CHENNAI: To all the metal-heads in town...here is Final Surrender, a metal band who after two albums, has found their true style and sound with their third release, ‘Nothing But Void’. “I would recommend every heavy metal lover to check it out, it’s everything you would want. We assure the crowd a crazy future of Final Surrender music in India and for all our fans around the world,” says Jared Sandhy, drummer.
As part of the Broken Roads Tour v 2.0, Chennai Leg, the Bengaluru-based band is set to get their Chennai fans head-banging to their new and popular tunes. City Express caught up with the members to talk about the making of the album and their metal journey. “This album is uniquely powerful and musical, with influences from the first two albums. We have seven tracks and the writing began in 2014 at Xandrin Studios— Bengaluru, an audio production studio I own, and is the band’s woodshed. The songs were co-written by our guitarist Sanjay Kumar after which we got the rest of the band to add their final touches and eventually got the album recorded. I had the most fun producing, mixing and mastering the album,” says Jared.
Final Surrender with Joseph Samuel, vocalist; James Stephenus, guitarist; Sanjay Kumar, guitarist; Judah Sandhy, bassist and Jared Sandhy at the drums, started their journey into the world of progressive metal core music. With the release of their first full-length album, ‘The Expanse’, they won much local and international acclaim.
People always wonder how lyrics for a metal song is penned. We asked them. Turns out, lyrics come after the music composition. “There is no set pattern on how I write lyrics but most of the time, it might just be an idea or concept which I discuss with the band and then wait for them to write music and later on, add the lyrics. Also, at times I just randomly write trying to capture the space I’m in with everyday life,” says Joseph. Their favourite track? ‘Tear Down the Walls’.
“It’s a track I intentionally produced keeping in mind the radio friendliness and familiarity of the sound of Nu-metal in people’s jams. The track has a groove and hook that would loop your jukes all day long. Amazingly, this track had an encore twice so far on tour, and people have been losing their minds while it’s played live,” says Jared.
Do metal band stereotypes bother them? “I haven’t really spent time thinking about it. There are tons of bands that get on my nerves sometimes, and it’s mostly because they don’t do their duties on stage,” rues Jared. “It’s not an exclusive lifestyle. It’s a way to convey your message through music in the most elaborate way!”
Being a Christian Metal band, they must have had rough roads. “Yes. We find a lot of mixed reactions from people but on the other hand, we did receive support from like-minded people,” says James. Other than rehearsals, they love drinking chai together and
watching cricket.
Catch them live at Bay 146, Savera Hotel on November 17. For details visit the Facebook page The Broken Roads Tour