This has been long due.
I dont really know why I am writing this now, especially when I am completely sleep deprived but I guess thats my style. To get myself to the edge and then try to write, for I have always thought that thats when I write best.
Also a fellow blogger, a close relative of mine and a regular reader of my blog (when i post that is) -- the same person -- mentioned that prachir should not stay too long as my top page of my blog for that much amount of time. So here goes.. another review..
Insomnia as a band has been on the circuit for a long time. I cursorily knew their guitarist as a fellow guitarist during school life. Did NOT know him personally, and at that time I was just plucking strings and couldnt really call myself a guitarist, but by then, Bodhi had carved niche for himself in the Calcutta School Music circuit. I have known about Insomnia's music since then. Well they didnt form the band till they were almost out of school, South Point that is. But nonetheless Insomnia wasnt and isnt a school band. They started playing English Rock by definition and played the tricky stuff, Dylan, Floyd and later went into alternative especially RATM.
So, when I heard they were releasing a Bengali Rock Album, I was actually surprised and to some extent disheartened, because these guys were one of the few after Krosswindz who played good rock music in Calcutta and although good rock music can exist in the Bengali Language I thought these guys were going for the more exciting competition.
But their first album has impressed me a lot. I mean as a regular and avid listener of music of all types I can comment that their album though carved out of sheer frustation that English Music is not commercially viable in Calcutta, comes out as one of the very best in recent Alternative Bengali Music. For readers who are disgusted at this comment, thinking that I consider all Bengali bands to be the best blah blah, should wait for my later posts about the NOT SO GOOD bengali bands and you will realise that there is no dearth of incompetence.
Moving on to their album which is called Proloyer Shomoye (Times of Armageddon).
This album mostly is about Rage, Protest, Death and all the other dark imagery that one could think of as important issues in our times. So its not surprising that bands like Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, Payable On Death and sometimes even Blur have had a heavy influence on their music.
So heavy that their title track, Proloyer Shomoye - starts with a guitar solo and a drum riff that immediately reminds you of "Youth of The Nation - P.O.D". The solo and the drum continues in the background through out the song, but the song itself is very very different from the P.O.D song. This very first song gets you head banging by the time it reaches the second stranza. By this time one realises that the lyrics are not straightforward even if they sometimes use very simple language. The lyrics shifts from metaphors to reality a bit too often, but the drums and the guitars take enough care so that you are not disappointed by the end of the song.
The next song, Artonaad (Scream), starts with another very recognizable guitar riff, and continues with it till the time the vocals give the song a different direction than "REVOLVER by RATM". Delay/Echo is probably one of the most favorite effects of this band. I love echo/delay effects, but when you use it to cover up the fact that you have lifted a solo from another band then it isnt really used for a good purpose. Standing out however in this song is the bass. It does give the song a different feel as does the vocals who try to his best to be different from the original and does a good job at it. The lyrics are more straightforward bringing out the small intricate details of life in Calcutta but with at least half a minute to go the song is already too long.
The next song, Shunyo (Zero/Vacuum) has beautiful lyrics. I havent "YET" found a similarity with a song that I have heard before, but the sound is complete. The song is simple in structure with good mood changes and good use of effects at different parts of the song.
But Shunyo does not prepare the listener for the next song. Its not a necessity these days for an album to have all the songs connected. The next song, Niswas (Breath) sounds as if its straight out of an Audioslave album. By now you would have taken the hint that these guys are definitely crazy about Tom Morello and also that they are immensely talented. Otherwise, its not everyday that you would find/hear a band that plays RATM/Audioslave leads with this much ease. This song is a really good song and I fear that the Calcutta audience may not be ready for alternative rock music at these doses. This is a fear I had for Prachir as well but more so for Insomnia because there music is what defines Alternative Bengali Rock and not borderline Metal/Alternative. By now this band has made a mark on my mind as a really really talented musicians.
