Metal band comprised of Munz (Vocals), Ganesh (Drums), Sushin (Keys), Varun (Lead Guitar) Rinoy (Rhythm Guitar) and Nezer (Bass). They stormed into the Metal scene in "God's Own Country" with their (killer of a) debut single - DEATH VANITY, and followed through with a series tight gigs to meet the match. The band is now working on a studio album and a music video in an effort to set a higher notch for themselves. I have Munz, who handles vocal duties for the band, with me - sharing the ups and downs of the story so far.