Arts
A crash of metal for a clash of heroes
As humans all the problems that we face are a part of life’s journey. Despite all of this though, humanity endures and above all “we have the proclivity and the propensity to fight back against problems that are ten times bigger than us,” says Suresh De Silva, the vocalist of Stigmata. Lyrically this was just what he wanted to forge into the band’s latest single ‘Heavy Is The Head That Wears The Crown’.
Giving it all they have: Thisara Dhananjaya, Shafeek Shuail, Suresh, Hafzel Preena and Tennyson. Pic by Prasanna Welangoda
The heavy baseline is the first to sound through Suresh’s ‘handy speakers’ at his Rajagiriya home. Casually he walks away, giving us some privacy to engage with the music. The song itself is a beast in its own league, bringing in new elements to that unique sound which Stigmata has been known for these past 18 years. The keen listener would also observe Tennyson Napoleon’s signature guitar riffs throughout the whole single.
After four and a half minutes of pure Sri Lankan metal that is bound to either leave one head banging or a little stunned, Suresh comes back, a cheeky grin on his face.
The reason this song is a big deal for the band, is because it’s their first new single since 2015, back when ‘The Ascetic Paradox’ was launched.
Suresh recalls being approached by Ushan Gunasekera “Sri Lanka’s Doctor Strange” and Shayne Brad, who explained that the local Cosplayers had planned to do a Sri Lankan version of the Avengers trailer. They had wanted to get Stigmata onboard after the band’s involvement with Comic Con last year (2017).
“The single itself is a tribute to ‘Avengers Infinity Wars’ which is actually called the Infinity Gauntlet, which was released in 1991. Infinity Wars was inspired by the Infinity Gauntlet story,” Suresh tells me.
The band had looked at the ‘Infinity Wars’ trailer and being Marvel fans they knew the story. “We thought of conceiving a song where we have a narrative and we’re also paying a tribute to the movie at the same time,” he explains. Suresh adds that some of the lyrics in fact bring in a few things from the trailer itself and the song is woven around that.
The single starts with a narrative which talks about the burden of being a hero and the responsibilities that it entails. It then comes to a point of more seriousness and deals with the whole question of the Marvel superheroes coming together after a civil war and asking themselves ‘can we do this? ’The finale with the growling and screaming vocals is all Thanos, the villain in the story.
Aside from the music, the title itself is quite the mouthful and as Suresh explains, there is “an unused way of how the title is formatted and linguistically put together.” It is eight words lyrically and musicwise; though the band is paying tribute to the movie, they have their own interpretation of what it means and of what it represents.
Personally, what Suresh finds interesting is that he has always found himself criticizing humanity and communities etc, in a hopeful way when it came to Stigmata’s past hits. But this is the first time he had to write about humanity in a light, which was very interesting and also extremely difficult for him at the same time.
Suresh: Never done anything like this before. Pic by Shalinda Halpe
“We are such infinitesimal creatures and in Warrel Dane’s words, we’re just a speck in the spectrum, which is quite true. And in the grander scheme of things we’re just dust. But despite all of that that the problems which we have are a thousand times more and it’s amazing how we endure,” he explains.
Superhero or not, when the Avengers deal with Thanos, they are pretty much the equivalent of a human, because Thanos is a Titan. But they do so in unity. Suresh adds that unity is one of the best things about human beings.
The whole song itself was composed two months ago. But Stigmata had two weeks to record, mix and master it and they pushed on no matter how hard it may have seemed at the time. “We didn’t want to look back and say ‘We could’ve done that’ so we went for it and managed to make it work.”
In terms of the song arrangement and its execution, according to Suresh they have never done anything like this before and he looks forward to how it will be received.
One would also be quick to notice the impact of the band’s newest members with Hafzel Preena on drums, Thisara Dhananjaya on bass and Shafeek Shuail on guitar.
The music video for ‘Heavy Is The Head That Wears The Crown’is directed by Shayne Brad and Randy Chriz Perera and produced by Kasun Nawarathne. The video is produced by Meraki United, with the location and setting provided by Lighthouse Studios.
For more information log on to the official Stigmata page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stigmatasrilanka/