My First Metal Fest Experience

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Hello, guys! This is Samuel once again, here to share my experience that totally had changed my view over metal. Yes, listening to metal, and witnessing the bands Live are two different things. Surely, I've never had thought that I'll be getting an opportunity to experience like this. Headbanging to the bands with your fellow metalheads, is one of the best things any metalhead could do. I've had the chance to travel over 600km, just to fulfill my wish of seeing a metal band perform onstage, is a lot for me.

So, today I'm here to share my experience that took place in Bangalore. This festival is conducted every year, but I've never been there, until I've started to earn my own money to buy some tickets. Even my parents supported me in going to Bangalore all alone, and to stay there for 2 nights with my cousin who lives there. Thanks be to him for not only letting me stay, but also letting my friend who's also a metalhead. So, when I had reached Bangalore, I was very excited for the first time, because I've never seen a metal band Live. I've had tickets already that I had purchased immediately when they announced on social media, which shows how desperate I am. Haha. Well, I even had purchased for my friend whose name is Salmon, who is from Kerala, while I'm from Telangana. Even for him it was his first metal show.

The tickets were little bit costly, but I didn't care about it, and I had understood later after the show that it's totally reasonable. Haha, Anyways, let's get into the review now.

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Event Poster

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Band Lineup

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I was in my Bathory T-shirt, and my friend wore an Iron Maiden T-shirt, and we just swiftly reached to the venue, almost like an hour before it started which is a cool thing. I started to get goosebumps which is natural for me, and we were in the line for the entry. My heart was pounding and so is my homie. He said that he was very excited to see Abbath, because he's a huge fan of Immortal. Well, the venue was very well organized with a pretty large stage, and the cameras on the back, and one side there are stalls for beers, band merch and food. The place is actually a resort which is a very famous one in Bangalore.

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It felt really cool to see other metalheads around, with tattoos, long hair, smiling at each other, and meeting and taking photos in that peaceful mid-evening. The sky was cloudy, though, and I said to Salmon that it's gonna rain, and we were little worried what they're gonna do about it. This was my first time and I almost felt there like a family.




Guwahati (India)

Winners of Wacken Metal Battle India 2019

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Hell yeah, they are an amazing Ambient/Experimental band that was formed in 2018,and are from Guwahati, India. I have absolutely loved the band because I loved every moment of it. These guys should've replaced Krur band, due to the stage presence that these guys qualify for. Nephele truly deserves because as you can see that their songs have a top notch composition and the vocals are outstanding. The stage presence is absolutely insane, as I looked around, and see that everyone are busy with headbanging and starting to form a pit, already. The drummer is sensational and so are the guitarists, that bring cool textures that are really necessary for an ambient band. Their technical side of presenting the songs is really wise, as we could see the co-operation among the band members, onstage.

Members -

1. Vocals - Monup Thaosen

2. Guitars - Anong Timung

3. Guitars - Anand Karigapsa

4. Bass - Kungor Engti

5. Drums - Parcha Jyoti Kalita

In that moment, I just didn't care what others think, cause that was the moment I was waiting for, to loose myself into the groove. I have absolutely loved the vocal parts of the band that kept the crowd into motion. The thunderous riffs, heavy sounding drums that is incorporated with rolling and heavy bass had pushed a good start for the evening. The band had performed like 5 songs that totally made me wanna check them out in future too. The crowd totally enjoyed them, and were screaming out "once more, once more! ", and they played one last song for us, and had departed, but it surely was a great start for the evening.

Nephele live at (Bangalore Open Air 2019)



Hardcore/Groove/Thrash Metal

Dhaka (Bangladesh)

Winners of The Wacken Metal Band 2019 alongside South East Asian bands

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Trainwreck is a Bangladeshi band that incorporates the styles of Thrash Metal with some hardcore influences, here and there, that makes them Groovy and heavy. They were formed in ___ and have come all the way from Bangladesh, just to Wreck this place off. The band had performed in many gigs and fests, such as this, and undoubtedly, shown a lot of effort in terms of writing music and those killer compositions, had given them a stage they've probably never expected.

