New Noise: Reptilian Death

Those in the know will already know of Reptilian Death's rather awesome take on technical, brutal death metal, but for those yet to find out more, we grabbed mainman Demonstealer (yes, he of Demonic Resurrection) for the lowdown...

Where did the idea for Reptilian Death come from?

“I would credit the likes of Anal Cunt and Anal Blast for the origins of the band, as it started out as a death metal spoof band and a studio project back in 2001 and only became a live band because I wanted to play drums! Also, Demonic Resurrection couldn’t play a battle of the bands taking place in Bangalore, so I called my friend Jaiveer to play guitars and Husain, who my guitar student, and stuck him with a bass guitar. From there, it began as a live act!”

What made you decide to branch out from Demonic Resurrection?

“Devin Townsend was a huge influence on my back in the day and he has so many projects, and that really inspired me to not restrict myself to just band or metal subgenre. Also, in India we would be lucky to play 12 shows in a year, and I had time on my hands with all the ups and downs DR kept having, so that always gave me time to keep working on music.”

What makes RD different from your work in DR, musically speaking?

“Well for starters I get to play blastbeats and I get to drum, which I really love doing. Also, it allows me to tune down to B on the guitar and write some brutal old school death metal without to much of the melodic and keyboard elements DR has. If DR is my Opeth, then RD is my Bloodbath!”

When did you decide to go with the masks and facepaint and why?!

“I don’t want to be another run of the mill death metal band in India, dressed in black T-shirts and jeans. While it works for some, I wanted RD to be an experience for people. There is no band in India like RD, visually, in the metal space, and Vinay just sort of looked scary as hell in that face paint. We took this decision in 2010 when we and Vinay started writing the album and we decided that we would just do something different. The masks work because you don’t know who the musician is you just have a blank canvas and music to listen to.”

What is a RD live show like?

“Brutal crushing death metal with deathly silence between the songs. I would like to think it’s an experience!”

The Dawn Of Consummation And Emergence is out now via Universal India

Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.