Bloodywood: From Indian parody band to metal music royalty

 "Bring back metal music to India."

When the Delhi-based quartet Bloodywood first started recording music in 2016, they aimed to do that.

As a "parody band," Bloodywood started off by posting metal covers of well-known Hindi songs on YouTube. Six years later, they have performed in some of the most renowned venues, such as Wacken Open Air, toured nearly 90 countries, and have become the first Indian metal artist to appear on the Billboard charts.

The band's music is solely intended to get you headbanging, but what makes them stand out is their ability to blend traditional folk music with hard metal. An exquisite flute crescendo lulls you into a trance before a shocking dhol (a percussion instrument) explosion, followed by a vicious riff, shakes you awake. Fans have referred to their performances as a "violent sensory overload," while Rolling Stone magazine has called their gigs "an aural assault."

The group gained notoriety in India as well, where it was the headlining act at several significant music festivals this year, including Lollapalooza and Nh-7 Weekender. Their success has raised expectations that metal may be revived in a nation where it still only appears on a small number of playlists.

The band's frontman, Raoul Kerr, adds, "We performed on some of the largest stages in the world, but home hits different - it's where we want to flourish.

The 1980s saw the emergence of bands like Millennium and the beginning of India's metal scene. Metal remained viewed as an "underground movement," existing on the periphery of the public, but rock jazz quickly gained new fans. Few people listened, finding record labels was difficult, and most traveling consisted of appearing at college festivals.

However, despite these restrictions, listeners claim that the community has always been active.

The out-of-the-way places were humming with activity. Despite being a niche audience, they were a devoted group. Most of the concertgoers were students, who headbanged all night long while rocking goat-like beards, devil horn gestures, and black metal t-shirts.

Sahil Makhija of the heavy metal band Demonic Resurrection, which was formed in 2000 and is frequently credited with popularising metal in the nation, argues that you had to be there to truly comprehend how the scene shook back in the day.

Since then, a lot has changed. As venues, income, and audiences dried up and the bands faded into obscurity, they broke up. Many metalheads from Makhija's age also acquired new professions over time and "ended up living completely different" lives.

Our favorite black metal clothing was abruptly relocated to a closet shelf, the man claims.

In some ways, there was a rebirth in the late 2000s as social media and the internet unlocked a whole new universe of possibilities. Over 50,000 metalheads from across the nation attended Metallica's concert in Bengaluru (previously Bangalore) city in 2011, bringing the genre to the forefront like never before.

After more than ten years, metal appears to have mostly found its place in popular culture.

Legends from throughout the world, like Megadeth and Karnivool, perform here. Additionally, newer generations of youthful, inexperienced listeners are increasingly present in the crowd for Indian bands like Bloodywood. "New faces are always present at concerts. People have been known to attend events with their entire families, according to band vocalist Jayant Bhadula.

According to Makhija, the scene has greatly benefited from India's developing concert culture. People often connect metal with anger, yet a metal show's contagious energy can entirely change perceptions.

The innovative paths that bands like Bloodywood have taken their music in have altered how people view the genre.

Metal has long since abandoned the notion that it is an "apolitical" counterculture of dissident music. Bands like Black Sabbath and Nuclear Assault, to mention a couple, have long used their songs to address socio-political issues, such as war, corruption, and failed governments.

However, listeners continue to feel uneasy by the genre's casual references to murder and contentious themes like cannibalism or Satanism.

People at Bloodywood undoubtedly exude that enthusiasm, with their waist-length hair, beards, and tattooed map of the world. However, their music is more reflective than aggressive.

They make up the devils in their songs. Instead, they serve as powerful metaphors that mirror the social issues that afflict our civilization. The band's anthems will lead you through both darkness and brightness, rage against governmental corruption, religious brutality, and sexism.

"I believe that all of us contain some metal. Our objective is to direct that anxiety towards the correct issues and motivate people to take action, adds Kerr.

While the success of Bloodywood is the reason for joy, many fans claim that the Indian scene is still far from ideal.

No other Indian metal band, outside Bloodywood, is still giving large-scale performances, claims Deep Bhattacharya, a resident of Delhi.

Mr. Bhattacharya has pleasant recollections of going to metal concerts at locally owned cafes while growing up in the capital in the late 2000s.

However, he claims that the decline in metal consumption forced some of the most well-liked acts on the scene, including Scribe and Makhija's Demonic Resurrection, to quit recording music. "International artists are becoming more well-known, but Indian musicians are at a standstill. Simply put, nobody wants to pay to watch them.

Mr. Bhattacharya adds that the only reason Bloodywood was able to solve this issue was that they were able to reach a sizable global audience after making their debut in Europe in 2019.

The band accepts the evaluation. "We realized from the beginning that to succeed in India, we would first need to become very well-known on a global scale. Although there aren't many of us, the metal community in this area is close-knit and enthusiastic.

According to Makhija, the genre itself is partly to blame for the seeming gap.

Metal has spread throughout the years into numerous subgenres, each of which continues to attract new fans and get sincere acclaim. However, it is still not the world's best-selling genre. "Metal is still an underground subculture when compared to pop music. Only a small number of urban listeners in India are fans of the music, making the contrast even more pronounced, according to Makhija.

However, it does not follow that the scene is over.

In India, metal is alive, according to Makhija. "Children today are carrying on the work we did 20 years ago."