‘It will survive against all odds, stampeding on forever’

Loud, heavy guitar riffs, raspy vocals and a group of angst-ridden teenagers donning Iron Maiden and Megadeth T-shirts, with long and unruly hair is usually what greets you as you walk into any underground gig.
But what began as an outlet to vent out their pent up emotions and frustration, has in fact turned out to be a lot more for these talented individuals. They are not just teenagers with angst and rock star fantasies but people who have real musical aspirations.
They may be in their twenties climbing the corporate ladder but they are still playing the music that they can relate to. Heavy metal has been around for quite some time. Underground bands such as Northern Alliance, Dusk and Venom Vault played Heavy Metal in the 90’s and became popular in their circle.
But the underground scene has never really flourished for a multitude of reasons. Though people are now beginning to accept the genre more and more, despite its loudness and heaviness, the musical style is still not limited to simple ‘heavy’ metal anymore; metal encompasses a whole array of sub-genres ranging from Stoner/Sludge Metal to Death/Grind/Doom Metal.
This is not to say that heavy metal was not a popular genre. Only, it was and still is, for the most part, socially unacceptable, because that is what it was essentially meant to be. Even the most liberal of parents end up associating the metal music genre and underground gigs with drugs and other such negative activities.
Zia Iftikhar of Venom Vault says in an earlier interview with Iron Markhor, an underground Pakistani Metal blog, “Music is not comparable to selling liquor or drugs and cannot be termed as an addiction which drives you astray. Music is like making or selling any art or craft…Music is only a part time thing in the lives of most Muslims.”
Despite all the efforts that are put into these underground gigs, these bands still are not being given the recognition they deserve. Only a handful of metal concerts are held all year round and not many show up. Usually the same motley group of head-bangers are present at every gig all year round.
Meanwhile, in other cases, one must attend a pop concert only to hear a metal act open for ten other mediocre bands. Sadly, mainstream Pakistani audience shuns these bands often labeling them in extremes such as ‘satanic’ and deeming their music as ‘lifeless noise.’
Ali Salman, a student of the Lahore School of Economics (LSE) when asked about his thoughts of the underground scene describes them with a similar attitude, disregarding the bands’ efforts put into perfecting their skills and coming up with fresh and honest lyrics.
Still there has been progress in the whole scene with people like Hassan Umer, lead vocalist of Foreskin and Multinational Corporations and the main contributor to the Iron Markhor who organized the two Mosh Pits – purely non-stop metal gigs with up to 10 metal bands playing, and four hours of head-banging, slam dancing and brutal adrenaline and testosterone induced metal.
Another problem is that the metal scene is overflowing with more and more cover bands and less originals. Nearly all bands it seems, are covering their favorite artists ranging from Dream Theatre to Megadeth and Iron Maiden. Because of this people here tend to term metal as something unoriginal and lacking in what music sets out to be: artistic, meaningful and original.
Even then there has been a recent flare of more and more originals which is refreshing. Recently the Karachi based sludge metal band ‘Myosis’ released a split album with a Singaporean metal band ‘J’, titled the Schism of Precepts and this just goes to show that the underground metal scene here in Pakistan is making a name for itself.
With bands like Odyssey, Takatak, Multinational Corporations, Dionysus and Foreskin coming out with more and more originals with a fresh and thought-provoking perspective true to the problems plaguing the country, almost anyone can relate to this music.
The metal scene of course is not limited to Lahore or any one place specifically. There is Marg, an amazing Pakhtuncore Metal band from Peshawar, Myosis from Karachi and Downfall Humanity from Rawalpindi, among several others.
In fact there is a lot to look forward to in the metal scene, with all its potential. There may not be a lot of metal oriented concerts however as bands will continue to dole out great music every gig is expected to be full of energy.
Negative criticism only worsens the state of these bands. The audience must explore into ‘newer’ avenues of music, and must not mindlessly reject bands just because they play harsh music. Instead this music must be understood as an art.
But alternative is what metal will always be, and not many will be expected to understand it. As Sheraz Ahmed (band member of Dionysus) says, “Metal was never meant to be mainstream.”