Rudra

The world was introduced to the exotic sounds of Vedic Metal from Singapore in 1998 with the release of the self titled debut album. How ironical that Vedic Metal originated in a tiny island in South East Asia instead of India, the land of Vedic Mysticism and sacrifices. Although the band has been alive since 1992, it was in 1998 that the world finally got a taste of what this legendary outfit had to offer the world of Metal. The debut album was a revolutionary and unprecedented statement in extreme metal at the time. The good production in spite of it being recorded with a shoestring budget and its unique songwriting amazed reviewers around the world. The lyrical theme being the ancient Vedic philosophies made RUDRA really the founders of this genre.
2001's ‘The Aryan Crusade’ cemented RUDRA’s reputation as truly innovative and visionary composers by pushing the boundaries of their previous offering further. Till date many fans around the world consider this album to be definitive Vedic Metal album. 'The Aryan Crusade' retained the extreme metal sound along with their exotic sound that had become their trademark and took it to another dimension.
With two groundbreaking albums behind them, the band had become a force destined for recognition further outside of the ever evolving metal community. In 2003, they started to put out concept albums and ‘Kurukshetra’ was released with the theme taken off the famous battle featured in the Indian epic Mahabharata. 'Kurukshetra' proved that RUDRA can also be fine Death/Black Metal musicians.
2005 marked another turning point for the band. This time they pushed their craft further by releasing the first of a Trilogy entitled ‘Brahmavidya: Primordial I’. With this album RUDRA was perceived as a band that ever-evolved to become a reality far beyond comprehension. Till date the song ‘The Pathless Path to the Knowable Unknown’ of this album has become the Anthem of Vedic Metal.
2009 saw the release of the second chapter of the Brahmavidya trilogy, ‘Brahmavidya: Transcendental I’. This was another masterpiece with longer songs and trance inducing interludes. Soon after this release, the band produced an epic video for the song ‘Hymns from the Blazing Chariot’ which was nominated for an award in the local film industry.
In 2010 RUDRA made another breakthrough by incorporating traditional and contemporary dance into their performance. This was staged at the Indian Arts Festival in 2010 with rousing reviews. The phenomenal artistic achievement of a band hidden in the tropical forests of South East Asia has been missed by many but not the musicologists. Several papers have been published about RUDRA and Vedic Metal, making them a band for both metalheads and academics.
2011 will usher the final chapter of the Trilogy entitled ‘Brahmavidya: Immortal I’. There are plans for a world tour and staging a full length Dance fusion performance.