"... My Friends Metal is here to stay. It not going back..." – It was Psycho Martyrdom

           At this time around last week i was slowly recovering from a aching neck and a aching leg .. which i thought is broken. Plus an aching Spine , working on a java software.. no its not the software ...

         Good things do not come easy , and so should not be taken easily for the granted. They come and within a short period of time and without a warning may pass you by even without realizing it actually did. So that you must take to note that those seconds golden and even though, you inevitably fail to do so should do your utmost to squeeze and hold that precious little time that comes and goes by.

    Why , why this start .. well the thing are not simple anymore. Last few weeks this country was toured by numerous bands from around the world. Playing along with our local talents. Bringing the house down, singing their hearts away, playing like there's no tomorrow and the head bangs , mosh pits like there was never a thing to care about. Yeap, without a warning Colombo's Metal scenario erupted like Vesuvius on Pompeii. No prisoners man. Myself with my fellow brothers of chaos had the fortune to attend of one. And none the less it was as i was speaking .. PSYCHO MARTYRDOM.. Featuring Cyanide Serenity from UK , Nervecell from Dubai , and of course Pure Sri Lankan metal giants Stigmata.(6th May 2011 British International Auditorium)
    Me and my friends were so psyched up fir it from the very beginning when the first few hints ran up in none other than the much known social networking place to all : Facebook.  Running down to get tickets, ordering the gig shirts. LoL ok we weren't the organizers. But surely as a fan , these things do take you up till you cant actually bear it. And well finally we came to that day.. I remember waking up on the bed expecting a Nuke to go up. Really that was the atmosphere down in Colombo, and every metal head was biting his or her's nails.

     Well coming to the show then, after jumping in with security clearance and all that customary that goes on, The show was opened by a surprise by R.A.G.E taking up stage. A new band with familiar faces and promising talent. The guys did killer covers of Cowboys from Hell by Pantera and Grace by Lamb of God ...Hey ... did i get that LOG song right ? because i went to a real psycho-head-banging-frenzy to that and cant remember shit. Im a real Lamb of God fan .. Totally. I cant remember either why my knee hurt after that song. The pain went for four days .. well that's battle scars anyway. The Guys did real something to warm up the crowd for what's in store for the night.

     Then ... mnyehahaha (Evil Laugh) ...Cyanide Serenity took stage, Some thing i mentioned is they've added Travis from Divine Heresy (A very Notable track to me is Facebreaker). Now that was a real awesome piece of a vocal add. It was very obvious that Travis is a good change for the sounds of the band. As i was much familiar with the voices from Matt , this was a pleasant surprise really. A very lively person up the stage with previous experiences together with DH. The tracks "Belive In the Sun" , "System Failure" , "Foundations" really shifted the crowd from their feat and their necks working out. I remember at a one place where Travis asked the crowd "Are you ready Colombo ?" To which i blurted out "Bring the fuck on ..." which was echoed by him and and replied by their track foundations.. Very amusingly it is my favorite track out of CS. It was a such a sadness to see the guys get off the stage after few tracks.

I mean last Sri Lanka experienced was As i Lay Dying with a drizzle of rain.. but at indoor conditions where 'Psycho ...' was at you just don't want it to stop like that.

    

 

 

                        Well after Cyanide its none than The Pure Sri Lankan Metal’ists Stigmata took the stage. And well you cant imagine the response of the crowd.. They all went up in feet chanting "Stigmata" like some spirit all of suddenly took over their body.. Well same goes with me. I just don't know what happened to me that night. It was like an experience of being possessed , only you just wish it would never end.  Stigmata kicked of with 'Spiral Coma' and well very much suites for the possessed minds. Followed by their own Mariachi song "Jazz Theory". Well if you didn't get it right there is a Mariachi guitar solo infused with this thrash metal track. Again this was followed by an anthem of the band 'Andura' and of course finishing of their act by their own ode to their fans .. 'March Of the saints'. Well Stigmata really stole the spot light there with their own uniqueness. Its very awesome shit.

       

 

 

 

 

                                Next up of course its the Metal Giants from middle east. Nervercell. Currently setting up their HQ in Dubai,whereas the quartet are from four different locations of this planet, which i mentioned before. The band played its usual Thrash and Death metal infused music, which was very much taken roots into the band than the last time they toured  Sri Lanka a year ago. The guys were very distinct from others in their act and well that should be admired. To be frank fully truthful i was never a great fan of the genre so its almost Zero that I've heard on Nervecell. I even missed the last time they toured Sri Lanka. Well its this time that it got a full dose out of them to my ears and man .. they really are mesmerizing. I mean, to me , unlike many other bands in the same Genre these guys were quite different. There was a lot of 'soul' into the music as i say... Its really hard to put the finger to the point , but these guys are really something. Its no wonder that they are well recognized around the world playing along Opeth , Amon Amrath , Machine Head and Arch Enemy.

           

 

 

 

 

           Well so as good things come , so they must go. Time is not merciful, amidst the screams, Growls, fast riffs , slow Strumming's , Camera flicks, moshess, Head bangs and flirting along's ... the whole fiasco drew from start to the very end. I saw lots of people walking out saying what a wonderful night it had been. Well indeed it was.. such a memory will be etched forever.

    This show had its own significance in the Sri Lankan Metal industry as well. This show stood up to say that Rock and roll in this country is not a 'Silent Revolution' no longer, that this island will be known in future as "The Loudest Island on Earth". Kudos for all those shed their blood and sweat along with 891 Crew to make this event a success. And of course Nervecell and Cyanide Serenity for coming down and being super-down-to-earth-cool through out, and giving 200% out of them selves. To wrap up things in this post quoting Suresh De Silva of Stigmata "... My Friends Metal is here to stay. It not going back..." and a "meeeow" from Tennyson Napoleon.