The next song Hat Dhore (Holding Hands) speaks about the monotony of life and maybe also about Video Gaming. Lyrics are well thought of but the music though really good once again reminds me about some song I have heard of but can't really remember right now. The guitar solo is classic and the song convinces me that this band is not just good but very good. Personally the song stands out from the rest of the album because of its softness and which is the same reason why I dont like it so much .... :) ... but nonetheless I have tried not to be biased. Its a good song and it deserves the praise.
The next song Pothe Ghatey Nekdey Thakey (Wolves Prowl the Roads) is one of my favorite songs of this album. The beginning of the song lets you know its about call-centre professionals and the BPO boom in Calcutta and the rest of India. From their lyrics it seems Insomnia is not particularly happy with the boom and probably express this sentiment with the exceptionally explosive music. I have tried for sometime to pinpoint the influence of this song because it seems to me I have heard it before. But .. till now I havent been successful. I have actually heard all of RATM one by one , then audioslave, then Creed/Alterbridge and SOD just to find the song. And I am happy that I havent found it... yet.. The song is one of the best from the album . The only one negative about this song is the really off key background vocals. The rest is perfect and once again makes me wonder how such an exceptionally produced song and album is going to be accepted in Calcutta which when last I checked was still considering bands like kalapahar as rock bands.
Aakash Chowa (Skyhigh) the next song is one about loneliness and depression, touching another of the common downlows of the modern urban society , which by now I believe is the theme of their album. The starting drum line reminds me of Blur - Song 2. A little bit of search about Insomnia as a band will tell you that they are exceptionally proud of their drummer as being one of the few people in the city to play bounce. If you need to know what that is, listen to the song and imagine how the drum sticks behave if you have to play a rythm like that. Thats a very simplistic explanation of the style but then I am not a drummer. The vocals are really good in this song and so is the arrangement.
If I have not already mentioned it earlier I must say that apart from their brilliance in the music that they play, Insomnia as a band has shown exceptional maturity in the sound production and recording in their very first album. Its true Bodhi has been doing it for some time and its really really paid off.
The next song Adhormer Sar (frankly I am not sure how to translate this .. but it probably is The core of dishonesty or The fertlizer of dishonesty) starts of with the unmistakable riff of Born of a Broken Man by RATM. Talking about human corruptness in general with distinct anti-war tones, this song actually was one of the first songs I had heard from the album. I will not lie to you . After hearing the beginning I went back increased my volume and checked the credits to really believe this was a Bengali Band and not by some weird mechanism RATM singing in Bengali. Adhormer Sar scores points once again in all directions except maybe for originality. But they are once again meticulous in the reproduction of the original, very creative in the improvisations, beautiful in the lyrics and powerful in both vocals and the guitar. The rest of the band although not talked about much by me just fits in very .. very.. well.
Opekkha (The Wait), the last song is a soft soothing song starting with a very simple piano loop. No hard crackling guitars, no growling, no very fancy drumming and to me the most important song for the album if Insomnia is looking for general acceptance. I will try to be as neutral as possible because the song does not really fall on my side of the line for a "Good Song". But the effort and passion behind this song definitely oozes out both from the lyrics as well as the vocals. I could not think of influences for this one and I guess thats okay! :)
All in all, Proloyer Shomoye is an excellent album if one considers the novelty this album has introduced in the Calcutta Rock Music Scene. I am not sure how popular it has been since I have been quite late to review it but the fact that it has stayed on my regular playlist for sometime at a time when I was in a spree for new tunes is without sounding too pompous a definite sign that these guys have got their bengali "rock" absolutely spot on!! :)
The album does get hit on the context of originality and I woudl be eagerly waiting for their next album to see what they are really made of. Insomnia has shown they are the best when it comes to a RATM cover but whether they can scale it one notch up and truly create a new sound of Bengali alternative rock rather than sitting on the shoulder of giants and not even trying to stand is something to wait for..
Well Done Insomnia and please keep it up and dont sell your souls to the commercial strategies of Music World and Planet Ms.. Thats all i really wish for..
Next up : Arbovirus..
