PHOTO courtesy: Avinash Gurung
BAPTISM BLASPHEMY- Day 1
Date: 23rd July 2011, Venue: Tamu Dhi, Pokhara, Time: 2pm
Bands: Alien Gods(India), Narsamhaar(Pokhara), Shannon Scam(Kathmandu), Dark Guree Amort(Pokhara), Overcome(Kathmandu), Aarakchya(Kathmandu)
Narsamhaar: They opened the show with their brilliant OC ‘Feeding on her honey wrapped corpse’ and the immediate effect could be seen. ‘Narbhakshi Khukuri’ was next. It has some brilliant moment in it with both guitarists shredding in sync. Brutal as fuck. I have noticed lately that they have completely changed this song and for good, their last composition was more thrashy. Next was their crowd favourite ‘God wants my blood’. Great stuffs guys. They ended the show with their new composition called ‘I’ll shove you 66(6) feet under’. My personal fav. It has some Goregrind influenced vocals and riffs. It was a short stint but fucking brutal one.
AARAKCHYA: Well this is a new band from Kathmandu and it showed throughout their performance. They did some popular covers and ended their show with an original. Don’t want to say much as this was their 1st show. There are rooms for improvements and I am sure they will improve. Good luck.
Dark Guree Amort: The band came out with a new line up. They were totally messed up last time in Brutalfest but not this time. They opened the show with a cover called ‘Bleeding’ by Cannibal Corpse and was excellent and did another cult classic cover ‘Raining Blood’ and did justice to it too. I was really looking forward to see their original. They then did ‘Slave of a broken fate’, brilliant guitar works and some great drumming. Good song. Next was their new original ‘lies behind the holy marks’, It was ,I must admit ,very nicely composed and well delivered.
OVERCOME: This is a new Hardcore band from Kathmandu. Well I really don’t remember their song’s title but they were pleasure to watch. All the Moshpit and circle pit were crazy. The band was tight as well. Would love to see this band again here.
Shannon Scam: This band has been in the scene for quite a while now. The aura created by overcome was taken to next level by Shannon Scam. The moshpit got even crazier. Very tight band. They had to forcefully stop their performance as some fight broke between the moshing crowd which was then intervened and calmed by the Cops. This was the first time I witnessed a fight in any concerts organized here. The fight made their set even EPIC(ker) ;)
ALIEN GODS: Well, this was the band I was looking forward to watch. They looked great when they first entered the stage fueling my expectations even more. By the time they started playing the crowd were already wild. They altogether performed around 7 crushing originals and the crowd responded amazingly. It was a great set. These guys surely know how to deliver. There was a short hiatus as a result of some cable problem of the guitarist but who cares I had a great time watching these guys.
The cops made the show end early than the allocated time angering the metal hungry crowd. Cops will always be cops. SWINE. And metalheads will always be metalheads. Great.
BAPTISM BLASPHEMY Day-2
Venue: OLD BLUES BAR, 24th July TIME: 8pm
BANDS: ALIEN GODS (INDIA), NARSAMHAAR (POKHARA), DARK GUREE AMORT (POKHARA)
Well just as we were trying to get over the Day 1 hangover we were again drenched into the chaotic environ of Day 2. The venue this time was Old Blues Bar but there were hardly any bluesy thing going on there as Metal heads poured in claded in black. All three bands were present right on time.
DARK GUREE AMORT started the show and played 4 songs. 2 covers and 2 OC called ‘Slave of a Broken fate’ and ‘Lies behind the Holy Marks’ (not sure about the title though). Impressive is the right word to describe their new OC. Right on the money. They did not had a very memorable show at ‘BRUTALFEST’ but they killed it on Day-1 and Day-2 of the show. I am looking forward to hear more originals from them.
Next up was NARSAMHAAR and they delivered exactly what one would expect from them despite the vocalist not feeling too well. Very tight and very very Brutal. If you have followed this band then you would notice that they have slightly changed their genre from thrash influenced Death Metal to more grind core influenced these days. A welcome change I must admit.
ALIEN GODS then took the center stage and continue the carnage that they started on day 1. The band never looked void or pale despite the original members quitting the band just weeks before the show. They never disappointed the Pokhreli crowd. Backed by some really good musicianship and showmanship this band is force to look forward to. I wish ‘em all the best.
The show concluded at around 10 PM and it was time to PARTY and hangout with each other. We could hardly keep track with the amount of ‘GORKHA Beer’ and ‘Jack Daniels’ that we consumed till we were hit by the BILL the other day.
(The show also saw Alien Gods selling their incredible EP ‘Lunar Blackened Death’ like hot cakes. Everyone who came with some extra money wanted their hands on the EP. Talking about the EP one could hardly complain about its quality be it its physical appearance or the quality of the recordings. Everything is spot on.
If you want to buy their EP then it’s on sale at Pokhara Musical House at Rs 250. Worth paying that small amount for the quality it has.)
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.