Enslaved Live at TC

So, I have a new blog!

The title might seem weird to you but that's what am doing these days. It’s no less holy for me than bathing in any holy water. With India blessed with Enslaved and Iron Maiden coming and performing and rumors of Sepultura coming, it's a dream come true for any Metalhead.

Thank god I was there in Delhi to see Enslaved live at Turquoise Cottage. For those uninitiated, Enslaved is a Melodic Viking Black Metal band from Norway. I still remember my journey to Hyderabad and listening to the RUUN album past midnight sitting at the window seat and dreaming if I could see such an act live ever. And my dreams came true at TC where I not only got to see them live, but also meet them in person, talk to them a few words and a once in a lifetime chance to own the band’s handwritten setlist, that too autographed by all five members, and an Enslaved wristband from Herbrand Larsen, the keyboard player.

After the gig I was feeling like I've lived a life, and that I don't care if I die now that I've seen them that close. But then I'd postpone my saying till the Iron Maiden's gig which is definitely going to be a BIG one. TC had around 100-150 people attending the Enslaved gig (or even less but not more than 150). I reached there with the baggage I had brought with myself. At the venue a RSJ staff guy asked me if I had come from some other part of India just to see Enslaved live. I said, yes! Thankfully I had a friend (Hemu) there to help me out with it, and I kept my bag in his friend’s car, what a relief that was! Not just me, there were few other people as well who came from other places, met few who came all the way from Bangalore. I thought the gig would end up late around 12-1 AM and then I’ll reach the station late around 2-3 AM and would only have to wait for some 4 hour before I catch the train back home. But the gig ended early and I ended up waiting at station for 7 hours.

Enslaved started with ‘Path to Vanir’, followed on to play ‘Fusion of Sense and Earth’ playing the progressive sound that the band has recently been into. ‘Bounded by Allegiance’ was next, then ‘The Voices’. Meanwhile people were shouting for 'Isa', which I think is probably the most known song of Enslaved in India and I guess the reason well is its video is easily available through IRC, and P2P networks. Then they played ‘Violet Dawning’ and then the crowd favorite 'Isa'. ‘Ruun’ followed ‘Isa’. ‘Ruun’, has a great melodic start which when ends and the atmospheric riff comes before Grutle start growling 'Communing Once Again with God...' gives an orgasmic feel. I love ‘Ruun’ for the breakdowns, the atmospheric riffs, and the unpredictable nature of the song. They continued with ‘Return to Yggrasil’, which is another great melodic track with a great sing-along 'For ages we have wondered....’. They ended the set with two great old tracks 'Sotunblod' and 'Slaget' which were raw black metal making a perfect heavy ending to the set. Loved Cato’s drumming throughout, amazing double bass. Ice Dale and Ivar were perfect on guitar; Hebrand’s clean vocals couldn’t be heard properly but great keys, and Grutle, those killer growls. Love that growl when the clean singing portion of ‘Path to Vanir’ ends and the last heavy portion begins, double bass comes. In all an extremely tight set, I had never seen such a perfect act live before I saw Enslaved.

I was hoping they would concentrate much on RUUN but good that they played a good mix of the tracks from few albums, though they were few albums that were left untouched. I felt the set was kind of short. They should have had played more songs. I'd have loved to see ‘Essense’ being played live, that is another song with those amazing atmospheric riffs. Seeing them play it live would have been heavenly. Their setlist, (that I have with me now) has ‘Essesnce’ written in brackets, I was wondering why they didn’t play it then. Time could have been the reason. After Enslaved's set I took the setlist that I got near the stage and went to one of the dames with Enslaved and asked her if she could get it autographed by all 5 members and thank god she did.

IIIrd Sovereign was next. I had heard SO MUCH about this band, that its one of the most promising death metal bands in India, and seeing them live just proved everything kickass that I had heard about them. Though they weren't with their old vocalist Mala but still the new vocalist (Vedant I suppose, please let me know if am wrong) did justice to the songs. I had only heard one of their originals 'Everlasting Burn' and now I hope to buy that old EP they had released and any new material that's going to come out. Reuben is a monster on drums, certainly the best Indian drummer I've ever seen live till now.

After the show, I got to meet Enslaved while they were having dinner at TC, got to speak to Grutle and Herbrand Larsen. When I asked Herbrand that if I can have that Enslaved wristband he said 'I saw you singing man, you knew the lyrics to many songs' and gave me the wristband. That sentence, well, is burnt on my memory now.

I guess they liked playing here, the fan-following is less in number but these are the people who not only love it, but also live it. Heavy Metal has always had less number of people to its credit but the dedication of the people listening to it is immense and that’s what makes this genre proud. The numbers are less, but people following it religiously make it even stronger, even prouder. Long Live Heavy Metal.

After I was done with the show I rushed to station, I can never forget this night not just because of the Enslaved show but because I also had to stay there at the New Delhi station for the whole night. But then it was worth everything that I had been through the day.

PS: Not to forget, I met one of my good friends that very day, had a great time eating out and visiting Bangla Sahib. It's not just the Enslaved show but that meeting as well, that's burnt on my mind now, forever. :D