# Alternative/Underground Indian music artists



## Desmond (Jan 19, 2015)

As the title says, this thread is dedicated to quality Indian artists who make music not for money or fame, but as a means of genuine expression.

Post and discuss stuff from your favourite Indian artists. However, only discussions regarding alternative or underground artists will be entertained here. That being said, the following are not allowed for discussion:

- Artists associated with Bollywood music.
- Artists who bathe in the limelight. (Indian Idol, etc)
- Artists who considered to be classical music maestros, unless looking at something really innovative.

Genre no bar.

On topic:

Documentary of the evolution of Indian rock:





Motherjane, our desi band from Kerala release their first single in years and after numerous lineup changes:



Sounds pretty proggy.


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## Anorion (Jan 19, 2015)

Motherjane is from Kerla? had no idea. I've seen them live a bunch of times in Mumbai, they have a killer bassist


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## Desmond (Jan 19, 2015)

Yeah. They are from Kochi.

They used to have Baiju Dharamarajan. He is a kickass guitarist.

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Other good Indian rock bands are Them Clones and Thermal and a Quarter.


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## Anorion (Jan 19, 2015)

^yep seen them live too. Orange Street is good as well. 

So some time in 1982 this guy sat down with a synthesizer and performed a bunch of ragas
Charanjit Singh, the whole album is amazing and waay ahead of it's time

[YOUTUBE]G9l2wEZV2Gk[/YOUTUBE]


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## Desmond (Jan 19, 2015)

Give some links.


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## Anorion (Jan 19, 2015)

checking to see if playlist embedding works. 
[YOUTUBE]conwt8Dy27Y&feature=player_embedded&list=PLpVoXjs4NgSpR7bK6maFCnXOFCckCojNH[/YOUTUBE]
Oh yay, it does.


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## Nanducob (Jan 22, 2015)

Motherjana was popular in Japan , Its likee sepultura now,not a single original member .need to check the new album


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## Anorion (Jan 22, 2015)

There was a good band, forgot the name
just remember part of the title of a song, it was sha-something, the rat king


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## Nanducob (Jan 25, 2015)

Motherjane old and new line up
*scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/s552x414/10603766_629735297126185_3515146606058349348_n.jpg?oh=5779efde0c73f905d22dec34d24c7db7&oe=5561BCFF


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## Anorion (Jan 25, 2015)

yeah, had seen the old line up, was wondering if there were two bands or something

Constantly confused about the line up of Hellwind, Albatross, Workshop... when they all on stage, don't know which side project it is till they announce it. These bands have a mix of members from Old Monk and Demonic Resurrection.

So this one time they were performing at a marathi medium college, and the crowd response was not great because they were not understanding a word. Crowd control was amazing, the band starts jamming, and the front man improvises and starts "singing" 'pude sarka' on the spot. That is something the conductors say in the bus. The crowd went mad, the band went brutal, and they pulled it off. They later went on to perform the song, and recorded it in the album Khooni Murgi, but it was obviously very different in a finalized song form. 


[YOUTUBE]onqs5O55pw0[/YOUTUBE]


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## Nanducob (Jan 25, 2015)

^^what does pudhe sarka mean?


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## amit.tiger12 (Jan 25, 2015)

Nanducob said:


> ^^what does pudhe sarka mean?



"pudhe sarka" in marathi... means "aage badho" in hindi... "move forward" in english...


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## Nanducob (Jan 25, 2015)

^^haha thats why conductors


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## Faun (Jan 25, 2015)

Nanducob said:


> ^^haha thats why conductors



Thamb madi.


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## Desmond (Jan 25, 2015)

Anorion said:


> yeah, had seen the old line up, was wondering if there were two bands or something
> 
> Constantly confused about the line up of Hellwind, Albatross, Workshop... when they all on stage, don't know which side project it is till they announce it. These bands have a mix of members from Old Monk and Demonic Resurrection.
> 
> So this one time they were performing at a marathi medium college, and the crowd response was not great because they were not understanding a word. Crowd control was amazing, the band starts jamming, and the front man improvises and starts "singing" 'pude sarka' on the spot. That is something the conductors say in the bus. The crowd went mad, the band went brutal, and they pulled it off. They later went on to perform the song, and recorded it in the album Khooni Murgi, but it was obviously very different in a finalized song form.