Members -

1. Vocals - Abir Ahmed Shuvo,

2. Guitars - A.K. Rahul,

3. Guitars - Ekram Wasi,

4. Bass - Habibullah Farhan,

5. Drums - Mark Don

When I heard of Trainwreck, I've not expected the band to be in such a way, where the whole crowd could be wrecked. The vocals and the whole atmosphere that Abir had created reminded everyone of Randy Blyth of Lamb Of God. The groovy textures of guitars with heavy technical structures that's so freakin intriguing, just took us all to another world. The best part of the show was Trainwreck, because these guys have won the Wacken Metal Battle Indian 2019, and we saw that the guitarist A. K Rahul got a little emotional because of what they have accomplished. Truly, they deserved it.

Trainwreck live at Bangalore ||Bangladeshi Band|| 2019


Mass Damnation

Technical Groove Metal / Metalcore

Colombo (Sri Lanka)

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Mass Damnation is a Tech Groove metal band that had formed in 2010. The music they bring was really outstanding. They started out with a heavy song that combined the technical riffs and rapid drumming all the way through, that kept the whole crowd pumped. The vocalist Ryan is one of the best vocalist I've heard in for awhile. His screams and pig squeals reminded me of Zack of Abated Mass Of Flesh. I really don't know how he did those, but out of nowhere, there were two pits in the crowd, at a time. The performance of Mass Damnation was just massive and terrific. I absolutely loved the way every musician in there worked it out, and the heavy breakdowns were really fantastic too.

Members -

1. Ryan Johnson - Vocals

2. Tony Jayathilake - Guitars

3. Thishan Wijesinghe - Guitars

4. Nirodha Jayasinghe - Drums

5. Aki Peiris - Bass

You should check out the video here that I've uploaded on my channel. Everyone around lost their senses, and began to jump around and hit each other, already. There was a lot of craziness going out in the midst of all the folks holding beers, raising their devil horns and headbanging to such amazement. My friend had gone into the circle pit and so did I. It was really fun to be in that place that I could call home. I didn't even think of what my life would be tomorrow, nor what I'll eat or drink that night, rather I've embraced every moment of Mass Damnation.

Mass Damnation @ G-Shock Bangalore Open Air 2019

In the mean while, after their performance, the sky was already dark and cloudy. And before Krur had been setting their things up, and unfortunately, it started to rain. We just waited under the tents and were watching them perform. Some of the guys were near the beer stalls and stuff. We already had a beers and it was just time to get cozy in the pit. However, some of the guys were headbanging in the pit.

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We just didnt want to waste time under the tents, so we came back near to the stage, despite the rain. But after some time it had stopped.



Death Metal

Kathmandu (Nepal)

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Krur is a death metal band that was formed in 2018. This female fronted band sounded more like themselves. Not like arch enemy or anything. But, they were so much like underground kind of death metal. The vocals of Aastha were deep and heavy with growls that are really authentic. The guitar skills by Sumit was intriguing, as well as the bass sounds. Honestly, the band performing on live was brutal, and something I didn't expected them to be like that. I've seen them on YouTube, but seeing a band like Krur perform is just another wonderful thing for me to witness. I don't know about the crowd, but I kinda lost myself in feeling the moment, and I think it was because of the rain or whatever, but overall it was really great.

Members -

1. Guitar - Sumit Lamsal

2. Bass - Akrit Pradhan

3. Vocals - Aastha Nagarkoti

4. Drums - Rajat Paudel

We have even met the vocalist at the end of the show, and man she was pretty badass and really friendly. She kindly accepted us to take a selfie with her, and it was a cool moment. There was Akrit or Sumit as well, I think, but he just spoke to us and left by then, as he was so drunk and maybe went for another drink. Lol. It was crazy though.

