Fairy tale may be going a little too far but the journey of Bloodywood would make an awesome film. There is already a documentary “Raj Against the Machine” which you can watch on YouTube which depicts the bands story up to their blistering performance at the W.E.T. stage at Wacken Open Air in 2019. I can tell you it was blistering coz I was there. In the middle of a packed out tent with hundreds listening outside. We were dancing and singing and going nuts. For me it was my moment of the festival – the crowd truly were electrified by their performance, and a group of men from New Delhi who had been an internet phenom became a riffs and sweat, killer live band before our eyes. Check my YouTube TotalRock interview with Karan Katiya, who writes the music and plays guitars, flute and production for the band to see quite how gushing I was after seeing them. That will also give you a bit of insight on the music scene in India, the political context and my relationship with South Asian music and will save you having to read it here so I can just get on with the review.

So here we are three years after the first videos started getting shared and people were falling over themselves to recommend Ari Ari to friends. Rock and metal crowds can be fickle – trends come and go and the next big thing soon drops into the bargain bin. How have Karan,  clean and growling vocalist Jayant Bhadula and rapper Raoul Kerr fared in the meantime?

Well I’m pleased to say that have spent time writing some more killer anthems that blend Indian folk music, metalcore, nu and rap metal to make an album that makes you want to bounce up and down, gurn maniacally and swing your hips in equal measure.

Now for some people the mere mention of Rap and Nu metal and Metal Core may send them screaming for the hills or reaching for the off button. I gotta say that I am not the biggest fan of any of those genres and in fact most European Folk metal leaves me cold after a track or two.

However, the way Bloodywood arrange their music and blend the styles together lifts it away from the muddied waters of genre stereotypes. Think of it in culinary terms. A chili pepper, turmeric, garlic and coriander leaves might taste wrong on their own but stick em in a pot baby! Mwah- chefs kiss!

The tracks that hit YouTube hard are all here. The incendiary, politically charged rabble rouser “Machi Bhasad” which still shakes my windows as I drive listening to it, the haunting flute led “ Jee Veerey” which deals with suicide , “Yaad” about loss and “Endurant” about bullying.  This is a band whose social conscience is as big as their riffs. When Jee Veerey was released on YouTube the band funded 60 one-hour sessions of online counselling for anyone that needed. Not just lip service here. The band are keen to breach political and religious divides as well as musical ones and that has got to be commended.

Onto the newer music, Raoul’s rapping is a little cheesey, as it has always been. Some of the rhymes are a little clumsy but I think it works and his flow is great and he blends well with Jayant’s huge clean and harsh vocals. “Aaj” has an Eskimo Callboy dance/metal core crossover vibe without the comedy element and could be a huge track live and especially in clubs. The flute soars out over the big electronic riffs!

“Zanjeero Se” is a lil bit Lacuna Coil meets Linkin Park for my tastes – production and arrangement are great but it lacks the dhol beats and Indian rhythms of the other tracks so sounds very bland in comparison.

“BDSK.exe” is a crazy hybrid. Anti Nazi rap, meets mad Prodigy style dance rock mixed in with a heavy dose of Within Destruction’s style of Nu Deathcore, whilst album closer “Chakh Le” is a big riffs, big sitar line fist in the air bounceathon.

As I am typing this there is a countdown to the new single “Dana Dan”. Absolute banger. Massive chunky Fear Factory style riffs, mad tribal rhythms and Roots era spitting from the get go. Jayant spits venom like a gatling gun dropping into some gnarly death metal growls that suit the drops. Raoul comes into his own with his style sounding more street smart than before. A nod to future directions perhaps?  Once the female vocal is layered on I feel like I am floating above a dusty festival pit. “Fuck everyman for himself – it’s every man for every man” What more needs to be said?

Bloody great album.

(9/10 Matt Mason)

https://www.facebook.com/bloodywood.delhi

https://bloodywood.bandcamp.com/album/rakshak