Heavy bass and drums booming through your bones, distorted guitar solos transporting you to another world and a crowd of fans headbanging immerse you in an overwhelming feeling of being part of something – the intensity of a heavy metal concert is not for the faint-hearted, and Bengalureans looking for that experience can find it at Bangalore Open Air. “It’s India’s only dedicated heavy metal open-air music
festival and it’s going to be eight hours of non-stop heavy metal music,” says Salman Syed, founder of the festival, ahead of its 14th edition set to happen on October 10 at BITS Club Grounds, Hennur.
This year’s lineup features six bands spanning several metal sub-genres, including international acts well known within the heavy metal community. “It’s the first time ever that we’ve stacked a really big lineup of global bands. Metal has many sub-genres, so we’ve also tried catering to everyone’s tastes – from the youth who listen to more modern metalcore and deathcore music to fans who listen to old-school heavy metal from the ’80s,” he says. Pointing to the acts he considers the must-see highlights, Syed adds, “The headliner is Dismember, a band from Sweden which pioneered death metal. Paradise Lost is a legendary doom metal band from the UK, who’ve been around since the ’90s; Thy Art Is Murder from Australia has been doing main stages at festivals across Europe, and we also have Nervosa from Brazil, which is an all-female thrash metal band.” Also featured are rogue metal band The Ocean, Kerala-origin band The Down Troddence, Norwegian metal band 1349, and Midhaven from Mumbai.
A unique feature of this year’s festival is its two side-by-side stages, which, Syed shares, creates a smooth flow from one performance to the next: “One band performs and the other is setting up, so they start as soon as the first band finishes.”
More than the music, the event has become an important community space for music enthusiasts who don’t get too many festivals dedicated to the metal genre. Addressing anyone planning to sign up, Syed says, “Hard rock and heavy metal music are genres which are all about brotherhood and community. It’s one big family and that’s what makes it different. It’s one day of the year where you can be yourself. Nobody cares what you wear, what language you speak or where you’re from – it’s all about our shared passion.”
(For details, visit bangaloreopenair.com)