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A performance by KRUR on Facebook



Death/ Thrash Metal

Hyderabad (India)

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Here they come, my boys from Hyderabad! (🤘 :sunglasses: ), it's Godless, folks! I'm from Hyderabad and its really great to see our guys making the city proud all around the world. I've discovered them in 2013, and they truly had shown me their level of versatility ever since. I don't know about your choice, but I think Godless is one of the most successful and a proper quality death metal band in India. In 2018, they've set out their record "Swarm", which is a great hit. I was so excited to see these guys play live, and they undoubtedly nailed it. We pushed ourselves a little bit front for awhile near to the stage to see the band's equipment and the way they are playing it. The drummer, the guitarist and the bass musician are absolutely lost into the groove, as everyone of stage were headbanging to it. The vocalist Kaushal, came out suddenly and started to give growls who looks very simple with a cap, yet there's no match to his tremendous textures. The growls match so perfectly, raw and solid that the whole ground was shaking. Everyone in the pit started to get crazy and forming circle pits out of nowhere.

Songs such as Infest, Infected by the Black, etc are my favourites and they just proved that they are capable to sound even more authentic when they play in a gig like this. Everybody had gone crazy, even the dude on the wheelchair.

Members -

1. Guitars - Ravi

2. Vocals - Kaushal

3. Bass - Abbas

4. Drums - Aniketh

In that moment, the crowd had started to form two wall like division of metalheads, that's bigger than and more promising than what Trump wanted to built. Yes, I immediately took out my phone, but my friend had participated in that, and I just recorded it, cause I don't want to miss that moment. It was their last performance, I believe, and everybody's eyes were on the Wall Of Death. Even few chicks participated, and as you can see people fell down and got crushed. It was a double bass solid drumming with heavy growls in the moment that made my day. The scene out there was outstanding, as I felt very satisfied indeed.   Godless were insanely outstanding and skillful, no doubt!!

WALL OF DEATH | G-Shock Bangalore Open Air 2019 w/ GODLESS

Meanwhile, in the pit...

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Black Metal

Bergen (Norway)

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It was night, and everybody were almost ready to witness some real deal of the night. Darkness started to flood that grim night. We went to check out some merch and stuff, until they set up the system. We sat down for awhile, and chatted for a while, but didn't felt like drinking much, cause he beer wasn't so worth the money, and food as well. I really don't wanna waste my money for unwanted things at the moment, but time was money. Hell yeah!! There were Vinyls and CDs too, but most of them were Rock and stuff, but not what I wanted. The stall had Dream Theater, Pink Floyd, Foo Fighters, The Doors, and Metallica too, but I didn't wanted that. I wanted something more extreme. However, I've seen Iron Maiden Vinyl which I've wanted, but I didn't have the player for that, sadly.

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Members -

(Note - Correct me if I'm wrong)

Raud - Guitars

Mia Wallace - Bass

Olve (Abbath) - Vocals, Guitars

Ukri Suvilehto - Drums

After sometime, we just gathered again the crowd, and everybody were holding their cellphones up, to witness the dark, frosty bites of the cold atmospheres of Norway on stage. We've seen the sound guy checking in the back behind the drums, and everyone were like " Yeahhhhh, let's goo". Haha. Later, out of no where, the drummer Ukri came out in the dark, and the crowd started to scream out, and next Olve, Mia and Raud came out with their grim Corpse painted faces, with that dress code that is so warrior-like. They started immediately by playing the sound of heavy black metal guitars textures, and with delightful solid drumming, and the shrieking vocals that was so ear grabbing. I went even more front after some time to take some pictures, as I didn't want to miss this shit in life. Songs such as Tyrants, Warriors, In My Kingdom Cold, One by One, Ashes of the Damned, Winterbane, Count the Dead, To War were been played through the smoke and horrific vibes all the way. Oh, they also played Immortal songs too,as the crowd shouted.

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Olve even introduced their band members, and during the intervals of each song, he was encouraging the crowd by doing some funny things as always, like a crab dance and having some fun with the members as well on stage. In that moment I already felt like "Damn, this show is worth it!!! ". The music they provided that big night was undoubtedly sensational. Headbanging to some black metal with your fellow metalheads, in that dark grim night was one of the best nights I've ever had so far. Abbath presented themselves very respectfully and in the end, they bowed as a thank you to India. Also, I loved Mia who's the bassist at her best. *blushes*

I totally loved Abbath! I've never been into them much, but this show changed my mind. Hell Yeah, it's Trve!!!

