It’s wholly humbling when you discover something genuinely new and original. From Shillong, Meghalaya in north India, a folk-fusion death metal two-piece is making noise.
Even when quite young, vocalist-bassist member Saptarshi Das had an ear for international extreme music. He admits Flint Knife Murder‘s humble beginnings, “I have known [vocalist-guitarist] Siddharth [Barua] since childhood, we usually jammed together in my living room in the evenings… [we] put out a very badly produced demo, which was a smattering of all genres”.
Saptarshi continues “we started off with the intention of being a brutal death metal band – OSDM [old school death metal], and so we wrote the ‘Elokeshi’ [single], the subject matter of which was a tale from the ancient times, which led us to discovering the kind of lyrical matter we wanted to deal with.“
And that was history… the secret ingredient to Flint Knife Murder‘s venom is what the band refers to as “Grotesque Folklore”.
The Tarakeshwar murder case of 1873 theme on “Elokeshi” is what truly pulls all the pieces together into a devastating track.
With blackened shrieks and death-thrash rhythms, Flint Knife Murder dug deeper into folklore storytelling on “Rai” about the “tiger king of the Sundarbans of East India”.
You may hear their initial interest in Behemoth, Lamb of God, or Children of Bodom in their sound, but the duo hit an epiphany moment – “what if metal came from our part of the world, without many Western influences?”.
On “Rai,” Saptarshi and Siddharth “introduced a tribal beat from the Baul community” as heard at the three-minute mark outro.
The concept of fusing metal with Eastern folk music resonated also with Demonic Resurrection of Mumbai, and even the American technical death metal group Nile. Saptarshi explains, “Sahil Makhija (Demonstealer) of Demonic Resurrection has been a pillar of constant support to this band, he was the first one who added our demo to his Indian Metal playlist that got our ball rolling. Yes, Demonic Resurrection has been a solid influence on Flint Knife Murder. Our favorite works by them would be Dashavatar and The Return to Darkness.”
He also applauds the works of Behemoth‘s The Satanist, Morbid Angel‘s Covenant, the new direction of Gojira like Fortitude or Magma, and Annihilation of the Wicked by Nile, in addition to nearby sensations like Vishal J Singh with Amogh Symphony and Serpents of Pakhangba.
The folk-fusion evolution truly came together on their recent EP – Pretayug – “it was just the two of us,” explaining further that their friend Tiara Kharpuri “sings a lullaby in Khasi,” but the duo “mostly modeled the Indian instruments thus far, using a MIDI controller.”
“If we are writing a song about Bihar in East India, we will go and find traditional instruments from that place and use it, as done on ‘Angulimala’ with the khartaal, and in ‘Dharmapala’ – the tibetan drums, gongs, and yak-horn.”
Siptarshi states, “I feel a lot of metal bands fall into the trap of showcasing all sorts of emotions and colors in a song, using the same distorted guitar tone. We wanted to consciously deviate from this.”
“Likai” features compelling folk instrumentation such as the tabla and tanpura, yet revolves thematically around legendary Khasi lore with father-daughter homicide, cannibalism, and a waterfall suicide.
In the band’s decade long evolution, their inspiration has broadened to include the likes of Amon Amarth, Eluveitie, Heilung, and Wardruna, which appropriately fits with their vibe considering the dragons, vikings, and snow demons – “all the amazing dark creatures that human minds have come up with.”
Just as the aforementioned inspirations’ metal is rooted in their culture, Flint Knife Murder‘s intention is to “write a lot about our own land. Akin to bands like Bloodywood, Alien Weaponry, and The Hu, and the way they are taking their traditional music to the world.”
What’s next for Flint Knife Murder? Everything from collaborations, singles, and covers – Saptarshi Das confirms.