Workshop's frontman is none other than Sahil Makhija himself.

Also fixed link.

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BTW, here's Coshish.

They have a Tool-ish inspired sound. When I saw them live at NH7 Weekender, they were playing the intro to Lateralus during the sound check.



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Also updated OP with a documentary on the evolution of Indian rock: *www.digit.in/forum/chit-chat/18953...an-music-artists-post2195616.html#post2195616


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## Anorion (Jan 26, 2015)

DeSmOnD dAvId said:


> Workshop's frontman is none other than Sahil Makhija himself.



It was Kiron Kumar that time, think it's his voice in the video too

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Bhayanak Maut (explicit stuff)
Bhayanak Maut: Official Website

Metakix
[YOUTUBE]myoKtjWFH6o[/YOUTUBE]
web site > M E T A K I X, India (1997 - 2008)
Track downloads > Music page of Metakix - MP3 music page on SoundClick

Devoid
These guys are tight and fast
[YOUTUBE]oJwMQzwF3do[/YOUTUBE]

these were some good bands, but can't find great recordings, so these will have to do

Naked Earth
[YOUTUBE]__UQHpMzi7I[/YOUTUBE]

Aftertaste
[YOUTUBE]P5jbk5agHwk[/YOUTUBE]

Medusa. One of the few bands who used to do electro rock
[YOUTUBE]0LT9nsssMqw[/YOUTUBE]


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## Desmond (Jan 27, 2015)

Wow. So many bands I haven't heard of.

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Before I forget, the first Indian alternative band I heard:



Some of their tracks were distributed on Digit June 2001 Playware CD, that's how I heard of them. Sadly, I can't find the rest of their tracks anywhere, can't even find their discs for sale.


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## Anorion (Jan 28, 2015)

oh man you dun goofed  You broke rules of this thread. The band's name is Pentagram, everyone from that band is into making bollywood music atm. Sure you can find lots more of their stuff now.
the front man of that band is Vishal Dadlani. That's ok though, even Shaan performed at IRock at one time. 
Everyone lost respect for him. Not because he went to bollywood and made commercial music, but he was shaking his ass like shakira on stage in Mosh Mania 2005, and the crowd were not able to appreciate that, so they were chanting expletives, and throwing junk on stage. Then he got angry and showed his sad rock star attitude and threw a mike stand into the audience, which really hurt this guy and split his face open. The crowd and Vishal went mad, both started shouting things which I cannot type here. There were serious threats. And the police don't arrive late like in the movies, they were there and began to move almost before the trouble started. The police dispersed the crowd, and from then on, no one likes pentagram. I was in the group that was standing close to the guy that got hit, right at the front, so we were angrily telling the cops how unfair all of this was. So the cop tells us "woh taklya ko hum sambhalenge" (we will take care of that bald guy). Not sure what they did to him, if anything at all, but everyone went home dejected that night, and one poor fan went to the hospital for nothing. 

Vayu/ Para Vayu is another dinosaur from that era, but they only ever played covers. Sad.  

Zero is really good though
[YOUTUBE]6Itk9smu5lA[/YOUTUBE]


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## Desmond (Jan 28, 2015)

I know they have all sold out.

However, their earlier stuff is cool.

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Like this song:


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## Anorion (Jan 28, 2015)

I like Randolph Correia from Pentagram, not only does he play well, but also because he was restrained and almost laughing at Vishal's behavior when all of that was happening. 

Really like his other band, Shaa'ir + Func

though they are a little mainstream-ish, they sound fresh and delicious

[YOUTUBE]JQYeshf2FJI[/YOUTUBE]


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## Anorion (Feb 2, 2015)

Goddess Gagged. Post Hardcore. 

[YOUTUBE]KUkdNgwusZY[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]vAuyBi-QfME[/YOUTUBE]


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## Faun (Feb 2, 2015)

^^Good music but the name could have been better.


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## Desmond (Feb 2, 2015)

Name's not that bad either.

