BENGALURU: When Transitpoint first started out in 2008 there were a very few rap/nu metal bands in the scene. In fact even today, this sub-genre of metal has not been explored a lot in the country.
December 10 was a landmark day for the Bengaluru based band and dare we say for the genre itself in the country. After a long struggle, blood and sweat, the band finally released their first studio album titled Hayath at UB City and played a set of songs from the album, their EP (released in 2011) and few covers to a crowd of well-wishers and fans. Hayath is an Arabic word that means life.
Heavily influenced by bands such as P.O.D, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach and other well known metal bands in the genre, Jeven John, vocalist and founding member of the band says that Transitpoint is definitely “gospel oriented” but would not like to label themselves as an out and out gospel band. “We are definitely religious but our songs talk about life and its various expressions whether anger or peace and other emotions,” he says.
The album has 12 songs that represents the band’s journey of eight years.
“The song 1981 talks about about my spiritual path and there are bits about my childhood and how I got into rap and rock” says Jeven. Another track, Done is an anthem about people’s faith. “It’s a song about affirmation and the whole concept of life and eternity. Life is puzzling and confusing and the song talks about a lot of symmetry. But the message is to stay strong, stay on course and stay positive,” adds Jevan.
Besides the fact that the album has songs that will make any metal enthusiast mosh, the fact that P.O.D’s lead guitarist, Marcos Curiel had something to do with the album is a big draw. When the album was being made, Jeevan contacted Curiel through Facebook and got an immediate reply.
“For a guy of his stature he was really humble,” says Jeevan. Curiel got Jeevan in touch with Dan Shike, a mastering engineer who has worked with Curiel on his other band, The Accident Experiment and Korn guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch’s project called Love and Death.
Talking about the future of the band. Mark Von Reddy, bassist and one of the two founding members says “The journey has been nothing short of an adventure! We want to keep pushing the limits of our music.”