Ontologus

Ontologus were previously called Requiem, and well, Requiem seems like it would have been a pretty common name for a band, in fact there were three in India alone according to Reverbnation search. So I guess it's a good thing they changed their name. Their Reverbnation profile says Progressive Metal/ Extreme. But they're definitely not prog. And Extreme is just a general term. I'd say they're closer to Melodeath than anything else. But apparently they're "...a bunch of serious musicians who don’t take themselves seriously". So, I'm sure that's explains everything clearly.

The band is four man strong, their lineup is:

Yashaswi: Guitars and Vocals
Subhramani: Drums

Arvind: Guitars
Agnaye: Bass

And this is what they look like in classic left-to-right order.

And son, remember: don't you fuck with metal, okay?

Please don't go by appearances, their bassy is probably not a philosopher. And, let's disregard the fact that they appear to be having a photoshoot in front of what seems to be a church. I saw them yesterday (at the time of writing this post), at a college fest in JSSATE, somewhere around Kengeri or Uttarahalli (Don't ask me what I was doing there.) Of the four bands I saw, I'd already heard Verses (properly), and Jekyll and Hyde (live once), so I wanted to see what Ontologus and Plan B were like. And it gives me great pleasure to say that Ontologus did not disappoint in the least bit. Which is good cause, this college was in the back of the beyond, and it wasn't totally a worthless trip as a consequence.

Anyway, so they have the one song on Reverbnation, which they played as the set closer in JSS:

1.) The Invisible

Logo and all.

This is just a jam recording, so not a complete studio effort, and in that capacity, I gotta say, it's tight as hell. No botched notes, nothing. Solid, professional jam. Obviously, this also compromises the audio quality, which is not great. But, the song itself starts off with a good heavy riff, vocals are properly harsh, very nice. The riffage during the singing bits is a bit unsatisfactory in some parts (0:47- 1:10), but eventually becomes much much better later, like 1:29 onwards it's quite badass. Pretty sweet guitar solo, a bit more feel than the rawness of the preceding metal, but the song changes face after the solo. Stretchy epicness added to the vocals and accompanying riffs. Almost immediately, song almost stops around the three minute mark, takes a u-turn. Lovely feel, softer, pretty foreboding. Lasts over a minute before the distortion and the growling kick in. 20 seconds of frantic metal, and the song ends as furiously as it began.

Who Will Like This? All fans of metal. Pretty direct, that one.

Who Will Not Like This? Non-appreciators of metal. People who prefer proper well-produced tracks.

Where to find it? Reverbnation.

Free Download? Nah.

Lyrics? Not that either.

So that was Ontologus. I should thank them. They made for a good metal afternoon on a lazy Thursday, and motivated me to revive the blog after about two months. So, that's it from me.

General Links:

Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/requiembangalore

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=110913635587011