Brahmavidya: Transcendental I

When you take into consideration Rudra's entire back catalogue of full length albums, this one along with their most recent release RTA is the most sprawlingly epic and experimental of the lot. Then again, the band's sound is pretty experimental in a nutshell so that really shouldn't come across as a surprise to anyone in general. Just that this albums has its fair share of chanting and interludes along with some masterful classical percussion (the pounding "Not The Seen But The Seer" should be enough proof of that fact) sprawled across its entire duration of an hour plus. Shiva once again proves why he is one of the best yet most underrated metal drummers out there. Just listen to the blistering epic "Venerable Opposites" for further proof.

Don't get me wrong - "Hymns From The Blazing Chariot", "Amrtasyaputra" (what a goddamn solo!) "Natural Born Ignorance", "Advaitamrta" and the brutally epic closer "Majestic Ashtavakra" are all blistering pieces of blackened death metal finesse with the traditional Vedic metal touch that the band is famous for. Then again, all the songs are killer, but these are my main picks off the album. The main difference is that this album has a heavier dose of variation in comparison with their previous works with songs like "Adiguru Namastubhyam", "Meditations At Dawn" and "Immortality Roars" giving listeners a real glimpse into the proper authentic Carnatic influence of the band. With the exception of probably their self titled debut and The Aryan Crusade, their other albums have been much more subtle in displaying the influence. In the end, the back catalogue of Rudra is akin to bands like Arsis, Azarath, Krisiun, Vader and the like (Not to compare Rudra's sound with any of those bands, but just as an example of overall consistency) in the sense that their core sound has remained pretty much intact mixing it up with the same killer ingredients every time, but with a subtle twist on each album.

As usual it's mostly about the guitars in the case of this band and my word, they absolutely fucking kill it in every way possible. You can notice the pummeling Polish and early 90s Floridian and Swedish death metal influence (think Entombed, Dismember etc) in the face-melting guitar riffs with bucketloads of tremolo picking and dissonant riffing as well as the subtle influence of the first wave of black metal bands namely Bathory and the like. Exactly what makes the genre of blackened death metal so goddamn fucking additive to listen to, over and over again. The best of both worlds with a simmering Indian classical (specifically Carnatic) influence to boot. What's there not to like, may I ask? Plus this is one of the best productions done on a metal album, allowing each and every instrument to shine in the mix.

Finally, the album may be a tad too long for all of you who want to sit down and rock out with it in its entirity, but apart from that this hits the mark on nearly all levels. Newbies might want to consider albums like The Aryan Crusade and the like first before getting this one, but for blackened death metal fans and fans of the band, getting this album is a no brainer. Amazing stuff.

The best gimmick band is one that doesn't sound like it's a gimmick band, but a band that was inspired by something atypical and decided to run with it. Rudra go for that whole hindi/indian sound and pull if off with aplomb; I've no idea if they're indian (I think they are) but good on 'em if they are, it's about time they started making up for that abomination that's Bollywood.

Admittedly I was hoping for a truly bizarre album full of those labyrinthe song structures and general super strangeness that only someone familiar with the Hindu religion could come up with, but as it stands it's still pretty damn cool, and has that really energetic, enthusiastic and wide-eyed vibe that most good asian (or indeed, non first-world) metal seems to have. Metal isn't something that should be taken for granted, and these guys throw themselves into their music with an uncommon passion.

The music isn't super weird or anything; you could describe the whole thing as "accessible death metal played in indian scales" but that's doing this a disservice really. No harmonic minor stuff, for one thing, it's really catchy, and the whole thing has a very authentic sound to it. The rhythm section goes really hard- the drummer in particular does some classic fills and when he blasts he's really beating the crap out of his kit. I'd go as far as to say that the drummer is undoubtedly the highlight of this whole thing, but the whole band is really solid. A versatile and very solid vocalist (more bands need this sort of mid/high pitched harsh vocals), and while the guitars don't really do more then three different things- soaring leads, thrash inspired riffing and vaguely black metal-ish lines up on the d and g strings- they do it very well.
It's all catchy and rather agreeable to the western ear, which makes the interludes and more traditional Indian bits sound all the weirder and more exotic... Or bad if you're feeling less charitable. I appreciate the atmosphere it brought but I can't really say the chanting that appears occaisonally on the album is something I'd normally listen too- and sorry dudes, Indian accents will always just be comical.

Production wise it's great and that was really the deal sealer as far as I was concerned. Guitars are loud, drums are propulsive, vocals lead the music without drowning it out. It's a loud and heavy mix that gives the more raucous bits (and there's lot of them) a really powerful, really stormy feel. Lots of extra touches, both subtle (the Tambora that's in most of the songs) and not so subtle (all that extra percussion in "Not the Seen but the Seer").

There's basically nothing that I can really find wrong with this album, and there's a lot that I really like about it. I don't know if I'd call this a classic, but at the very least it is extremely good, and seems to continually grow on me. Perhaps a bit too long, but I didn't get bored. Don't be put off by the talk about asian music and all that sort of stuff, that is very good music that most people will certainly enjoy.

The massive expansion of metal culture through new and unexpected territories has created a wealth of foreign and 'ethnic' black and death metal, but very few bands are able to truly conjure their ancestral cultures into the framework of modern brutality. This is not the case for Singapore's Rudra, who have been doing it well for years. Brahmavidya: Transcendental I is the band's 5th full length, and to this point, hands down the greatest statement of Vedic metal I have heard.