29th November, 2009
Go to the Bengali Rock Search Index
I dont really know why I am writing this now, especially when I am completely sleep deprived but I guess thats my style. To get myself to the edge and then try to write, for I have always thought that thats when I write best.
Also a fellow blogger, a close relative of mine and a regular reader of my blog (when i post that is) -- the same person -- mentioned that prachir should not stay too long as my top page of my blog for that much amount of time. So here goes.. another review..
Insomnia as a band has been on the circuit for a long time. I cursorily knew their guitarist as a fellow guitarist during school life. Did NOT know him personally, and at that time I was just plucking strings and couldnt really call myself a guitarist, but by then, Bodhi had carved niche for himself in the Calcutta School Music circuit. I have known about Insomnia's music since then. Well they didnt form the band till they were almost out of school, South Point that is. But nonetheless Insomnia wasnt and isnt a school band. They started playing English Rock by definition and played the tricky stuff, Dylan, Floyd and later went into alternative especially RATM.
So, when I heard they were releasing a Bengali Rock Album, I was actually surprised and to some extent disheartened, because these guys were one of the few after Krosswindz who played good rock music in Calcutta and although good rock music can exist in the Bengali Language I thought these guys were going for the more exciting competition.
But their first album has impressed me a lot. I mean as a regular and avid listener of music of all types I can comment that their album though carved out of sheer frustation that English Music is not commercially viable in Calcutta, comes out as one of the very best in recent Alternative Bengali Music. For readers who are disgusted at this comment, thinking that I consider all Bengali bands to be the best blah blah, should wait for my later posts about the NOT SO GOOD bengali bands and you will realise that there is no dearth of incompetence.
Moving on to their album which is called Proloyer Shomoye (Times of Armageddon).
This album mostly is about Rage, Protest, Death and all the other dark imagery that one could think of as important issues in our times. So its not surprising that bands like Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, Payable On Death and sometimes even Blur have had a heavy influence on their music.
So heavy that their title track, Proloyer Shomoye - starts with a guitar solo and a drum riff that immediately reminds you of "Youth of The Nation - P.O.D". The solo and the drum continues in the background through out the song, but the song itself is very very different from the P.O.D song. This very first song gets you head banging by the time it reaches the second stranza. By this time one realises that the lyrics are not straightforward even if they sometimes use very simple language. The lyrics shifts from metaphors to reality a bit too often, but the drums and the guitars take enough care so that you are not disappointed by the end of the song.
The next song, Artonaad (Scream), starts with another very recognizable guitar riff, and continues with it till the time the vocals give the song a different direction than "REVOLVER by RATM". Delay/Echo is probably one of the most favorite effects of this band. I love echo/delay effects, but when you use it to cover up the fact that you have lifted a solo from another band then it isnt really used for a good purpose. Standing out however in this song is the bass. It does give the song a different feel as does the vocals who try to his best to be different from the original and does a good job at it. The lyrics are more straightforward bringing out the small intricate details of life in Calcutta but with at least half a minute to go the song is already too long.
The next song, Shunyo (Zero/Vacuum) has beautiful lyrics. I havent "YET" found a similarity with a song that I have heard before, but the sound is complete. The song is simple in structure with good mood changes and good use of effects at different parts of the song.
But Shunyo does not prepare the listener for the next song. Its not a necessity these days for an album to have all the songs connected. The next song, Niswas (Breath) sounds as if its straight out of an Audioslave album. By now you would have taken the hint that these guys are definitely crazy about Tom Morello and also that they are immensely talented. Otherwise, its not everyday that you would find/hear a band that plays RATM/Audioslave leads with this much ease. This song is a really good song and I fear that the Calcutta audience may not be ready for alternative rock music at these doses. This is a fear I had for Prachir as well but more so for Insomnia because there music is what defines Alternative Bengali Rock and not borderline Metal/Alternative. By now this band has made a mark on my mind as a really really talented musicians.