Abbath - Tyrants, live @ Bangalore Open Air 2019



Old-School Death Metal

Centereach (New York)

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Ah, I've been waiting for so long to witness this band Live, and therefore, after Abbath left the stage, we had a little bit of time in setting things up, yet again, i almost felt little bit of body pains on my back, cause I fell down in the pit during Mass Damnation, but it was worth it. Also, my friend Salmon had a small slit on his lip, as he got elbowed in the circle pit or wall of death, probably. But, he was very much desperate to have Suffocation in the show, than me. However, after some rest in that ugly night of sweat and dirt everywhere, we went back for a moment and had our time from a distance.

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Members -

1. Terrance Hobbs – Lead Guitar

2. Derek Boyer – Bass

3. Charlie Errigo - Rhythm Guitar

4. Eric Morotti - Drums

5. Ricky Myers - Vocals

Suffocation is an essential Death Metal band, that's one of the best and a classic old school DM band from NY. The band was formed in 1988, and everyone in the crowd knew how brutal, nasty and technical they are. Finally, out of no where, they started their performance of each song, such as Funeral Inception, Infecting The Crypts, Jesus Wept, Abomination Reborn, Effigy of the Forgotten, and others. I don't have the correct list, but I was able to recognise few and find them online. The technicality in each of the songs is tremendously brutal, killer and awesome. The solid drum beats, heavy guitar solos and those bass textures that made the crowd go crazy as hell, yes it was literally hell in the pit. Even, I had huddled everywhere like a madman, in the pit but making sure that I don't get hit by anyone. Ricky in every song gave his awesome growls that totally shook my senses. Man, a big circle pit on ye right side of he stage, and two small ones on the left. The technicality of every song is very explicit for all to experience the brutality and beauty through it. The sound was extreme and Suffocation had absolutely nailed it. The anger and stress is completely released, with a smile on everyone's faces. We went front after sometime and to few pics but they aren't that good, as it was all smoky and had lights everywhere.

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Suffocation Full Live Performance (click here)

The show ended with a blast. Everyone cheered them up and the band threw some guitar picks and drum sticks. Unfortunately, I couldn't get them, looking at my condition. But, alright, I still had some energy to meet people. The show was ended and it was time to go, but we've seen Krur's Vocalist from afar, and so we met her and their guitarist.

Most importantly, we had the chance to meet Charlie of Suffocation, who was greeted by few folks. I didn't wanna miss that, and so my friend and I rushed towards the front and spoke to him for a minute and took a selfie. It was that moment that had made me happy even more. Haha, this was my first metal concert and I've met a musician of a legendary band. I've never believed that! Lol. Charlie was really funny and cool guy to have a conversation.

SUFFOCATION-Infecting The Crypts (Live at Bangalore Open Air 2019)



We even met few other metalheads and been there talking about stuff, and left the venue in the end. Well, in conclusion I would thank many people in making this possible. It was hell of a show, and I totally loved it. No regrets. Only expectation was that Abbath wasn't there to meet up his fans, or maybe he was busy with stuff, cause when we asked if we could meet him, the management said that he had to take a flight. However, it was a hell lot of show, once again!

Thanks guys, for checking this lengthy blog of mine and to read this review. Hope you enjoyed it, and comment below what do you think of the show? If you are from India, or want to come the next year, please comment below, let's meet up brother! 🤘 :sunglasses:

Please support these bands on Social Media -

Trainwreck :

Facebook, YouTube

Krur :

Facebook, YouTube

Nephele :


Godless :

Facebook, YouTube

Mass Damnation :

Facebook, YouTube

Phew, that's pretty much, bye! 🤘Stay Metal!!

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Comments (42)

Likes (208)

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Comments (42)

I am very happy for you man! You saw not just 1, but 2 legends at your first show! Congrats on an awesome first show, glad you had a blast!

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0 Reply February 27

The moment when Abbath pointed at the flying drone and said “There’s extra-terrestrials here! Shoot that motherfucker!!” :smile:

Awesome blog man.

One of the best nights of my life. :blush: 🤘🏻

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2 Reply February 22
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