Nada Nada Nada

If there is one place, where ‘beauty’ does not just apply to people, but also to - the nature, the air, the water and everything about the place. It is none other than, what is better known as ‘God’s Own Country. Yes, a place known for its spirituality, rhythmic music of the ‘panchavadyam’, classical and mystic places, and the description goes on. But what if I say, Kerala and then next word I say, “Rock.” Would you find a discord? Probably most would.
But indeed seven years ago, a band created sensation in the country. They were hailed as the ‘Best Rock Band’ that they had ever seen. Their music was addictive. And Oh Boy, wasn’t it a surprise to Malayali world itself. ‘Nada Nada’, which when translated means ‘Keep Walking’ was their first introduction to the world. Surely, true to their song, they kept walking after that.

Nada Nada



What I liked about this band is their energy. And the guitar – I was blown away with that. What really struck me was they could really make you head bang in spite of the fact of that the lyrics aren’t in English. To the Vocalist, I give all the credit for he has been the reason for their success. His heart and soul is in the song and you can feel that. There you are hypnotized by this voice and the music that blends in.

In 2008 they released their debut album. They re-made “Nada Nada” video, with a music that was different from what they had produced first in 2003. If that was super, this was a notch higher.

Nada Nada (New Video Old Music)



But my personal favorite has been Adu Pambe. Simply because I love the start. I start headbanging and get goosebumps. Music is simply sublime and the buildup is exceptional. My favorite part reaches the solo at 4min 27sec, it’s just killer, the 6 string bass guitar has done a lot of justice to the song.

Adu Pambe



Avial (The Band)

The name is taken from the South Indian Kerala dish Aviyal which is made from the mixture of contrasting vegetables. Avial's work is a mix of folk music from Kerala and alternative rock, and the band's name is a reference to this. Avial depicts the social scene of Kerala and the plight of farmers whose hard-earned crop was seized by the local landlords. The music also consists of folk songs that were predominantly sung by the workers in the paddy fields. Very unlike from the other majority of the rock bands and that again gives me another reason why they are special.

Current band members

Rex Vijayan (Lead guitar and Synthesizer)
Tony John (Vocals, Turntables and Synthesizer)
Mithun Puthenveetil (Drums)
Binny Isaac (Bass)













Former members

Anand Raj Benjamin Paul (Lead Vocals) – Thrissur based singer who bought that special touch to Avial’s success, he was a English teacher until he quit and decided to give more time to music. He quit the band due to personal reasons.

Naresh Kamat (Bass Guitar) – The Non Malayali in the band, he was from Mumbai and presently working for Kailesh Kher.

Reneesh Alex(Rhythm guitar)

Rock Forever \m/

Never Dead

Sometimes I wonder, why is that it is not all the songs you would like to listen from a band? You pick and chose from the many. When you hear music, you instantly relate to “This-must-be-from-that-band” phenomenon. Why do bands play a particular kind of music? Is it because they can’t better? Or just that the old numbers had hit an instant chord with the listeners and want to cater to them time n again because success seems to be ensured that way? Well some questions don’t have an answer. At least I can’t answer this one.

Talking about bands and their different songs, well there is this one song I can’t get over. It has got bloody good meaning and I feel so involved in the song. The passion, the desire to be in the song, gets you ‘into’ the song from the very first. As I hear these lines…

The Room It Seems To Come Alive
Very Hard To Breath
He Is The Bogeyman
He Lives Inside Your Head
He Is The Bogeyman
He Never Will Be Dead

…the words get deep into my brain and I just go crazy. I really can’t express in words what goes through me when I hear the song. The screeching and the lyrics give you a kind of spooky feel. The song envelopes you with a feeling of being ‘haunted’ by something. Here’s Bogeyman by UDO for you.

UDO - The Bogeyman



Well, you must know me. When I talk about a band, you know that I have always dived deep into the bands, their music, and almost everything about them. But I still may be ‘unknown’ to you. For I don’t know much about the band. There’s a reason. One simple reason in fact. I still can’t get over this one particular song. Each time I listen to, it means something different to me. I listen to this song every single day.
May be some day I will learn more about them and drown in their music. But as of now, it’s all about Bogeyman, because ‘He Never Will Be Dead’.

Rock Forever \m/

Fighting a different war

When you follow a band, what appeals to you? The pace of their music? The lyrics? The theme? Well, you may have your own justifications. I am referring to a band, whose music is all about a powerful enigma.

Love, hate, have been favorite theme of many bands. They say, ‘All is fair is love and war’. But if it’s only about war, I mean if a band is just dedicated to singing war related songs. I would say, “Powerful”, because it requires a great of deal of expertise and passion to do justice to the theme. And one of the best bands I have come across in this genre is ‘Sabaton’. Listen to Primos Victoria, Birds of War, Angels calling, and you will know what I am talking about.

A small trivia about how I found these war lords. I was exchanging youtube music links with another friend, and he sent me a link. Alien sounding words ‘Attero Dominatus’ caught my imagination. There was an instant urge to know what it meant – ‘Destroy the Tyranny’. True that’s what the song does to you. Well now that you are introduced ( in case you didn’t know sabaton) go on explore them. And if you do know them, what are you waiting for? The war? Let the war drums beat.

