The Pit v.2

The PIT — - Kolkata’s Exclusive Metal festival was back in town and so was the unbearable heat of the summer months! THE PIT Version 2 or v.2 was something that most metal heads in the city were looking forward to (including your’s truly) and boy it was amazing! In fact ‘amazing’ would not fit perfectly enough. It was more like INSANE!! The gig was held on the 18th of April and had a much bigger turnout than its predecessor. 18th being a Saturday also was able to attract the IT Sector guys who still have that metal flame burning in them and oh, there were those ‘metal heads’ in their black tees, tattoos, piercing in unmentionable places and weird hairdos, ready to have a good time. This time THE PIT was bigger with eight bands on the roster and expectations were literally sky-high. Let’s start with the review now.

IN HUMAN- They were the first band to go up on stage and they did a fine job of devastating the masses. They are the only Death tribute band this side of the nation and they performed a string of Death songs along with a couple of OCs that made the crowd go berserk. Songs like “The Philosopher”,” Pull the Plug” and “Lack of Comprehension” were belted out. Their original “Vicious Circle” an instrumental dealt with social issues, was written after the Mumbai terror attacks, and is about how we live in a vicious cycle of violence. The song featured nifty guitar work while their other originals like In Human Morality and I’m Legion were extremely mature death metal compositions.

DIOTB- The next band up on stage choose to call themselves DIOTB or “death is the only beginning” and quite frankly if death was so kick ass, then I would rather die! Their own songs like “Your God is burning” was about humans degrading and destroying themselves to satiate their own greed and “Sweet Pleasure Butchery” that deals with an inner alteration of your own self  all due to the sad and pathetic way life treats us. This one brought in the moshpits. Both the originals played by the band dealt with intelligent lyrics and featured excellent guitar as well as hyper-active drumming. Vocalist Arunava was in fine form as he displayed an amazing array of pig squeals, growls and blood curdling screeches, all at the same time! The band ended their set with good renditions of Kataklysm and Cannibal Corpse songs.

FLASH FLOOD- They were up next and these four guys with insanity in their minds and “Sepultura in their hearts” tore down the place with their extremely energetic performance. Mixing their own songs with covers of Soulfly, Sepultura and Ektomorf, they ruled the stage and even had female members of the audience clap and sway for them! BIG ACHIEVEMENT! I must make a special mention of the band’s drummer Sid who amazed all with his brilliant and energetic stick-work.

CHRONIC XORN- Pure brutality was manifested by this death metal quartet as they went up, plugged in their guitars, set up their double bass pedals and simply went for the kill. They meant business from the word go and performed an OC dominated set that made the masses head bang in several novel ways! Their set was cut short due to a power shortage. Sigh! What a pity.

SINFUL OATH- The first band to go up on stage after the power came back was SO and they played a usual set list of mostly original material. Their songs like “Headache” and “Dead Wish” and other songs made quite an impact and the Satyricon cover made their set complete. “Dead Wish” features a very catchy bass intro and lyrically is about a wish that is now deceased. This mellow-blackened death band had fantastic rhythm parts and the front man had a good range, also showcasing a good level of interaction.

CICATRIXX- They were the sixth band to get up and they played a short but tight set of their own songs and a few covers from Sepultura and Lamb of God. Their own songs like “Wasted”, “Banished from sanity” and “Demise of an Illusion” saw the crowd gleefully throw up horns in the air and look a little dazed with a grin plastered on their faces. “ Banished from sanity” is about how the definitions of sanity is being changed in the present socio-political scenario and was dedicated to the “jobless” people who get paid more than they deserve. “Wasted” had an infectious groove while “Demise of an Illusion” incorporated fantastic guitar textures. The band held its own and the new bassist also seems to gel with the band. The band showcased good crowd interaction and won a few new fans.

CRYSTAL AND THE WITCHES- This quartet played covers from Metallica and Slayer. I guess since they had a new line up they didn’t wish to experiment with their originals. The masses didn’t mind at all and indulged in insanity as usual! Vocalist/guitarist Diwash and Bassist Lee (also a part of Flash Flood) showed no signs of fatigue while the newly recruited guitarist did a fine job of handling all the songs. They played an all cover set and it was a bit disappointing to see such a great band stick to just covers at the show.

NOYZE AKADEMI- This hardcore/nu metal band went up on stage as the last band. They sound checked with a Joint Family song and wreaked havoc with their own songs and covers from Slipknot amongst others. The OC had all the makings of a modern metal song with lots of fine breakdowns. Their only Slipknot cover was People=Shit and one couldn’t help but feel that the song could have been done better with backing vocal assistance. Overall they did a good job of bringing down the curtains of the show.

On the whole the entire gig was brilliant, the movement (as THE PIT committee would like to call it) was successful and at the end of the day after the dust settled (and a couple of chairs of the auditorium were broken due to moshes!) the people as well the bands and the organizers were a happier lot. I would like to congratulate THE PIT committee for having the courage and the determination to organize such a monumental gig without sponsors and without any support from any event management group. It was organized with the assistance of a few well wishers and the money collected by the bands themselves. Yes dreams can become real too, if you dream hard and work hard!!