here comes another great review of our debut album shiva rudrastakam by Vendetta Metal Magazine..gratitude to our brother neskus polaris for such a great write up..:) vendettametalmagazine/dying-out-flame-shiva-rudrastakam/ You probably do remember Nietzsche writing: God is dead? Well, Nile is dead. Krisiun, too. I’ve been into the most extreme of the metal genre for more than 20 years, but bands from Nepal are rare. It’s amazing what a global phenomenon metal and extreme metal is. If any of you have been looking at one or the other of our reviews, you will have noticed that it’s especially the metal periphery (from a European perspective) that we are especially interested in. Pakistan, Trinidad, Bangladesh… and now, for the second time in Vendetta-history, Nepal. And Dying Out Flame not only set an incredibly high standard, but simply buries other newcomers under a massive wall of death metal. Let me tell you again: massive wall of death metal. But make no mistake: it’s death metal to the bone, but there is an element to it which distinguishes ‘Shiva Rudrastakam’ from other death metal releases – vedic chants. They are used in every song, fit nicely and are well-placed, therefore breaking the typical death metal sound while fitting into the overall sound costume very, very well. Often the songs turn towards an underlying harmonic minor scale and, although brutal as hell, do combine brutality with harmony and melody. Of course, all in all the combination of chants, the occasional Sitar (-inspired) harmonic patterns are nothing excitingly new. The goose bump tension of the first track, for example, which is more or less a vedic chant, cannot really be upheld by the record’s title track as the atmospheric harmonies are broken with and replaced by typical Broken Hope-like death metal riffing. But the nice part is that elements of these riffs are then transcribed into a Sitar-context. I’m not sure if it is a real Sitar or a guitar mimicking a Sitar, but it sure as hell works, leaving me to ask: what was first? The vedic or death metal intention to write the song? I obviously cannot answer that question. ‘Eternal mother of great time’ on the other hand has a more Behemoth-like atmosphere to it and only towards the end, after the obligatory chant interlude picks up more speed. What impressed me the most on this record is not necessarily the songwriting, but the way it is performed. Take, for example, the hyper-fast blast beats at the end of ‘Vaya Putra’ or during ‘Maisasura’: Pramanda Amatya is a world-class death metal drummer and can easily compete with Tim Yeung or the likes. The same goes for the extremely sophisticated guitar and bass works. These guys know their instruments extremely well. This does not come as a surprise though, because from what I understand some of the members went to the Nepal Music School. ‘Shiva Rudrastakam’ is a kick-ass record! Especially the second half of the album has left a long-lasting impression on me. Not only because of the vedic influences, but because of the grandeur of the performance and creativity to combine different styles. Most awesomely done in the last song ‘Trinetra Dhari’ which I would consider the best one due to the intensity of death metal riffing in combination with high-speed drumming under vedic chants. I am pretty sure that the European/American world will hear from Dying Out Flame again. This is world class death metal and I would be surprised if they were not to enter the touring business. So, organisers, get these guys on the road! Until then, I will give this record numerous more spins! And I recommend you do the same! Rating: 8.5 / 10
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 15:55:33 +0000
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