Belgian band strikes an Indian chord

CHENNAI: Thurisaz. Honestly, it might take you a while to pronounce it just right. The band tells me it’s one of the olden German ‘runes’ or ‘letters of the alphabet’ meaning – a confluence of difference opinions. Who knew that death metal went so deep?  The Belgian band was in Chennai last week to breathe in some Indian culture that they claim will certainly weave its way into their future album. “We’ve been on tours in Europe and the United States, but this is our first time in India,” admits their vocalist Peter. On the itinerary was Hyderabad, where the group performed at BITS, and judged several Indian rock acts at a fest, a trip to the sandy shores of Mahabalipuram and Puducherry and, of course, namma Chennai.Peter states, “It’s weird that a lot of material has Eastern tones already. But we’ve never visited Asia before this.” In fact, one instrument that the band particularly hopes to add to their sound in their album is the sitar. For a band that has been together for 15 years, it comes as a surprise that they have only released three albums. Their latest album The Cimmerian Years, that was released last year to rave reviews comes after a hiatus of five years from their previous release, Circadian Rhythm.  “The music that we put out has to be absolutely perfect, “ Kobe insists. “Which is why we invariably take close to four years to complete one album.” The group comprising Peter Theuwen (vocals and guitar), Mattias Theuwen (vocals and guitar), Pepjin De Raeynacker (drums), Hannes Leroy (bass) and Kobe Canniere (keys)-agreed to let me tag along for their Chennai day out in the sun (quite literally), and I chose to play tour guide. But it surprised me to no end when they shared with me the legend of how Ganesha got his elephant head with details. And Hannes excitedly relayed later, “The other day, an elephant blessed us with his trunk.” He added, “It was crazy, I’ve never been that close to an elephant before!” When I asked them ‘Do you have peacocks in Belgium?’ “Actually, we do,” he replied, “but...we don’t have snakes.” Unfortunately, heading to the Crocodile park would have to wait for another day for the Belgian band.