Rudra

s/t

Review by Neil St.Laurent

Thanks to the band for the Cassette

This recording opens with a traditional Indian style musical intro, one that doesn't necessarily give you an idea what to expect from the rest of the album, but is pleasant just the same. Rudra introduces the Vedic philosophy to death metal, with a few Indian elements thrown in at the same time (translations of the Sanskrit can be found on their Web site).

The music is unmistakably death metal: deep, distorted ryhthm with the assaulting drums and bass holding it together. Rather than just a continuous barrage of noise, the music fluctuates with silence and simplified components, letting particular instruments shine through on their own, or just to provide an atmospheric interlude to the otherwise kind of emotionless music. It seems that the music was really trying to have this overall atmospheric and emotional sound, but it just comes across as more of a technical adventure. There are definitely extremely melodic and soothing components, but the mixture of varying riffs without flowing transition breaks up the music and doesn't really allow you to get caught up in the music. By itself there isn't anything wrong with this mixture of emotion and melody with brutal death metal, but it has to be done with care -- I find personally that I gravitate towards liking the all out death assaults over anything else in this release.

While the Indian instrumentals are pleasant unto their own, they don't really blend well with the album, as there aren't any transitions to and from them.

The music of Rudra definitely holds some elements that are appealing and very original. There is however some loss when everything is mixed together into a single song, or album. Many good ideas here, but their execution just not good enough to be truly appealing. Nonetheless, Rudra holds promise as a band, and maybe with a different producer the sound would be a little more unified.

Rudra is:
Shiva - Drums
Bala - Guitars
Alvin - Guitars
Kathi - Bass, Vocals

Contact:
Rudra
Blk. 24 Marsiling Drive
#08-185
Singapore 730024
Republic Of Singapore

Web: http://www.singnet.com.sg/~rudra/
Email: rudra@singnet.com.sg

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