The Pitch: The fifth full length album from one of India's longest running bands, Demonic Resurrection. Progressive, epic black and death with a concept surrounding the avatars of Lord Vishnu. Fleshgod Apocalypse, Elderblood, Rapheumetas Well
What I Like: I was shocked to see that this is the band's fifth album. It is criminal that I have never heard of them prior to now. The compositions are every bit as massive and heavy as mainstream acts like Dimmu Borgir, Septicflesh, and Fleshgod Apocalypse. The band utilizes everything from orchestral arrangments to traditional regional instruments (sitar, for one) to create a unique wall of sound; one that expands on the already impressive musicianship. Both the guitars and drums are highly technical in approach and utilize progressive structures that keep the songs from ever stagnating. The solos are showstoppers, and just the general level spectacle begs for an Amon Amarth-level tour. Furthermore, the production is vibrant and expansive without washing out the organic performances, and the cover art (Reuben Bhattacharya - Visual Amnesia) is gorgeous
What I Don't Like: The clean vocals get a little messy for me. I am very much in favor of this band keeping the performance varied as I think this is much more engaging than sticking to 100% death metal growls. However, Demonic Resurrection could use a little more work in making sure that the other styles are keenly written into the context of the larger composition and that the delivery itself is on key and pleasing to the ear. "Vamana - The Dwarf" is a good example of some vocal interplay that is headed in the right direction on an already solid song, but goes a little off the rails in terms of the actual delivery. "Buddha - The Teacher" on the other hand gets pretty grating during the melodic sections.
The Verdict: Dramatic, powerful, and very impressive. It's unfortunate that we don't have better coverage of metal music from this region...and more acceptance for its creation there, for that matter. India has put out some very talented groups, and I think that Demonic Resurrection is the best I've heard yet. Keep tightening up the vocals and lyrics, but you've done well. Somebody get these guys a bigger stage.
Flight's Fav's: Krishna - The Cowherd, Rama - The Prince, Matsya - The Fish