Deccan Rock Fest '09-Amon Amarth & Textures

Amon amarth on stage

Indian metaldom is hot and happening. Many of the top billing bands seems keen on visiting this newest addition to the metal map. And, this saturday saw 2 more additions to the growing list of international acts to have performed in India. Textures from Netherlands and 'Amon Amarth', the godfathers of viking metal from Sweden performed in Bangalore this Saturday. Titled 'Deccan Rock', the fest featured 6 Indian metal bands and the 2 headlining acts.

The fest got to a delayed start. I was supposed to shoot for the band 'Eccentric pendulum', who got a chance to open the fest after winning a competition. As the start got delayed, me, Pappu and Nikhil decided to take a walk outside in search of ATM, a loo and an eatery. Let me confess that I was the only one who was in dire need of all the 3 items. We walked on and on and on, almost 4-5 kilometres in random directions until we got all 3. And by the time we finished it all and got back to Palace grounds, 4 bands had already finished playing, including EP. Thanks to Nikhil from 'Eccentric pendulum', I managed to sneak in my camera. And it was a new experience, shooting from the midst of a pretty violent crowd. More than a dozen times, I was hit badly thanks to a non-stop moshpit just near us. And it was pretty hard to focus which is evident in the 100s of snaps I deleted.

Coming to the concert, I've n't heard much of textures or Amon prior to the concert. But I instantly liked both bands for their raw energy. Though I found headbanging to textures a tough ask considering their constantly changing beats. The star of the night for me was Johan Hegg, the vocalist of Amon amarth. With his booming bassy vocals, flowing beard and king like stance, he just stole the show. It was a night of metal mayhem that will be remembered for a long time. Only bad thing was that the headlining act got to perform only 7 songs.
Now to the pics

Textures

Amon Amarth Pics






your crusader Praveen