- Rudra (band)
Rudra is a
Singapore andeath metal band which was formed in1992 .Their album, "
The Aryan Crusade " ("Trishul Records"), is considered as the definitive album of "Vedic metal".Fact|date=February 2008 Their latest album, "" is considerably successful and has been critically acclaimed in metal circles.Fact|date=February 2008History
Rudra was formed in mid-1992 as a trio, then comprising of Kathi (bass, vocals), Shiva (drums) & Bala (Guitars). Back then, the band was known as Rudhra. A fourth member,Selvam,was recruited to supplement Bala on the guitars. With this line-up released a 4-track demo entitled 'The Past' in 1994. Prior to this release, Rudhra was also featured in a few underground death metal compilation albums featuring several Singaporean death metal bands.
In early 1996, the band split up and the members were involved in separate bands. Towards the end of 1996, Kathi decided to resurrect Rudhra with a slight alteration to its name; thus Rudra (the most common English transliteration for the
Sanskrit word) was born. Kathi teamed up with Shiva and started work on the self-titled debut album, soon to be joined by Bala and Alvin to complete the line up before the recording of the self-titled debut album in late 1997, which was released in June 1998. The band played a couple of gigs and took a break for about a year before starting work on their new material. Rudra replaced their two guitarists with Selvam (ex-member) and Kannan in January 2000.With this present line up Rudra released their second album, "
The Aryan Crusade ", in September 2001. The Aryan Crusade broke new ground and drew attention from the worldwide death metal community. In July 2003, Rudra released their most intense album to date aptly named after the battlefield featured in the Indian epic ofMahabharata ,Kurukshetra . After many shows in Singapore, India, Indonesia and Thailand, Rudra has now released its latest album "" in April 2005.Discography
*The Past Demo, 1995
*Rudra Full-length, 1998
*The Aryan Crusade Full-length, 2001
*Kurukshetra Full-length, 2003
* Full-length, 2005Vedic metal
Vedic metal is a form of
heavy metal music popularized inSouth Asia ,South East Asia and other parts of the Asian continent. The lyrics heavily derive from the Hindu Vedic literature and philosophy, and instrumentation may include Indian classical instruments. It is influenced bythrash metal ,death metal andfolk metal .The genre has been pioneered by
Singaporean bandRudra in the late 1990s. Since then, it has grown in popularity. Bands likeAryadeva (band) (Ukraine ), Symmetry (Indonesia ),Warriors Of Peace (India ), Asura (India ), Advaita (New Zealand ),The Aryan March (India ), Narasimha (Singapore ), Kaliyuga (Malaysia ), and Azrael (Australia ) have done pioneering work in the genre. Often, along with the Vedic lyrics, the music has shades ofIndian Classical music . The definitive album of this genre is the Rudra albumThe Aryan Crusade released in 2001.External links
* [http://www.rudraonline.org/ Official website]
* [http://www.metal-rules.com/interviews/Rudra-Sept2004.htm Interview]
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