This happens to be the latest album recorded by the Indian Metal band Demonic Resurrection. When I heard the songs for the first time I remember saying to myself that this is not the same as their earlier creations, there was something that conveyed the suggestion of perfection in them. Then in the early days of 2010, I received the package from Sahil (the lead singer), it contained a Tshirt, a CD, sticker and other merchandise. I immediately popped the disk into my drive and sat back.
The first track of this album, their intro which I figured they'd use whenever they'd take the stage on one of their concerts, sets the stage and prepares you for what lies ahead. Every track of this album gleams with genius. Then it dawned on me that these tracks seem to continue from each other. No, this is not a euphemism for “they all sound essentially the same”. They are as different from each other as can be. What I meant to imply is that these tracks when stitched together cause a subtle narrative to emerge. Its kinda like conveying an image without drawing one. It seems to me like they have actually used the mood of each song to depict a different stage in a journey. There is little suggestion of a saga in the lyrics of the songs, its subliminal, and that is what I absolutely relished about these tracks.
In a conversation after one of their concerts, Daniel (the lead guitarist) told me that this was their intention all along. They wanted to tell a story, and they did. But what I consider a stroke of genius is that the first song, the instrumental, conveys a feeling of foreboding and is akin to the kind of premonition one gets before something momentous begins. All the succeeding songs have endings that don't tie things up, they leave some things unsaid, they are like cliffhangers that leave the listener wondering “what next?”. They have done it with such subtlety that the revelation just adds to the pleasure brought on by their musical creativity.
The last song, Omega I, ties things up sweetly, and the way in which they wrap up the song with a kind of homage to what is in my opinion one of their best songs (Beyond the Darkness) is amazing. In an interesting way, this adds a feeling of finality to a song that suggests the end of a journey or a saga. This album, after all things are considered is a quantum leap from their previous ones. They seem to have mastered the art of album making with this one, and have (inadvertently or otherwise) set the bar pretty high for their next albums.
I still feel unable to express my appreciation for this album. Its not just one thing about it, I guess that is why I am writing this post. It is a great album on so many levels. The musical creations themselves are orgasmic, I haven't any other word to describe them by. The ordering of the tracks in the album is what I have been ranting about since my first word. The way the mood of each song suggests a stage in a journey takes your breath away. Then there is this aspect, the lyrics and even title of the tracks they seemingly skip on the surface of this emergent narrative like a stone skipping over water, only, unlike the stone, the lyrics never sink into the narrative. On one level, you can enjoy these songs as individual entities, but when you become aware of this narrative that emerges out of the continuity between the songs in this album, you get thrown into a maelstrom of pleasure at a level you never before knew existed.
I could fill a couple of paragraphs with my interpretation of the story which is told in this album but I feel that would be a major spoiler. I suggest getting the album and basking the the brilliance of its creation. I don't care if I am being redundant but I'd like to say that this is the most complete album I have had the privilege of listening to. The ordering of the tracks, the way the mood changes from track to track, the way they have been crafted, this is a band that has arrived, and I feel we can safely look forward to more works of musical genius from them.
I am not going to talk about the individual tracks, for if I do, I might end up sounding like a schoolgirl admiring the object of her affection.
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