Kryptos (band)

Last updated

Kryptos
Kryptos at Harley Rock Riders Season III in Bangalore, India (Jim Ankan Deka photography).jpg
Kryptos at Harley Rock Riders in Bangalore, India (2012)
Background information
Origin Bangalore, India
Genres Heavy metal, thrash metal
Years active1998–present
Labels AFM Records
MembersNolan Lewis
Rohit Chaturvedi
Ganesh Krishnaswamy
Vijit Singh
Past membersChing Len
Akshay 'Axe' Patel
Ryan Colaco
Jayawant Tewari
Anthony Hoover
Website Kryptos Official Page

Kryptos is an Indian heavy metal band from Bangalore, India, formed in 1998 by Nolan Lewis (vocals/guitars) and Ganesh K. (bassist). [1] [2] They are one of the pioneers of the modern Indian heavy metal movement. Since their inception the band has released six albums: Spiral Ascent (2004), The Ark of Gemini (2008), The Coils of Apollyon (2013), Burn Up The Night (2016), Afterburner (2019) and Force of Danger (2021).

Contents

History

Early years (1998–2003)

Kryptos was formed in late 1998, [3] Essentially a classic heavy metal band—they focus on fusing NWOBHM styling with elements of 1980s thrash metal. Their primary influences include Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden along with secondary influences such as Coroner, Kreator, Mercyful Fate, [4] and Candlemass. [5] [6]

Debut album (2004)

Their debut album Spiral Ascent quickly spread through the underground circuit in India as well as countries like Germany, Argentina and other parts of Europe. The album although long being out of print and is today considered a landmark release in Indian metal history. Dark Tranquillity's Niklas Sundin designed the album sleeve.

Signing with Old School Metal Records and second studio album (2006–2009)

Kryptos signed with Old School Metal Records from California, United States in April 2006 and became one of the first metal bands from India to sign with an international metal label. Vocalist/bassist Ganesh K. and guitarist Akshay 'Axe' Patel left the band in November 2006 which led to various changes in Kryptos' line-up. Nolan Lewis took up lead vocal and guitarist duties. Rohit Chaturvedi and Jayawant Tewari were hired to fill the further incumbent guitarist and bassist positions. [7]

Kryptos entered the studios later that year to record the follow-up to their debut album and emerged in mid-2008 with their second album: The Ark of Gemini, which received excellent reviews from different parts of the world and also enjoyed a fair amount of airplay on U.S. and European metal radio stations. [8]

Supporting Iron Maiden (2009)

Kryptos landed the supporting slot for Iron Maiden at Rock 'N India 2009 in their home town Bangalore—playing to almost 17,000 fans at the Palace Grounds. [9]

The Coils of Apollyon (2012)

The Coils of Apollyon was released on 18 February 2012 in India [10] and 21 September 2012 internationally. [11]

Tours

Early tours (Invasion Europa 2010 and Into the Spectral Void 2013)

In July 2010 Kryptos became the first Indian metal band to complete a cross-country tour of Europe, [8] playing at the Rockmarathon festival in Hungary, in the Flammeng Open Air festival in Germany, as well as many more club gigs throughout Germany and Switzerland.

The band kick-started the year 2012 by supporting folk/melodic death metal band Suidakra and German thrash metal pioneers Kreator at the inaugural edition of the Bangalore Open Air in June 2012.

November of the same year saw them support Swedish power metal band Wolf at the third edition of the Harley Rock Riders festival.

The band opened for Testament, whom they happen to consider an important musical influence, at the NH7 Festival in Bangalore.

In 2013 Kryptos again toured Europe playing at festivals like In Flammeng Open Air, Ragnarock Open Air, and most notably Wacken Open Air, becoming the first Indian band ever to play at Wacken Open Air.

Signing with Seaside Touring and present events (2014–present)

In 2014 the band started the year with an appearance at Inferno Metal Festival in Norway and later announced a partnership with Seaside Touring. They again played the Bangalore Open Air opening for Destruction and Rotting Christ.

In September 2014 they announced their Europe tour: 'Apollyon Rising'. The tour started with the show at Hamburg Metal Dayz followed by 17 tour dates in countries such as Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland.

