Kicking up a storm indeeed
View(s):It was an evening of pure heavy metal wizardry where the ‘saints’ marched through the ‘storm’. The latest Stigmata/ Salvage combination at a somewhat crowded QBAA last Sunday evening saw two of Sri Lanka’s finest bands share the stage at a concert titled ‘Saints and Sinners’. Together they put on a show that awed both fans of rock music and those new to the scene.
Salvage opening the show. Pic by- M.A Pushpakumara
Taking some time off from world tours and headlining local concerts, this was the first time in years, the architects of Pure Sri Lankan metal had made their appearance at a local club in Colombo. The hype leading up to the concert described it as an intimate performance by the band. Performing for nearly two hours straight Stigmata certainly put on a show that would probably be the talk of the community till their album launch on October 17.
Local Rock band Salvage, the guests for the day kicked things off with an all-time favourite ‘Storm’. In a matter of moments they had the crowd on their feet. The band maintained that perfect balance in their performances ranging from the powerful ‘Sublime’ to the somewhat mellow ‘Wings that make me soar’. Ending their set with a newer tune ‘Erased but not Forgotten’, Salvage proved their worthiness to open the set.
“We’ve shared the stage with the Stigs a couple of times, but being the only band opening their own show was most certainly a very exciting and humbling experience,” Salvage frontman, Chrisantha de Silva (CC) tells us.He adds“Our music is different, but I believe we share the same passion and vision for Sri Lankan metal and rock music. The gig was a major milestone for Salvage.”
Stigmata took the stage with an all-time favourite ‘Andura’ the instrumental that perfectly portrays the type of music the band composes. This is as Sri Lankan as it gets. The band pulled off a brutal performance giving some of the older aunties a little more than they bargained for. Their faithful fans were on their feet throughout the entire set.
After some of their famous compositions like, ‘Lucid’, ‘Jazz theory’, ‘Voices’ and ‘My Malice’ the band soon introduced some tunes off their upcoming record ‘The Ascetic Paradox’. The highlight of the evening however was when Stigmata for the first time decided to play “Let the Wolves Come and Lick thy Wounds” where they were joined by Salvage’s frontman CC and the mellifluous and classically trained vocalist, Sanjeev Niles.
Stigmata’s basist Lakmal Wijaya Gunarathna. Pic by Nirmal Wijayagunarathna
The song just like Stigmata’s other new compositions takes some getting used to. But once you’ve heard it, the tunes, ‘Now we shall bring them war’, ‘Our beautiful decay’ and ‘An idle mind is a Devil’s workshop’, display the band’s mastery of the art and Stigmata’s frontman Suresh de Silva’s killer song writing skills.
The new album certainly looks promising. Suresh assures that it will be thematically and conceptually different to their previous albums. “This would be an expansion of us exploring new sonic territory,” he says adding that the new songs will include tribal, jazzy, technical, classical and extreme metal tunes.
Apart from the launch of their new album, Stigmata had something more to share. The band will be touring New Zealand in October and will launch their album internationally at their shows in Wellington on October 24 and in Auckland on October 25.
Equally significant for local fans, The Ascetic Paradox will be released locally at the next Stigmata concert at the British School auditorium on October 17, starting at 7.30 p.m. Catch them then.