MUMBAI: Started in 2009, What Escapes Me is a progressive metal band from Kolkata, which has a heavy experimental approach to metal music.

By blending Indian classical instrument sounds subtly with its brand of metal, What Escapes Me tries to create something unique sonically and push the genre forward. Powered by BAJAAO entertainment and antiSOCIAL, the band recently launched its album ‘Egress Point’ on 17 July 2016, at antiSOCIAL, Mumbai.

Speaking about the journey, Arindam Sen, the guitarist of the band said, “Our journey has been a long one and has taught us a lot about life. To have five like-minded people stick around and compromise so much on their personal aspirations and demands of life, only for the collective goal of making music together, is not something that can be achieved easily. We have had good days and bad days on this journey together but never was there a day when we wanted to give up on this. We are just too glad that the album is out and we are finally touring in support of it."

It took the band quite long to release an album ‘Egress Point’. When asked about any particular reason behind this, Sen said, “The album has been in the making for almost half a decade and that’s a really long time. The band became popular when we were just about to leave the shelter of our college lives and then all of us were caught up in the race of figuring out careers which would help us to continue the band and here we are now five years later.”

Speaking about the album Egress Point, Sayan Ghosh (guitarist- WEM) added, “Egress Point contains ten songs and these are the only songs that we wrote for the album. We did not collaborate with any record label. Everything on the album has been done in a completely DIY fashion by the band - from production to distribution. The album has been produced and mixed by me and mastered by Forrester Savell. The music video in support of the first single was designed and made by Arindam Sen (guitarist - WEM). From production to packaging to the distribution, everything has been done by the band members.”

What Escapes Me is quite experimental in its approach to metal music. However, there is something unique about the sound. Even though the sound has a lot of harsh vocals and distorted guitars going, it is structured in a way that there is a proper blend of melody as well, be it vocally or instrumental wise and a listener who is not into this form or style of music can also take away something from it.

“Back in 2012 we tried to experiment a little by using the sarod on one of our tracks 'Section 66 Part 5' and it worked out exactly how we had wanted it to and it opened up a lot of creative possibilities which seemed to push the genre forward,” informed Sen.

On 'Egress Point', What Escapes Me collaborated with Alla Rakha Kalavant who played the sarangi on 'Coalesce' and Prateek Shrivastava who played the sarod on 'Section 66 Part 5’. Sambit the drummer, played the tabla on 'The truth of a lie'. “This combination seemed to create a unique sound and we are happy with the outcome,” added Sayan.

On independent artists and the booming Indie music scene, What Escapes Me believes that the alternative music scene does look to be doing really well at the moment with more shows and festivals coming up that want to promote Indie artists and they are also getting platforms to share the stage with Indian and International heavyweights.

“We think that any artist who works hard on their music and takes smart business decisions and markets themselves properly will be able to get their music heard. Right now Indie and DIY is the way to go since most of the time, breaking even on every investment is likely to be the top priority,” shared Arindam and Sayan.

The album is available online at http://whatescapesme.bandcamp.com/album/egress-point