Thursday, June 30, 2011
Woodeater
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Drink and Be Merry
Still rather noisy because the original was underexposed (because of the shutter speed and dim light), and had to apply exposure compensation during post-processing.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Setting Sun
f/5.6 at 55mm, ISO 100, Shutter Speed - 1/400
Could have chosen a narrower aperture with a higher ISO setting to render the clouds sharper.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Review : Araxas - Das Ende Der Gezeiten
As mentioned in a previous review, depressive Black Metal is a widely liked as well as widely bashed genre of music. Only few bands (which are mostly solo projects) can manage to successfully execute this genre without being repetitive in the process.
Araxas is the solo project of Leonhard Waltersdorfer, which started out as a Symphonic Black Metal project, but soon changed to Depressive Black Metal. But do not judge this as a typical one-man ambient/depressive black metal band that aims to achieve its goal with boring, droning riffs with songs going nowhere. Being a formally trained musician in classical music really aids Leonhard to compose musical pieces with the right combination of notes to effectively invoke a feeling of gloom and despair.
The demo titled Das Ende Der Gezeiten is his third, and in my opinion the best out of the 5 demos he has put out. I would place it among my favourite demos/albums from the genre. Musically, the demo is rather well-written and well-recorded for a depressive black metal demo. The songs contain elements typical to the genre. For example, the piano parts of in the intros of Am Abgrund Der Welten and Das Ende Naht, but the difference is that they do not seem to be fed into the songs for no reason, and coherence is maintained between the intros and the songs. The guitar tone is similar to that of bands like Shining and the right use of acoustic guitar and piano at the right places makes each song interesting, despite their length. The drums parts are not very remarkable, and play at constantly slow pace, but speed up/blast at times. Leonhard's vocals on the demo are remarkably spine-chilling inhuman shrieks, and easily some of the best in the genre. Every song in the demo keeps a constant hope-crushing atmosphere though not the kind one would describe as "cold" and "grim", achieved simply by droning a single riff over and over, but actual melancholic melodies that can be pleasing to hear at the same time.
The demo is highly recommended for fans of this genre. Demos can be downloaded for free at http://www.myspace.com/araxasaustria
Or contact Leonhard to order your copy if you want to support his music.
Araxas is the solo project of Leonhard Waltersdorfer, which started out as a Symphonic Black Metal project, but soon changed to Depressive Black Metal. But do not judge this as a typical one-man ambient/depressive black metal band that aims to achieve its goal with boring, droning riffs with songs going nowhere. Being a formally trained musician in classical music really aids Leonhard to compose musical pieces with the right combination of notes to effectively invoke a feeling of gloom and despair.
The demo titled Das Ende Der Gezeiten is his third, and in my opinion the best out of the 5 demos he has put out. I would place it among my favourite demos/albums from the genre. Musically, the demo is rather well-written and well-recorded for a depressive black metal demo. The songs contain elements typical to the genre. For example, the piano parts of in the intros of Am Abgrund Der Welten and Das Ende Naht, but the difference is that they do not seem to be fed into the songs for no reason, and coherence is maintained between the intros and the songs. The guitar tone is similar to that of bands like Shining and the right use of acoustic guitar and piano at the right places makes each song interesting, despite their length. The drums parts are not very remarkable, and play at constantly slow pace, but speed up/blast at times. Leonhard's vocals on the demo are remarkably spine-chilling inhuman shrieks, and easily some of the best in the genre. Every song in the demo keeps a constant hope-crushing atmosphere though not the kind one would describe as "cold" and "grim", achieved simply by droning a single riff over and over, but actual melancholic melodies that can be pleasing to hear at the same time.
The demo is highly recommended for fans of this genre. Demos can be downloaded for free at http://www.myspace.com/araxasaustria
Or contact Leonhard to order your copy if you want to support his music.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Randomness : Attempt at writing lyrics
Poltergeist
Movement, by an unknown source
Movement, by an unseen force
Events you cannot explain
You try to use logic, but in vain
A knock on the door, a shrill in the dark
Sends a shiver down your spine
Time seems to slow, but the clock's hands turn fast
Objects rise and fall, would you last
Against this unseen terror out to get you
A spirit was offended but you never knew
Manipulating forces, defying nature
Only to fulfill its thirst for wrath
Horrifying, haunting, but it seeks bloodbath
Feeding on your fear it grows stronger
You panic, try to escape, but it will last longer
Its not a dream, but you wish it was
But reality is stranger than a dream can ever be
Doorways open and you expect a demonic figure
But the cold winds greet you mockingly
Movement, by an unseen force
Events you cannot explain
You try to use logic, but in vain
A knock on the door, a shrill in the dark
Sends a shiver down your spine
Time seems to slow, but the clock's hands turn fast
Objects rise and fall, would you last
Against this unseen terror out to get you
A spirit was offended but you never knew
Manipulating forces, defying nature
Only to fulfill its thirst for wrath
Horrifying, haunting, but it seeks bloodbath
Feeding on your fear it grows stronger
You panic, try to escape, but it will last longer
Its not a dream, but you wish it was
But reality is stranger than a dream can ever be
Doorways open and you expect a demonic figure
But the cold winds greet you mockingly
Friday, January 7, 2011
Gig Review : Black Metal Krieg
Featuring - Spiked Crib (Mumbai), Dhishti (Colombo, Sri Lanka), 1833 AD (New Delhi) and Stark Denial (Mumbai)
Black Metal Krieg took place on 26th December 2010 at B69, Mumbai.
It was the first ever all-Black Metal gig in the country featuring 3 bands from India and one from the neighbouring country of Sri Lanka.
