No Gaps, Just Cohesion: Damaged

It is an uphill struggle to establish a local band in a country that is continually trying to establish a strong foothold in metal music in the face of international mainstream acts and musical fads favoured by teenagers but as evidenced at Damaged held in Blackhole 212, Singapore musical acts have enough quality in their ranks and even though these bands do not have adequete exposure in promoting their music in contrast to their European counterparts, the support received is just as fanatical. Chaos Infernos may be seen as just another black metal band and with a relatively young history under their bullet belts but to underestimate their talent onstage would be absolutely criminal. Combining the magic of vocalist/guitarist Kyle Ravin (who is coincidentally, a real life magician), musical fortitude of bassist Mizan and the mayhem of drummer Tharenii (guitarist of Thambi K Seaow & Stillborn), Chaos Infernos definitely lived up to its nefarious name by askewing overproduced modern black metal in favour of old school primitive black metal. The trio gave a proper lesson to the other bands in stage presence by maintaining constant contact with the crowd, taking in hellfire and unleashing hit after hit without distupting the momentum with their East meets West infusion and songs such as Chaos Rising that everyone was singing along to. It is a blast beat back to the past for black metal and with older bands going back to their traditional roots, Chaos Infernos makes it look cool but at the same time backing it up with music one can go on a rampage with



Tharenii was definitely a busy man for the night and even though Stillborn was unable to make an appearance due to conflicting commitments, vocalist Sathish and guitarist Lyon was among the crowds showing their support for their comrade onstage as he performed double duty for Chaos Infernos and dyed in the Merlion scales band Thambi K Seaow together with bassist/vocalist Burp and drummer Karan as the sarong clad thumpers bridged the musical gap and bringing an infectious demeanour which can be rather tough to appease a highly volatile crowd used to intense and extreme music. Then again, there is a reason why TKS is a band that is loved across all genres and platforms and as a first time audience member watching them live, it does not take much to endear to the band. In the absence of Shyam Raj who primarily does the vocals and injecting humour into songs that has become a TKS trademark, Burp stepped up to the plate like a breeze and the spotlight was nothing more than a huge naan that is being shared with everyone in a huge pool of dalcha. Easygoing candour, groovy riffs and quirky lyrics that is a true reflection of the Singapore culture, a typical TKS gig definitely makes one feel at ease and it brings you back to the days when hanging around at the void decks with an acoustic guitar at one hand and packets of hot beverage from the nearest sarabat stall on the other. If America can give the world a piece of southern rock in the form of Lynard Skynard then Singapore can send out TKS and their merry band of slipper wearing kakis to show the world what the island nation is all about and chances are, the world will take to them like fish to water. But for now, these 2 bands have won over the hearts of the audience at Damaged and that's no illusion for sure