The Cyanide Nervecelled Stigmata. ‘Psycho Martyrdom’ – The Revolution is Silent no longer.

      Things have been gearing for some time. The smell in the air.. The sounds I’ve been hearing … NO I mean really. There were voices. Nope…  Not a specter. Real People, speaking in the street, well yeah duuh they do. But the subject. That really threw off me to the air. There were people speaking about Rock. Save Metal and its sub genres, but people are suddenly speaking about a presence of ‘new musical’ genre in this country. Well don’t be surprised, cause like this land is really somewhat late catching up with rock, except for few. But now there are things moving gears changed peddle to the floor.

       I remember a time where Metal was ‘Our Silent Revolution’. It’s not the scene now mates. Just another few flicks here and there and itll be joining the main stream and taking everyone off their steps. All dedication goes to the Bands that toiled hard. Relentless-bleeding-sweating… committing everything they had to offer for the cause. Really guys… you guys can be proud of your selves.

      Somewhat after a year and some months from popular metal band ‘As I Lay Dying’ touring Sri Lankan soil along with Nervecell from Dubai, there came Colombo Open Air last 30th April. Ok you didn’t hear it wrong.. It’s not Waken Open Air... It’s COLOMBO OPEN AIR! there were respectful Sri Lankan Metal bands Fallen Grace, HOLLOW , Mass Damnation Plus The Vedic Band coming down Rudra plus Absence of Sacred from Singaporean lands. OK guys and girls I wasn’t there , I was more like in the Counter Strike 1.6 server when I should be studying for the Java exams. But hey there were lots of sources I got , and by the info goes, things were really awesome and killer.  Mmm yea saw some flicks by Natalie Soyza and Thiva Arunagirathnam who were always making magic stills around the biggest happ’s around town. Damn I somehow feel I missed something dear..

     

      Well hey... Things don’t need to be all bad don’t they? I mean for gosh sakes, there another shit this week end and my java paper is over today. I’ll cut the long words and say the show title is none other than “Psycho Martyrdom”. Yeap that’s it. Why am I so Psyched? Well another two foreign Metal bands are going to hit the Lions Turf. Hell Yeah! Just a week after one here comes another. Somebody pinch me! ! !

    

Nervecell

  Nervecell, A band that toured with along ‘As I lay Dying’ around early 2010 as I recall or very late 2009 Dec. Cant remember.. I have a good memory but frankly its short. Anyway, Nervecell is hitting back once again, they must have really enjoyed our fans last tour and well they are coming back to feel the sensation to roar along with the Lions. What is really a something of a fact is that although the band resides in Dubai beating in the Dustbowl as you’d might imagine... they have a quite a unique line up. Because like their members are from Lebanon , India , Jordan and well a drummer from Australia as I  am informed (Beat up the guys from ‘Encyclopedia Metallum’ if I am wrong). It’s a unique symbol feature of music that It has no boundaries, no care for skin color, no idea about religion.. But it’s all about moving the grey mind domain, beat along with the vein-center.  

Shunq (the Despaired…King of Darkness)... a notable track of their album gets a new video around this time. Quite a band. They have a number of notable tracks and they’ll be here along in the touring process of supporting their latest album PsychoGenocide.

           

Cyanide Serenity with Travis added to the line up

Cyanide Serenity hailing from UK will be also joining the mayhem. The Brits .. Long known in our soils for occupying for some time to warm up around the  tropical sun and well Cricket, is also Famed for Rock and Metal. Releasing their debut EP “Consume Me” in February 2011 which depicted a mix of Metal, Melodic and Death core has earned their own status in UK soils. Their much known act was supporting Iron Maiden  in Bangalore, India for almost a 30,000 strong Indian crowd. Gaining fast crowd, fame, along with adding Travis of Divine Heresy for the Vocalist department. For me a well known track is Facebreaker from him with DH. While a sog that I like of CS is none other ‘Foundations’. The band is due to re-record the album with Travis, but they’ll be giving a sample how it’ll sound like on Lion soil.. LIVE.

Stigmata - Picture by Natalie Soysa

Well... Coming to the hosts... It’s none other than Sri Lankan Metal Giants Stigmata who’ll be whipping the crowd and welcoming the two foreign bands. Stigmata after releasing their album ‘Psalms of Conscious Martyrdom’ last year is fast set in motion increasing their fan-base around the world. Resulting a Australian tour last October where the wallabies got whipped out of their feet. The band entering way back the years with distinct sounds of Thrash Metal , Death Metal now is experimenting Progressive Metal not straying far from their roots.. Adding new color and dimensions. Sri Lankan Metal heads...I know you need no particular introduction. But the non-metal heads.. people around the world. Things are a tough uphill to explain Stigmata to you. It’s very hard to explain guys and girls. Because they have their own notion of sound and things put up together, that even I can’t say they ‘sound like this’. You just have to take a go and see for your selves.

      So like me and my rag-a-tag team is all psyched up and waiting to hit the Gig “Psycho Martyrdom” which is held on 6th May 6 to 11pm on British International College Auditorium, Colombo Sri Lanka. Organizers have released a killer shirt to celebrate the event... And well... It has a something of an artwork too.  Those who’ll be there... catch ya around. Be there though.. I highly recommend it that it’ll Psyche you guys.

      The Silent Revolution is no more .. Things are going to get loud here on… No prisoners…