The gig started off with the well known local band Spiked Crib. From what I had heard earlier, the band usually had plenty of loose and rough edges in their live gigs. They are supposedly a Symphonic Black Metal band, so my expectations from them were lowered at first. But when they started playing, my impression changed completely. Gareth, the vocalist is a good frontman and has a very good stage presence and vocal skills. The riffs are catchy and the keyboards were used to create atmosphere and were rather drowned instead of taking the centre stage and play mindlessly and annoyingly, like Children of Bodom or Dimmu Borgir.
They played a cover of Fear of the Dark to please the crowd, and succeeded at doing so.
The next band to play was Dhishti from Sri Lanka. They played an Atmopsheric/Depressive Black metal which sounded a lot like Burzum, Anti, Nyktalgia, etc. They came to the stage in corpse paint and maulers. Their song usually consisted of 2-3 droning guitar riffs and created a haunting atmosphere in the venue. The vocalist's shrieks were sick. Sicker and more tortured than Nattramn, or Trist or Desolate, and the vocals were the best thing about the band. Not saying that other elements were bad, though. They played a cover of Burzum's Dunkelheit with guest vocals from Kunal Gonsalves of Stark Denial. Overall, they were my second favourite band to play that night.
1833 AD played next. They were the best band to play in the gig. Their sound, their skill, and their compositions, all were top notch. Their performance was the most enjoyable that night. You could feel that you're in a Black Metal gig. 1833 AD treated the crowd with 4 covers from well-known bands including Immortal, Dark Funeral, Ancient and Mayhem. I cannot put how much I enjoyed their set in words, so I'll leave it till this. By the end of their set, and with one band still left, I was drained of all my energy and wanted to leave, but wanting not to miss anything, I stayed to watch the last band.
Mumbai's own Stark Denial was the final band. This was their second gig, the first being in June. Their performance and stage presence was really good despite the fact that they played after half a year. The riffs were really well written and the sound reminded me of A Blaze In The Northern Sky-era Darkthrone which is a very good thing. They played raw, no-frills black metal, which I really liked. They even did a cover of Slayer's Raining Blood with guest vocals and a guest guitarist.
By the time Stark Denial began with their last song, I had to leave for home because I came all the way from Pune just for this gig. Final verdict : The best gig I attended till date, even if it meant spending a lot of money and time spent in travel was more than the time spent in the gig. If more such gigs take place, I would definitely not mind travelling out of the city for them.
Black Metal Krieg took place on 26th December 2010 at B69, Mumbai.
It was the first ever all-Black Metal gig in the country featuring 3 bands from India and one from the neighbouring country of Sri Lanka.
The gig started off with the well known local band Spiked Crib. From what I had heard earlier, the band usually had plenty of loose and rough edges in their live gigs. They are supposedly a Symphonic Black Metal band, so my expectations from them were lowered at first. But when they started playing, my impression changed completely. Gareth, the vocalist is a good frontman and has a very good stage presence and vocal skills. The riffs are catchy and the keyboards were used to create atmosphere and were rather drowned instead of taking the centre stage and play mindlessly and annoyingly, like Children of Bodom or Dimmu Borgir.
They played a cover of Fear of the Dark to please the crowd, and succeeded at doing so.
The next band to play was Dhishti from Sri Lanka. They played an Atmopsheric/Depressive Black metal which sounded a lot like Burzum, Anti, Nyktalgia, etc. They came to the stage in corpse paint and maulers. Their song usually consisted of 2-3 droning guitar riffs and created a haunting atmosphere in the venue. The vocalist's shrieks were sick. Sicker and more tortured than Nattramn, or Trist or Desolate, and the vocals were the best thing about the band. Not saying that other elements were bad, though. They played a cover of Burzum's Dunkelheit with guest vocals from Kunal Gonsalves of Stark Denial. Overall, they were my second favourite band to play that night.
1833 AD played next. They were the best band to play in the gig. Their sound, their skill, and their compositions, all were top notch. Their performance was the most enjoyable that night. You could feel that you're in a Black Metal gig. 1833 AD treated the crowd with 4 covers from well-known bands including Immortal, Dark Funeral, Ancient and Mayhem. I cannot put how much I enjoyed their set in words, so I'll leave it till this. By the end of their set, and with one band still left, I was drained of all my energy and wanted to leave, but wanting not to miss anything, I stayed to watch the last band.
Mumbai's own Stark Denial was the final band. This was their second gig, the first being in June. Their performance and stage presence was really good despite the fact that they played after half a year. The riffs were really well written and the sound reminded me of A Blaze In The Northern Sky-era Darkthrone which is a very good thing. They played raw, no-frills black metal, which I really liked. They even did a cover of Slayer's Raining Blood with guest vocals and a guest guitarist.
By the time Stark Denial began with their last song, I had to leave for home because I came all the way from Pune just for this gig. Final verdict : The best gig I attended till date, even if it meant spending a lot of money and time spent in travel was more than the time spent in the gig. If more such gigs take place, I would definitely not mind travelling out of the city for them.
Self-compositions on Guitar Pro 5
Lately, I have been composing some music on Guitar Pro 5 and processing it using Fruity Loops Studio. I have composed two songs so far, out of which I will post the Youtube link of one here.
Even though I am no musician, have no knowledge of notes, scales, modes, etc, and cannot play a single musical instrument, I have attempted writing a song.
Here is the youtube link to my supposed Black/Doom Metal song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpNQGnzo5nc
Even though I am no musician, have no knowledge of notes, scales, modes, etc, and cannot play a single musical instrument, I have attempted writing a song.
Here is the youtube link to my supposed Black/Doom Metal song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpNQGnzo5nc
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