The 17 days tour was part of the Wacken Road Show.

In 2016 the band supported American thrash metal band Death Angel in Germany and played a one-off show with Nervosa, Hirax and The Black Dahlia Murder in the Austrian town of Dornbirn.

In 2017 the band opened for Swedish heavy metal band Katatonia at Saarang, Indian Institute of Technology Madras and followed it up with a European summer tour supporting American thrash metal band Sacred Reich on the 30 Years of Ignorance tour, which included dates in Germany, Austria and The Netherlands, as well as appearances at Rockharz Open Air and Wacken Open Air. This tour would prove to be the most defining in the band's history and laid the foundation for their first headlining tour in 2019, which included a first concert in Malta.

In 2018 long time drummer Anthony Hoover announced his departure from the band. [12] Since then, Vijit Singh took over drum duties and joined the band on a permanent basis.

Band members

Present

Former

Timeline

Kryptos (band)

Discography

Studio releases

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immortal (band)</span> Norwegian black metal band

Immortal is a Norwegian black metal band from Bergen. The group was founded in 1991 by frontman and guitarist Abbath Doom Occulta and guitarist Demonaz Doom Occulta. The pair worked with various drummers, and were later joined by former drummer Horgh in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torture Squad</span> Brazilian death/thrash metal band

Torture Squad is a Brazilian death/thrash metal band, founded in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whiplash (band)</span> American thrash metal band

Whiplash is an American thrash metal band formed in 1984 in Passaic, New Jersey. The band has been centered around guitarist and vocalist Tony Portaro, who is the only constant member of the lineup. Despite never achieving major success, Whiplash has been recognized as one of the first East Coast thrash metal bands in the 1980s, and they are also notable for featuring drummer Tony Scaglione, who had been in and out of Whiplash since its inception and was a temporary fill-in for Dave Lombardo in Slayer on the latter's Reign in Blood tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aura Noir</span> Norwegian black/thrash metal band

Aura Noir is a Norwegian black/thrash metal band from Oslo. Aura Noir is heavily influenced by early thrash bands such as Voivod, Slayer, Sodom and Kreator, to the latter they have also dedicated some of their songs. The band's main lyrical themes focus on blasphemy, death and aggression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dew-Scented</span> German thrash and death metal band

Dew-Scented was a German thrash and death metal band. They have released eight studio albums and were last signed to Metal Blade Records (Europe) and Prosthetic Records. Their name is inspired by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Moses</span> German thrash metal band

Holy Moses was a German thrash metal band active from 1980 to 1994 and from 2000 to 2023. They were well noted for being fronted by Sabina Classen, who was the only constant member of Holy Moses, and for being one of the first German thrash metal bands. Holy Moses have released 13 studio albums to date, Invisible Queen being the latest of these releases.

Nerverek is an Indian progressive metal band formed in Chennai, India. The band won Campus Rock Idols '07, becoming the first South Indian band to win the national inter-college contest. They performed recently as the opening act for international act, the Scorpions in Bangalore and also opened for Iron Maiden in their tour to India at Mumbai on 1 February 2008. In January 2011, they opened for Pain of Salvation along with Bicycle Days at Saarang 2011, the annual cultural festival of IIT Madras.

<i>The Ark of Gemini</i> 2008 studio album by Kryptos

The Ark Of Gemini is the second album by Indian heavy metal band Kryptos. The album was released worldwide on June 13, 2008 through Old School Metal Records. This album sees the founding member and the guitarist of the band, Nolan Lewis take over the vocal duties after the departure of original vocalist Ganesh K. All the lyrics of this album have been written by Nolan Lewis, except the track Trident which was written both by Nolan Lewis and bassist, Jayawant Tewari.

<i>Pandemonium</i> (Torture Squad album) 2003 studio album by Torture Squad

Pandemonium is the fourth album of the Brazilian death/thrash metal band Torture Squad

<i>The Seventh Date of Blashyrkh</i> 2010 video by Immortal

The Seventh Date of Blashyrkh is black metal band Immortal's first live video album. The album was recorded during their performance at Wacken Open Air in 2007, as part of their comeback tour, The Seventh Date of Blashyrkh.