The strength is that the band does not try and clout you over the head with a mix of folk pieces and then boring metal. The majority of the material here is very much blackened death, but through the composition of the brutal, blasting rhythms and breakdowns you are transported into the mythistory of their people, the darkness and tragedy, madness and glory. There are a few meditative pieces in which the basic sounds are repeated beneath varied vocal mantras and instrumentation ("Bhagavatpada Namaskara", "Immortality Roars", "Adiguru Namastubhyam"), and the very lavish "Meditations at Dawn", but the rest is metal up your ass. Tracks like "Ravens Paradise", "Hymns from the Blazing Chariot" and "Venerable Opposites" are astonishing and epic, carefully weaving folk melodies and punishing riffs into unforgettable vistas of the brutal and beautiful past. But if you simply want your head slammed with a vice, "Not the Seen but the Seer" and "Natural Born Ignorance" will suit you well.

Though all the instruments are distinct and clear, there is a captivating, grim edge to the guitars and crashing drums that really stands out. This is no poppy, overproduced metal record. It is feral and savage, most of the rhythms feel as if they are screaming at you straight from the jungles and mountains of Southeast Asia. This has ever been a band to follow, because noone else plays in quite this way (the other great Singapore band, Impiety is more of a brutal, straightforward Satanic style of black/death). Like other quality ethnic metal bands (Melechesh, etc), Rudra really 'get it', and they have a lot to offer with Brahmavidya: Transcendental I. The album isn't perfect (1-2 of the tracks were mildly less interesting than the remainder), but it's the closest they've yet come.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Rudra's "Brahmavidya: Transcendental I" is the kind of album it's impossible to listen to without thinking of other more well-known releases. The combination of metal with oriental sounds isn't exactly new, after all, and my two easiest points of reference are Melechesh (whose drug of choice is Middle Eastern folk sounds) and the more ambient sections of Nile albums (again, Middle Eastern-inspired). I've also heard mention of Behemoth, but since Nergal's attitude towards anything oriental is to make vague references to it in the lyrics while having far too much noise for anything to be audible, we can ignore those comparisons for the moment.

Lest Rudra be dismissed as Melechesh/Nile clones, I hasten to add that these young men combine their metal with Indian sounds, and the kinds of things normally described as "Indian Classical", rather than the folk music of that country. Several tracks here start or finish with Vedic chanting in Sanskrit - indeed "Meditations at Dawn" consists entirely of just that along with some very skilled tabla playing - while the vocals are roughly equally split between English and Sanskrit again. I haven't been able to track down any lyrics, let alone translations, but what little of Kathi's English rasping I can decipher suggests that the album is focused on the gory bits of Hindu mythology.

Indeed, it's not just a case of tacking the Indian music onto metal, as many folk-metal acts from around the world do. Rudra even play their guitars in that distinctively Indian-sitar-sounding way. Not being a guitarist, I can't elaborate on that comment any further, except to say that it'll make sense when you hear the album.

This is definitely not an album that will immediately make sense to the casual listener. It's taken me a couple of listens - as well as the comparisons outlined above - to really get into it. On first listen, this is quite possibly going to sound like an undiluted mess of blackened death metal, as the guitars, bass and drums spend most of the album zooming along at top speed. Repeated listens, though, will reveal unusual melodies and even the odd solo, as well as some very crisp drumming hidden in among all the blasting.

That being said, I haven't yet reached the point where I can point to a standout track or two. It seems as though this may be part of a conceptual series, so in that case perhaps it's pointless to try viewing the album as a series of individual compositions anyway.

One of the strangest aspects of the entire album for me is that the band hails from Singapore. Having visited the country a couple of times, I honestly would have never suspected that beneath this highly conformist society (at least, it appears that way to the observer) could lurk such an impressive band. Clearly, there's more to the city-state than meets the eye.

All in all, a very impressive album. Perhaps not one which will receive the attention it deserves for any number of reasons, but one which the discerning fan should definitely seek out

Rudra's Brahmavidhya Transcendental is the fifth studio album from the Singapore death/thrash metallers who like to label themselves as Vedic Metal. This effort from them pushes in continuing the tradition of chanting Vedic mythology based songs but that is the only constant they carry over from the past four albums and which is definitely a good thing. What has not been constant is the technicality and production of the music which has grown many folds compared to their last effort.

This release by Rudra accomplishes them as a metal band which should be reckoned with in the metal world. This album reflects the maturity of the band and how they have come of age to produce consistently good metal music defining new rules of fusing the east and the west. The aspects that really stand out are the drumming and the bass. The production on both of them is one of the best I have heard you will hear from the band. It makes up for the raw production and the amateur snare sound that they had it on the previous album. Also the bass sound is just not over shadowing the guitar sounds like it was in the previous effort and engulfing with it the sounds of some good riff age. This time it complements the guitars beautifully while holding its own and manages to be audible.

The music is along the lines of Morbid Angel, Behemoth, Carcass, Nile, and Vital Remains. Curious metalheads only have to try the intro "Bhagavadpada Namaskara" or the more visceral "Avidya Nivrtti" for proof of the band's uniqueness. But Rudra though being different in such aspects is still an extreme metal band because they know their metal and prove it on the album's first song, "Ravens of Paradise." It's melodic, cacophonous, evil sounding, and complex, a treat for every connoisseur whose musical tastes range from the brutal to the grandiose. The album is full of epic guitar solos, twisted growls, virtuoso musicianship, and contemplative interludes that guarantee there's something for everybody inside this concept-driven masterpiece.

Recommended tracks: Ravens of Paradise, Amrtasyaputra, Natural Born Ignorance, Immortality roars, Venerable Opposites.