The first edition of Insidious Prophecy is an extreme metal fest to be held in Kolkata on April 14, featuring nine bands on the line-up- Strangulate, Infernal Diatribe, Armament, Lunatic Fringe, Deadbolt, Divide Torture, Gnosis of Catacomb, Chaotic Dread and Genocide Disorder. Indian Metal Scene recently had a conversation with Lunatic Fringe, a progressive black metal band from Guwahati/Itanagar. Read here!
About the band: “Lunatic Fringe came into existence when two metalheads got together in mid 2011 to contribute their musical ideas and concepts as one unit to the Indian metal scene. Later, after a year in September 2012, the other two members joined and we released our debut single “Exorcism Hymn” shortly after. More than playing very technical or complicated stuff, we focus on making music with eternal depth. Although the structure of the songs might be simple, what matters to us is that the music overall should sound grand. It should have that potentiality, weight and feel.”
Perception of black metal: “Black metal is a unique art form which allows us to express all kinds of human emotions. We really don’t consider Satanism as something like a necessary identity for being a black metal artist/fan. Black metal is all about one’s own vision. For example, black metal bands from European countries like Poland, Norway, Sweden etc had a clear and a strong reason to do whatever they did according to them, their place, their system, their culture, their society and that is why they are known worldwide in the black metal scene. We Indians have our own concepts, diverse culture, native values and many thrilling tragic stories which we can lace our music around. In fact we feel that if we artists here do this, the black metal fans from outside the country will find creativity in us and naturally start loving our work. So, only musically and artistically there seems to be a reason to be influenced by the great black metal artists but not conceptually. After all black metal is all about originality.
Church of Blood
“Since our influences mostly come from black metal and all its sub-genres- depressive, old school, blackened death, etc and also some melodeath metal (basically dark melody music), our nature of sound coincides with those. Basically we say, we play progressive black metal because we really don’t like sticking to particular limitations. We write originals with various feels, various melodies but without compromising on the basic root of our music style- dark grooves and melodies.”
Songwriting, ideology and lyrical themes: “We mostly write about mythologies, characters in histories etc with a target to regenerate their essence and emotions to the masses, expressing it in an extreme way through this extreme genre of music! We also write music critical of the system or society. Besides these, our lyrical themes and ideology consist of the essence of ancestral legends.”
Live at Metarock
Influences: “Bands like Behemoth, Mayhem (with old line up of Dead, Euronymous , Necrobutcher and Hellhammer), Burzum influence us a lot in an artistic way like making original music, creativity in work, the gratitude and good will of being a true metalhead, being honest with our music and being devoted towards it. Also artists like Belphegor, Death, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Chthonic, Dimmu Borgir, Shade Empire, Uaral and many more influence us.”
What’s cooking? “We are currently working on our debut E.P which will be released by June. We look forward to playing in Kolkata for the first time. See you all at Insidious Prophecy Vol. I!”
The venue for the show is Muzik Factory, Salt Lake, Kolkata. Tickets are priced at 250 INR early bird and 300 INR at the gates.
Follow the event page on Facebook!
Indian Metal Scene 