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It was New Year's Eve when I heard the news that 2 of the best bands in the country today, Sceptre and Metakix, were going to be playing here for the first time. Anybody having the least interest in rock/metal was pretty excited at the perfect way to kick off the year.
The show was organized by ITM Warangal as a part of their trade fair. Well, Hyderabad is quite indebted to you people. Planned as a two day gig, on the 4th and 5th of Jan, where the newer local bands would play on 4th and a few others prominently Sledge, with the headliners on the 5th. The first day was a complete mess with the rubbish sound but the local bands got some attention alright.
The second day was widely anticipated by the people who knew the bands or had heard them previously. What was supposed to be Sceptre, Metakix, Sledge and a few others was cut short due to time constraints and the local bands decided not to play and let the bands from Mumbai rock the show. Great gesture guys, you did the right thing! So, Sceptre decided to kick-start proceedings and played a great set of tunes. Their awesome 60 min set comprised of 11 songs that I can remember including 2 good own comps. They started off the soundcheck with Megadeth's Symphony of Destruction. Man, I knew the night was going to be amazing. They played perfect covers of Metallica's Enter Sandman and Master of Puppets, Megadeth's Tornado of Souls, Pantera's Walk and Cowboys From Hell, Sepultura's Intro and Roots, Black Sabbath's N.I.B and the absolutely beautiful Joe Satriani's Summer Song. They also played a couple of originals, 'Nuclear' and 'Search' which rocked!
Every damn person present was impressed at the execution of the songs, most of which aren't played by many bands, to the T. Perfect guitars, bass, drums and great vocals. Timir, Amar, Janis and Aniket; Sceptre, one hell of a band, one hell of a stage act and one hell of a performance. You guys rule man! For me the song that stole the show was 'Summer Song'; Amar bhai, one of your biggest fans here.*bows to the man*
After Sceptre had kicked ass, it was the turn of the three piece powerhouse Metakix; Zomb, Holy and JP. They played 75 min set with a mixture of mostly own comps to go with a few covers thrown in for getting the guys really into it. Zomb is the most amazing guitarist/vocalist I've heard in an Indian band [sorry Timir]. The band has an awesome drummer and a bassist that fits in perfectly. They gel with each other so well, one can see why they don't have another guitarist. Though, I really missed the rhythm back-up when the lead was playing, I didn't mind, no one else did too. The best thing was the crowd getting into the act for the own comps, which for any band is quite encouraging. Metakix rocked out the crowd with some killer own comps of which I can remember a few, 'The First Impression', 'Ocean Man', 'Small Town Aggression', '13 Disciples', 'Soundcheck', and 'High'. There were more but I can recall only these amidst all the headbanging. The covers played were Metallica's Metal Militia, Pantera's A New Level, Sepultura's Propaganda, Alice in Chains' Again and Fear Factory's Dog Day Sunrise.
Both bands were awesome and a treat to watch. The sound was great, and from what I heard later, was due to Zomb! If anything, it was the best show I've been to. It was great having outstation bands kicking ass here. The 500+ crowd was all entertained to the max. Hopefully, other good acts in the country will follow suite. Hope to see Sceptre and Metakix back here soon. You guys bowled us over. Another pleasure was meeting Timir and Janis at the DJ table after their performance. OK, that's it for me, for now. (5/5)
P.S: After Metakix finished their set, Tuskers, a local act took the stage but I was gone. Sorry dudes, maybe next time!
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