Sri Lankan Metal on NONELOUDER.COM

http://www.nonelouder.com/profiles/blogs/sri-lanka-metal-this-year2008

One of my friends said about Jägerbombs " It's funny how it plays withyour emotions. One second you are so down because of the hard liquor,but the next you are hyper as hell because of the sugar in the RedBull. F*cking Jägerbombs!" And that's exactly how I feel as I writethis article.

I've been away from Sri Lanka-my birth place- for more than 6 monthsnow. And yes, I saw bands I absoloutely adore,met awesome people I'vebeen looking upto as inspirations since the times I could remember. Butthis year I also missed some of the highlights in the Arrack (a SriLankan alcoholic beverage distilled from the sap of Coconut) soaked,curry smelling history of Sri Lankan metal.

So going through a spasm of mixed emotions right now.

Civilization One

Something I sadly had to miss was Civilization One, as they played livein the TNL Onstage concert.Native Sri Lanka and Ex-Firewind,Avalon, RedCircuit man, Chitral "Chity" Somapala and his multi-nationalCivilization One, gave Sri Lanka her first taste of live,InternationalMetal.

And I missed it!!!

I mean, it is not too often you find serious minded,"not ultra-cheesy"power metal, and this band is just that! It is very serious art, withamazing musicianship in all departments, not to mention the wee bit ofpride we have for this band as Sri Lankans.

And I missed it!!! I missed headbanging with my favorite dark skinned, metalheads!

Civilization One myspace

A Daed Rose Wails For Light-brand new single by local heavy-weights Stigmata

Although I missed the launch of it, thanks to myspace I was able tolisten to the new single by a Sri Lankan band that is cable of givingyou multiple orgasms, leaving you in a seizure but wanting more.

I personally, and many online communities dedicated for Heavy Metalhave often described Stigmata's music as progressive metal with anobvious thrash core and massive vocal variation.

Stigmatahave been taking the recording process of their third full length albumpretty slowly, but the new single "A Dead Rosew Wails For Light" reallyspeaks why and promises a more technical, well produced album than everbefore. As an individual who has followed this band since its infancy,I know how this band has expanded its creative scope with everysingle,EP, and album released. Every record has been better producedthan the previous with better song writing and musicianship. With everyrecord Suresh's vocal range seems to grow by an octave or two more asAndrew's solos keep getting faster and explores more musical elementsthan before. Tenny's riff vocabulary keeps growing and the band'soverall sound moves a notch higher in quality with every step of theway.

The new single, unquestionably still retains the classic Stigmata soundof ultimate Thrashy-ness. Suresh still balances his high-pitched voicewith that "extreme" element as only a few vocalists do. Andrew'ssoloing is ofcourse nothing short of "neck-breaking" as the new BassistJaveen-affectionately called "Jack Sparrow" for his pirate-resemblinglooks- does some amazing bass work over the ever-thrashy drumming ofJackson, and Tenny's riffing. The track can be downloaded through theband' myspace,check it out for yourselves here-
http://www.myspace.com/stigmatasrilanka


The rise of "HELA" Metal and the noise scene

I'll start with noise.This has been said a million times, and here you hear it again.

Noise isn't for everybody. Let's not make this an oppurtunity todiscuss the "musical" qualities of noise.Save it for your employer!Having said it is not for everybody, it is a tad bit suprising to seehow many noise projects have pooped out from nowhere after the successof the likes of STALLAGH, given that noise is a pretty oldgenre-again,let's not debate about "genre",it gets tiring!

Anyways,yes it's been out there for sometime. Japan's Merzbow has beendoing it since the late 1970's I think, and arguably Whitehouse andSonic Youth and the likes can be considered as inspirations. However,the lack of craftsmanship is quite obvious in some of the independantprojects. But lately in Sri Lanka, there has been a huge rise forappreciation of noise,hence resulting in some bands,especially thosefrom the Black Metal wing, incoporating noise elements quitesuccessfully inot their music.

PLECTO ALIQUEM CAPITE deserve a mention. Again, if you are not a fan ofnoise, you will not enjoy this. But they definetely have somethinggoing on and if you want to check it out,here's the myspace.
http://www.myspace.com/plectoaliquemcapite

Now about the rise of Hela Metal. The term Hela in Sinhala-the nativeSri Lankan language-refers to the nationality of the majority SriLankans.Now this word literally means "Lions' blood", I will not boreyou with the folk stories about the term,but I think to have a genre bythat name is a pretty sweet deal I think.

Anyhow,I think the sub-genre was born when Sri Lankan Black Metallers Funeralin Heaven decided to explore new paths with their and startedincoporating Sri Lankan elements not only the music but in their songwriting too. The lyrics are highly inspired by Sri Lankan history,Ancient Wars etc...Frontaman Chathuranga Fonseka claims of extensivereasearch prior to writing songs, and as an individual who has beenwith the local metal scene for a long time you can expect no less thanquality music from him and his band. The band's myspace can be foundhere- http://www.myspace.com/funeralinheaven

Though the band has been doing this for quite sometime, a whole newbreed of "Hela" Metal bands was born this year. The bandRaaksha(literally meaning "Devil" in Sinhala) captures the whole "Hela"element into a more Folkish context with their use of traditionaldrums,Native Sri Lankan lyrics,spells etc..The band recently releasedtheir virgin single "Sidhapathini,which has a Sri Lankan chanterchanting a spell in the background. The single is suggested more to thepsychedelic crowd as it certainly contains an unexplicable flow whichcan be best described as trippy. The odd noise groove is defintelythere too. The track also features Marlin "Beelzebub"Jayakody,themastermind behind RAAKSHA playing tradional "YAK BERA",a percussion instruments from Sri Lanka.
RAAKSHA myspace-http://www.myspace.com/raakshalk

A new porject,Milk Drop Revalation has caught my attention. They tooproduce music inspired by patriotism,history etc...but uniquely themusic contains more of an ambient element,as opposed to heavy usage ofnoise. Ofcourse there's a fair bit of noise involved,but the musicalanatomy is rooted more with Black Metal with the raw vocals anddistinctive guitar distortion.
Milk Drop Revelation official facebook page

Well,that's how Lankan Metal has been in my eye. So all in all, I thinkit's been a pretty sweet year,and with Stigmata's record coming andbands like Funeral in Heaven and RAAKSHA going through th recordingphase,I have high expectations for next year from the local boys.

Now if you excuse me.........Jägerbombs

Mithia-The Metal Cracker