These guys came to Pune, but I missed my opportunity to see them live.


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## Anorion (Feb 4, 2015)

[YOUTUBE]O4BVrDo0FYk[/YOUTUBE]

Just realized Im only posting Mumbai based bands... so what are the bands from your city?


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## Anorion (Feb 7, 2015)

Zygnema



Spoiler



slightly explicit
[YOUTUBE]Xowsa0jej7U[/YOUTUBE]



Inner Sanctum
[YOUTUBE]0qbiGUCiGb8[/YOUTUBE]

Skincold
[YOUTUBE]kRbc2k5fSLk[/YOUTUBE]

Asylum
[YOUTUBE]zSm0Ttu1Bm0[/YOUTUBE]

Zephyr
[YOUTUBE]zrkq0bPccaE[/YOUTUBE]


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## Desmond (Feb 8, 2015)

I don't know any bands from my City. I have seen Zygnema live during NH7 weekender. They are good but not really distinct from any other band.


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## Anorion (Feb 8, 2015)

yeh that's a problem. If a band wants to play thrash, they will go straight for the typical slayer thrash sound, and not really explore a sound of their own. This is entirely the fault of the audience, a handful of them understand the music and can follow the lyrics. A large chunk are there just to headbang like they are possessed and have a good time irrespective of the music. Another section has no idea what is going on, can not appreciate metal at all, and are positively alarmed if a mosh pit forms. So to please the few fans who know the sound they like, these bands sound extremely generic. 
Moreover, our audience cares more about technical proficiency rather than the song writing and composition process. Every band is expected to be "India's answer to _____ " - some internationally renowned band or the other. Even the people who organize the gigs, hold auditions or the judges in rock competitions will look at how well you played the instruments, how tight you were, and how closely you emulated the sound of the genre/ band you were trying to emulate. OCs are mostly ignored. No one really cares how good your original compositions were or how your band sounds. NH7's choice of artists is the biggest example of this. The few bands that do explore a sound of their own anyway, don't survive for very long (Aftertaste was one such).

Them Clones
[YOUTUBE]_UMB4Im6VQ4[/YOUTUBE]


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## Desmond (Feb 9, 2015)

I have the whole Love.Hate.Heroes album by Them Clones. This is the only studio album they have. They are a pretty good but underrated band in India. Haven't had any updates by these people for a long time.

Before I forget, Bevar-sea from Bangalore. The only Stoner band I know in India:



There is a larger scene in the north-east side of India, but that scene is mostly isolated. Therefore, hardly know any bands from there.


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## Anorion (Feb 9, 2015)

yeh NE India na, even I've heard of it, but don't know much. 
That's good, will try to go for a Bevar Sea gig if I hear of it. 

Dharavi has a hip hop scene
[YOUTUBE]pIaXn9ZR0b0[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]qH0Z9Ilnf88[/YOUTUBE]


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## Desmond (Feb 17, 2015)

This is another track by Them Clones. The quality of music and the video is on par with international artists.


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## Mr.Kickass (Feb 17, 2015)

I used to tune in to that FM Radio channel Hit95 (Delhi) until they went kaput, quite recently. The best bit about them was that they used to play cool numbers spanning over a wide spectrum of genres. Be it EDM (my personal favourite), Rock, Jazz, Pop... you get the idea. I discovered some great bands, through them, and to my surprise, some of them were so obscure that even Google couldn't help me identify them.

Them Clones, is perhaps the only one I can recall at the moment worthy of my attention (kudos to their track, 'My Life')

So I'm throwing in a few I'm familiar with, starting with the taxi song

Tough on tobacco - Taxi Song

[YOUTUBE]MeHNKTnYnh4[/YOUTUBE]

Next up is quite an enthusiastic composition,

Junkyard Groove - It's OK

[YOUTUBE]hysn81F8fgE[/YOUTUBE]

Finally, the well known...