Attero Dominatus



Now as practice I dig down to get the best of the songs of a particular band. After listening and going through the wikipedia that the band plays songs based on historical wars. Now that’s interesting for me. Wars & history always fascinated me, this was a new learning not just they sing related to battles or war, may be there is something I have missed. The next immediate thing I did was listening to their songs and download whichever I like; I added a few to my collections and later in sometime will download the discography.

Primo Victoria (First Victory)



The above song is the from the movie Saving Private Ryan which talks about how they are going through the gates of hell as they make their way to heaven through the Nazi lines. On the 6th of June 1944, on the shore of Western Europe, was their Primo Victoria against the Nazi’s

After that the other songs which I heard were
Wolfpack
Ghost Division
Angels Calling
Panzer Battalion
Counterstrike and many more

All these are based on different wars happened in different places.

Wolfpack



Sabaton – A Swedish band from Falun formed in 1999 with a theme of historical wars, kicked off their career with Fist of Fight (which was not considered their first album because Metalizer was recorded earlier but they released in 2007). The second album was titled Primo Victoria. Their third album was continued with the theme where they had left off in Primo Victoria with songs like "Back in Control" (which focuses on the British liberation of the Falkland Islands during the Falklands War), "Attero Dominatus" (about the Battle of Berlin which brought about the end of World War II in Europe) and "Angels Calling" (about trench warfare during World War I), and was released in Europe on the 28th of July 2006.
In March 2007, Sabaton released Metalizer as a double disc together with Fist for Fight, along with the previously unreleased song "Birds of War". In 2008, another album was released called The Art of War which was inspired by the influential book by Sun Tzu. The reason for releasing on the basis of the book was because human race have achieved many things but apart weapon advancements, war and tactics have remained the same. This album consists singles like “Ghost Division”

Band formation

Jaokim Broden – Vocals, Keyboard (on Metalizer & Primo Victoria)
Rikard Sunden – Rhythm/Lead Guitar, backing vocals
Oskar Montelius – Lead/Rhythm Guitar, backing vocals
Par Sundstrom – Bass
Daniel Mullback – Drums, Percussions, backing vocals
Daniel Myhr – Keyboards, backing vocals

What will happen if all the songs historic wars are sung, what will Sabaton chose then? Will they find another way to promote themselves? Lot’s of questions can be asked? Well till they sing and perform it doesn’t matter. Keep fighting Sabaton

Rock Forever
\m/

They Blew me away

A band that never seems to stop experimenting. I have never heard them play the same kind of music. Each time, there’s something different that stands out. For many this has two implications. One: either that they are unsure as to where they fit in and thus play whatever – be it alternative rock or be it alternative metal. Two: They play different music because they have one thing on their mind – whatever they play should be worth listening to. True as their name, they seem to be known to break the rules. Here they are, Breaking Benjamin.

I still remember how the first song of theirs left me hunting to know them. I had heard a song of theirs on a popluar radio channel, but I couldn’t grasp it. The next day, I typed whatever I could remember of the song. And thirty minutes later I discovered ‘Dairy of Jane’. It was the first song of Breaking Benjamin and there begins my journey with them.

The Dairy of Jane



As I mention in my blogs the usual practice to find out more songs, I heard the next one and it was another master piece of theirs which I liked a lot. This time around the wordings and the music where felt on the same time. The guys voice, if I can explain is deep and sings with a lot of passion which makes his songs so very overwhelming

Blow me Away



These guys are really awesome to listen. The songs I like are So Cold, Breath, Give me a sign, I will not bow and many more.

After all the hard hitting songs the song which I really liked was Rain, because it’s slow “NO”, because it is soothing and the song has a such a lovely meaning. This cannot be explained more, you got to listen to it to get the feel of it

Rain



Breaking Benjamin is a band from Pennsylvania, and they are lined up

Current Members:
Benjamin Burnley - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1998–Present)
Aaron Fink - lead guitar (2001–Present)
Mark Klepaski - bass guitar (2001–Present)
Chad Szeliga - drums, percussion (2005–Present)

Former Members:
Chris Lightcap - drums, percussion (1998)
Nick Hoover - bass guitar (1998)
Jonathan "Bug" Price - bass guitar, backing vocals (1998–2001)
Jeremy Hummel - drums, percussion (1998, 2001–2004)
Kevin Soffera - drums, percussion (2004)
Ben "B.C." Vaught - drums, percussion (2004–2005)

The band was formed in the year 1998, they fall into different category of rock as it depends on the kind of music they play. Their music is most often classified as alternative rock, alternative metal, nu metal, and post-grunge. Till date they have released 4 albums. Saturate (2002), We are not alone (2004), Phobia (2006) and Dear Agony (2009). The music is good so is the lyrics. The number of fans on Facebook is 1,091,947 (July 6, 2010). This will grow and the dairy of Benjamin will be known to the world.

Rock Forever \m/