Pnuema /Nɛ'umɑː/ is a "Tico" thrash metal Band from San Jose, Costa Rica, formed in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hammercult</span>

Hammercult was an Israeli-based thrash metal band, founded in 2010. The band is regarded as the leading extreme metal band of the Israeli metal movement in the 2000s.

Inner Sanctum is an Indian death/thrash metal band from Bangalore, formed in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicidal Angels</span> Greek thrash metal band

Suicidal Angels are a Greek thrash metal band formed in 2001 in Athens, Greece, by guitarist/vocalist and main songwriter Nick Melissourgos. Since its inception, the band has released seven studio albums, and has gone through several line-up changes leaving Melissourgos as the only constant member.

The Down Troddence Indian thrash metal band

The Down Troddence, popularly known as TDT is a six piece thrash metal band, originally from Kannur district in Kerala, India. The band consists of Munz (Vocals), Varun Raj (Guitar), Nezer Ahemed, Sushin Shyam, Ganesh Radhakrishnan (Drums), and Advaith Mohan (Guitar). The band released its debut album titled How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You on 1 January 2014 to positive reviews. It was produced by Keshav Dhar (Skyharbor) at Illusion Audio, New Delhi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangalore Open Air</span> Indian music festival

Bangalore Open Air (BOA) is India's only dedicated Heavy metal open air music festival which takes place yearly in Bangalore, India. The 8th edition of the festival in collaboration with Wacken Open Air took place in February 2019. In the past the festival has also hosted The Wacken Metal Battle's Indian leg—with the winning band getting an opportunity to play at Wacken Open Air in Germany. India is the 27th Country to participate in the W:O:A Metal Battle since 2011. In its latest edition (2019) the festival expanded the hosting of The Wacken Metal Battle to other Indian subcontinent countries namely: Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in addition to India.

<i>The Coils of Apollyon</i> 2012 studio album by Kryptos

The Coils of Apollyon is the third studio album by the Indian heavy metal band Kryptos. The album was released in India on February 18, 2012 through Bangalore-based record label, Iron Fist Records. Internationally, the album was released on September 21, 2012 through AFM Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blaakyum</span> Lebanese metal band

Blaakyum is a Lebanese metal band from Beirut, founded in 1995 by Bassem Deaibess. Blaakyum's style is a blend of Thrash, heavy and groove metal infused with Middle Eastern and Levantine folk music". To this end, the band incorporates the goblet drum into its music.The band's first studio album, Lord of the Night, was released on Friday the 13th of January 2012. Blaakyum released its second album, Line of Fear, on the 25th of June 2016. The band's last tour started at the Tuska festival, and continued with the "Thrash Mercenaries" Tour 2016, headed by Onslaught.

Acharya Pre University College, or APUC, is a private co-educational pre-university college in Bengaluru, India. Established in 2005, it offers 4 pre-university courses.

Trainwreck is a Bangladeshi heavy metal band, founded in 2007.

References

  1. "KRYPTOS LYRICS". Metallyrica.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  2. Biography of Heavy metal band Kryptos "Kryptos | Bangalore, IN | Metal / Melodic Metal / Old School | Music, Lyrics, Songs, and Videos | ReverbNation". Archived from the original on 19 March 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  3. "Kryptos - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". Metal-archives.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  4. "Kryptos". Facebook.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  5. "Metal Rules". Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  6. "Metalzone.gr - We promote metal music in greece". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  7. "Biography - Spirit of Metal". Spirit-of-metal.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Archive News". The Hindu . Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  9. "Kryptos to open for Iron Maiden at Rock in India 2009 | Headbangers India". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  10. "Kryptos - The Coils of Apollyon - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". Metal-archives.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  11. "KRYPTOS – The Coils Of Apollyon (2012) | Album / EP Reviews". Metalforcesmagazine.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  12. "Log In or Sign Up to View". Facebook.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  13. "Kryptos announce 'The Coils Of Apollyon' release date – MetalIndia Magazine". Metalindiamagazine.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  14. "KRYPTOS To Release Afterburner Album In June; Details Revealed". Bravewords.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.