Indus Creed - Fireflies

[YOUTUBE]ie2crCnJQc4[/YOUTUBE]


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## Desmond (Feb 18, 2015)

Mr.Kickass said:


> I used to tune in to that FM Radio channel Hit95 (Delhi) until they went kaput, quite recently. The best bit about them was that they used to play cool numbers spanning over a wide spectrum of genres. Be it EDM (my personal favourite), Rock, Jazz, Pop... you get the idea. I discovered some great bands, through them, and to my surprise, some of them were so obscure that even Google couldn't help me identify them.
> 
> Them Clones, is perhaps the only one I can recall at the moment worthy of my attention (kudos to their track, 'My Life')
> 
> ...



I think something wrong with my browser, but I can't see the videos that are tagged with the [YOUTUBE] tag. Will check these out later.

Can you believe that there was a time when All India Radio used to play songs from bands like Alice In Chains, Pink Floyd, etc.?


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## Mr.Kickass (Feb 21, 2015)

DeSmOnD dAvId said:


> Can you believe that there was a time when All India Radio used to play songs from bands like Alice In Chains, Pink Floyd, etc.?



Nope, I can't. I mean I did, back then, but I didn't realize how awesome it was to be able to listen to all that, on a Government backed Radio station, for free. I really felt sad about losing Hit95. The only saving grace for Delhi, at the moment, is 94.3 FM RadioOne (especially their 4 hour continuous megamix late into the night). I guess I'm now spoilt by web radio. I began using Radiosure to record streams from all over the world, my favourite one being 'Amsterdam Trance Radio'.

I still listen to alternative though, on some channels like

*.977 The Alternative Channel*
*000Audio - Alt-Modern Rock*
*1.FM - Alternative Rock X Hits*
*181.fm - The Buzz (Alternative) (MP3 128k)*
*Alternative Addiction Radio* (the best one during 2012)


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## Desmond (Feb 21, 2015)

Check out MTV Indies if you get that channel. They broadcast Indian alternative artists all the time.


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## Anorion (Mar 15, 2015)

ooh boy
this is a gold mine, knew only 3-4 artists from this list
30 Young Indie Artists India Could Be Listening To Instead Of Honey Singh


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## Anorion (Oct 5, 2015)

I got a story. I remember the look of shock and horror and utter incomprehension on the faces of tight bands who had sincerely practiced for hours, then came on stage. 
An essential part of the puzzle fit in, out of the blue spoke to some sound engineers from that time (in mumbai, there is a DJ setup for the rock music), apparently they had problems with "heavy metal" in college festivals too
so when an orchestra is playing, you put everything on max reverb, including a reverb for the vocalist  now imagine a college band playing something similar to slayer on this set up


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## Desmond (Oct 5, 2015)

Anorion said:


> I got a story. I remember the look of shock and horror and utter incomprehension on the faces of tight bands who had sincerely practiced for hours, then came on stage.
> An essential part of the puzzle fit in, out of the blue spoke to some sound engineers from that time (in mumbai, there is a DJ setup for the rock music), apparently they had problems with "heavy metal" in college festivals too
> so when an orchestra is playing, you put everything on max reverb, including a reverb for the vocalist  now imagine a college band playing something similar to slayer on this set up


Some context please?


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## Anorion (Oct 5, 2015)

you know those local orchestras? there is possibly some local people who sing well, along with a keyboard, a drummer and like a bulbul tarang or something?
those kinds of orchestras, every performer, including the vocalist demands for reverb on 11 from the sound engineer, the guy providing the speakers and doing the setup, which is referred to as a "DJ"
now 2003-2006 rock festivals started becoming a part of college festivals, as in many colleges started incorporating rock shows for the first time
the sound set up used for these rock festivals on those colleges, involved an engineer who came in and set up a sound according to orchestra, when the sound needed a rock setup
the festivals are two part, there are eliminations or auditions and the main show. this is the elimination stage, the band comes in, start performing, and the crowd and the artists have no clue why they are sounding like that. The engineer meanwhile, has abandoned his setup and has run to the speakers fearing for their lives, complaining that if music like this is played, his speakers will explode. So the DJs get an engineer, X who can set up the sound for rock.
The next year, when a different DJ is given the contract, he has the same problem again, and calls the previous one to ask for the setup. In another fest too, they call X for the set up. 