The next song Hat Dhore (Holding Hands) speaks about the monotony of life and maybe also about Video Gaming. Lyrics are well thought of but the music though really good once again reminds me about some song I have heard of but can't really remember right now. The guitar solo is classic and the song convinces me that this band is not just good but very good. Personally the song stands out from the rest of the album because of its softness and which is the same reason why I dont like it so much .... :) ... but nonetheless I have tried not to be biased. Its a good song and it deserves the praise.
The next song Pothe Ghatey Nekdey Thakey (Wolves Prowl the Roads) is one of my favorite songs of this album. The beginning of the song lets you know its about call-centre professionals and the BPO boom in Calcutta and the rest of India. From their lyrics it seems Insomnia is not particularly happy with the boom and probably express this sentiment with the exceptionally explosive music. I have tried for sometime to pinpoint the influence of this song because it seems to me I have heard it before. But .. till now I havent been successful. I have actually heard all of RATM one by one , then audioslave, then Creed/Alterbridge and SOD just to find the song. And I am happy that I havent found it... yet.. The song is one of the best from the album . The only one negative about this song is the really off key background vocals. The rest is perfect and once again makes me wonder how such an exceptionally produced song and album is going to be accepted in Calcutta which when last I checked was still considering bands like kalapahar as rock bands.
Aakash Chowa (Skyhigh) the next song is one about loneliness and depression, touching another of the common downlows of the modern urban society , which by now I believe is the theme of their album. The starting drum line reminds me of Blur - Song 2. A little bit of search about Insomnia as a band will tell you that they are exceptionally proud of their drummer as being one of the few people in the city to play bounce. If you need to know what that is, listen to the song and imagine how the drum sticks behave if you have to play a rythm like that. Thats a very simplistic explanation of the style but then I am not a drummer. The vocals are really good in this song and so is the arrangement.
If I have not already mentioned it earlier I must say that apart from their brilliance in the music that they play, Insomnia as a band has shown exceptional maturity in the sound production and recording in their very first album. Its true Bodhi has been doing it for some time and its really really paid off.
The next song Adhormer Sar (frankly I am not sure how to translate this .. but it probably is The core of dishonesty or The fertlizer of dishonesty) starts of with the unmistakable riff of Born of a Broken Man by RATM. Talking about human corruptness in general with distinct anti-war tones, this song actually was one of the first songs I had heard from the album. I will not lie to you . After hearing the beginning I went back increased my volume and checked the credits to really believe this was a Bengali Band and not by some weird mechanism RATM singing in Bengali. Adhormer Sar scores points once again in all directions except maybe for originality. But they are once again meticulous in the reproduction of the original, very creative in the improvisations, beautiful in the lyrics and powerful in both vocals and the guitar. The rest of the band although not talked about much by me just fits in very .. very.. well.
Opekkha (The Wait), the last song is a soft soothing song starting with a very simple piano loop. No hard crackling guitars, no growling, no very fancy drumming and to me the most important song for the album if Insomnia is looking for general acceptance. I will try to be as neutral as possible because the song does not really fall on my side of the line for a "Good Song". But the effort and passion behind this song definitely oozes out both from the lyrics as well as the vocals. I could not think of influences for this one and I guess thats okay! :)
All in all, Proloyer Shomoye is an excellent album if one considers the novelty this album has introduced in the Calcutta Rock Music Scene. I am not sure how popular it has been since I have been quite late to review it but the fact that it has stayed on my regular playlist for sometime at a time when I was in a spree for new tunes is without sounding too pompous a definite sign that these guys have got their bengali "rock" absolutely spot on!! :)
The album does get hit on the context of originality and I woudl be eagerly waiting for their next album to see what they are really made of. Insomnia has shown they are the best when it comes to a RATM cover but whether they can scale it one notch up and truly create a new sound of Bengali alternative rock rather than sitting on the shoulder of giants and not even trying to stand is something to wait for..
Well Done Insomnia and please keep it up and dont sell your souls to the commercial strategies of Music World and Planet Ms.. Thats all i really wish for..
Next up : Arbovirus..
29th November, 2009
Go to the Bengali Rock Search Index
No comments:
Post a Comment