TRACKLIST:
01 Gaddaar
02 Aaj
03 Zanjeero Se
04 Machi Bhasad
05 Dana-Dan
06 Jee Veerey
07 Endurant
08 Yaad
09 Bsdk.Exe
10 Chakh LeBloodywood – Rakshak
INFORMATION:
The answer is hell yeah and more. The album is a furnace of imagination and craft unleashed with just as adventurous ferocity and invention, a release which surprises at every turn whilst creating a cauldron of energy and passion which is just as impacting.
Bloodywood is classed as folk metal band, a tag we believe the band readily accepts but as Rakshak swiftly and firmly declares, the band’s sound is a tapestry and tempest of flavours and styles investing in the prime essences of melodic, nu, and groove metal through to metalcore and more.
The following Aaj emerges from a melodic setting, its folkish breath and scenery bearing that aforementioned Motherjane essence before another esurient flume of sound escapes courted by electro metal intimation.
Bloodywood Rakshak review:
One day the old man says to his wife, «Please, bake me a bun». The old woman takes some flour, some sour cream, some butter and some water, and makes a bun. She puts it on the windowsill to cool.
But the bun cannot sit on the windowsill! It jumps from the windowsill to the bench, from the bench to the floor, from the floor to the door, and runs away.
The bun runs along the road and meets a hare. ‘Little bun, little bun, I want to eat you!’ says the hare. ‘I ran away from Grandfather, I ran away from Grandmother. And I can run away from you, little hare!’ says the bun and runs away.
The bun runs along the road and meets a wolf. ‘Little bun, little bun, I want to eat you!’ says the wolf. ‘I ran away from Grandfather, I ran away from Grandmother, I ran away from the hare. And I can run away from you, grey wolf!’ says the bun and runs away.
The bun runs along the road and meets a bear. ‘Little bun, little bun, I want to eat you!’ says the bear. ‘I ran away from Grandfather, I ran away from Grandmother, I ran away from the hare, I ran away from the wolf. And I can run away from you, big bear!’ says the bun again and runs away.
The bun runs along the road and meets a fox. ‘Little bun, little bun, I want to eat you!’ says the fox. ‘I ran away from Grandfather, I ran away from Grandmother, I ran away from the hare, I ran away from the wolf, I ran away from the bear. And I can run away from you, old fox!’
‘What a nice song!’ says the fox. ‘But little bun, I’m old and I cannot hear you well. Sit on my nose and sing your song again.’ The bun jumps on the fox’s nose and … the fox eats it!
Bloodywood: “The theme of this band is that it has to be something that adds value to this world”
When Bloodywood toured Europe in 2018 on their punningly-titled Raj Against The Machine tour it was, to quote guitarist, producer and composer Karan Katiyar, a “life-changing experience”.
“I don’t think we’ve recovered from that experience and it’s been two years,” he laughs. “It was like a month-long movie for us, it’s every emotion times a thousand. Our friends are sick of us talking about it all the time because that’s the last interesting thing to happen in our lives before the pandemic struck. We want to experience that again.”
It looks like they’ll get the chance as they’ll be returning to Europe in March, with a UK stint included and a delayed appearance at this year’s Bloodstock in the offing.
This time, though, they will also have their incendiary (sort of) debut album Rakshak under their belts and a growing sense of excitement surrounding the band. Indian metal legend Sahil ‘The Demonstealer’ Makhija is one of many who believe that Bloodywood could be the first heavy band to explode out of the country to major international success.
“India is so big and diverse that nothing is definitively Indian,” the Demonic Resurrection mainman told us recently. “But Bloodywood has captured what the West or anyone else in the world would want to hear when they ask, ‘What would Indian metal sound like?’”
