Headbanging sounds at Rock Fest
Guitars revelling in distortion, vocalists daring to venture into the unknown and the drums brought the whole scene to life. The euphoric atmosphere invited the listener to headbang in unison to the music. It took something else for one to appreciate the music that Rock Fest 2015 had to offer.
A true display and an appreciation of raw Sri Lankan talent at its extreme, a home grown heavy metal giant Stigmata announcing the birth of the ‘Ascetic Paradox’, whilst a Lankan alternative rock band made their return to the music scene, the evening was certainly not short on excitement.
Circus Cult kicked things off at the Women’s International Club Auditorium.Led by Germaine Fernando on vocals, Bernard Botejue on lead, Scheherazade Asmone on rhythm, KasunPathirana on drums and Riyal Riffai on bass, the band definitely executed a stellar performance.
They took the stage with an air of confidence, a sense of humour and the attitude of a rockstar. Together with their vocalist, the beautiful rhythm guitarist and their original compositions, the band was able to keep both the young ladies and gentlemen on their feet throughout the whole session.
Tantrum followed with an impressive lineup comprisingJaveenSoysa (Vocals and Bass Guitar), AkilaPieris (Guitar), ThishanWijesinghe (Guitars) and the newest addition to the band, their drummer Ranil “Jackson” Senarath.The band pulled off an amazing set, perfectly executing a cover of Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’and of course a song taken off their record ‘Rebellion’, titled ‘Bleeding Compassion.’ All of which earned them loud roars from the audience.
Kicking things off with ‘Sublime’, Salvage displayed their mastery of the art by quickly engaging the audience with Crisantha de Silva (CC)’s powerful vocals, front axe menShalinda Halpe and Sajana Bupathi’s amazing notes, the backbone bassist Upul Warnasuriya’s tunes and ofcourse Udaya Wickramage’s perfect timing on drums.
Amidst a series of hecklers that were laughed off by front man CC, the band played some of their new compositions for the first time, thoroughly entertaining the audience with “Rolling” and “Erased but not Forgotten.”Their song ‘Identity’ seemed to remind the audience that the music they cherished was something else. To them it was indeed their identity. The genre has been branded satanic, weird, meaningless etc. Yet to those who appreciate the music, the songs define them. The lyrics in essence have an identity of their own a trait not observed in other genres today.
Soon after them ‘Killfeed’ took the stage, turning the somewhat mellow alternative rock performance by Salvage, into heavier thrash metal tunes. With two chapters of Rockfest in their books, Killfeed took to the stage with an air of experience about them. They soon had everyone hooked onto their killer original “The Green Eyed Monster.” Their passion for the genre was evidently displayed in their performance on stage.
Killfeed built on the momentum till it was finally time for Stigmata, who had earlier let slip that they would be revealing the name of their much anticipated album that day. Things got intense as an excited crowd gathered in front of the stage headbanging in unison to ‘Swine Maker’. After three minutes of heavy music (leaving the listenerwondering how in heaven’s name does Suresh hit those notes) the band started to play an all-time favorite ‘Jazz theory’.
The audience at the front stepped aside as if by natural reflex; as chaos broke lose inside a mosh pit that definitely surprised a few of those new to the scene. Halfway through their set front man Suresh De Silva decided to tease the audience by hinting at their upcoming album. He drew a roar of approval when he finally revealed that that the new record is to be called ‘The Ascetic Paradox’.
The band closed with one of their new songs “And now we shall bring them War”. This thirteen minute monster of a song will be featured in their upcoming album and it definitely has the potential to go a long way in the industry following its release.
Accepting the challenge to take on the stage shortly after Stigmata’s exit, ‘Constellation’ definitely showed the audience that they were very deserving of that coveted TNL Onstage best band trophy.
Amped up with their new member DyreshMendis on vocals, Eshantha (Drums/vocals), Dihara (lead guitars), Shehan (Rhythm guitars), and Aseka (bass guitars), Constellation definitely closed the show in style.