Remember one of the finals of the fest involved, the professors came in and stopped the fest after the opening band played its first song, the guitarist for the headliners came on stage with his guitar and refused to allow the sound guy to remove one of his monitors and deliberately played a few solos to the audience just because he had come there to play and had been paid, while the vocalist gave a small talk directly to the audience about how heavy metal is also music, and that there is a technique to it, and that it is not just "noise"


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## Desmond (Oct 5, 2015)

Wow. Where did this happen?

I remember something similar happening in my engineering college. A metal band was invited to perform at the college's annual day. Now the guitarist had a Dimebag Darrell signature guitar and band was playing Pantera covers. If you don't know, Dimebag Darrell's guitar tone is somewhat shitty, iconic but shitty, and the bands guitarist was using that tone. On top of that, the sound engineer was a generic DJ sound engineer. So obviously everything sounded even shittier. But no one complained and everyone Was having a good time. The only ones who were bothered were the professors who never heard anything like that before and the shitty sound mixing wasn't helping. They were constantly complaining about how loud the show was.

During the 3rd song, one of the guys in the audience banged his head on the floor and started bleeding from his head. But that's not the reason why the show was stopped. The show was stopped because at one point the vocalist had said f***. Then the professors stepped in and said "this is not the culture here" and stopped the show.

Needless to say, metal bands were no longer welcome to the college any more.


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## Anorion (Oct 5, 2015)

Yeah, same reason. Not our culture here thing. 

Mumbai. Old SIES is where the orchestra sound setup thing happened. Powerchords. Don't remember which band played in which year, but the band members (guess only Bhayanak Maut survives from that time there were many others) used to jam and hang out in the staircase between the chess/carrom room and the TT room. 
The stopping and impromptu metal discourse happened at Ruia.


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## Desmond (Oct 5, 2015)

Rock and metal bands also use reverb, because it gives more depth to the sound, but not too much because it would interfere with the distortion or drive. Therefore, they use a lot of delay with a little reverb.


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## Anorion (Oct 5, 2015)

oh... I donno so much about all these terms 
vocalist also use reverb? I guess a major part of the problem was that the vocalist was also put on reverb.


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## Anorion (Oct 8, 2015)

few videos of this band
[YOUTUBE]VFyS9rpQ_Os[/YOUTUBE]


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## Anorion (Mar 12, 2016)

Just came back from a kickass show of Ska Vengers at Bandstand in Delhi. They were totally killing it by being all anti national and sickular. They asked if there were any JNU supporters or empathisers in the audience, and everyone were that. They said that they were not there to entertain, but to make people uncomfortable. Totally anti-establishment, they really use their art to deliver hard messages to people. 
Posting one video  Modi supporters stay away

[YOUTUBE]hw8fn3Ie8WU[/YOUTUBE]


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## Desmond (Mar 12, 2016)

That sounds awesome. Nice to know that there is a good (Ska)Punk scene in India.

I have heard of these guys, but never heard their songs before. Nice song.


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## Nanducob (Mar 12, 2016)

the message was nice the music felt so so...lol thought it was reggae


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## Desmond (Mar 12, 2016)

It's Ska, it is actually derived from Reggae.


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## Anorion (Mar 12, 2016)

Nanducob said:


> the message was nice the music felt so so...lol thought it was reggae



ok this one is good too
[YOUTUBE]MeBflNNVVr0[/YOUTUBE]

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Desmond David said:


> That sounds awesome. Nice to know that there is a good (Ska)Punk scene in India.



Yeah it was totally punk, they were like "we are glad you are here with us because that means you are not listening to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar". That just made everyone cheer. Both the vocalists have great voices, the keyboard guy was crazy good too. But what really blew everyone away was the harshness of the thematic content. There was a song on the 2002 riots also, but don't think it exists on youtube... maybe on spotify. Surprised by the Delhi scene, the place where I went to was for intimate performances. Reminded me of Bangalore.


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## Desmond (Sep 14, 2016)

Purchased Pentagram - Bloodywood

*i.imgur.com/UQ68UEd.jpg

Shame that I can't find their other albums anywhere.

Two of the tracks from this album:


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