Straight outta Bangalore, India, comes one of the most exciting Metal releases of the young year. Their sound is simultaneously heavy and exploratory. Western acts whom I assume they’ve listened to would include Helmet, Pearl Jam, Torche, Turbowolf, Alice in Chains, and Tool, Prong, White Stripes, and maybe some Godsmack.

If you hadn’t told me they were from Bangalore, I wouldn’t have paid as much attention to the Indian traditional music touches to their sound; Western guitar-centric acts have been experimenting with these scales and instruments ever since the Beatles’ 1968 trip to Rishikesh. The difference between, say, “Wherever I May Roam,” and the music of Diarchy, though is that the Eastern components don’t feel forced; they’re incorporated organically by guys who’ve grown up with it, and they’re inserted as needed.
The term, “diarchy” is defined as “government by two independent authorities (especially in India 1919–35).” Pretty clever name for an Indian band that consists of two members. The jamminess of their low headcount staff really comes across on the album; I’d thought while listening that they were a trio, like Rush or Prong. It’s therefore kind of fitting, but also pretty ballsy to feature three instrumentals on their 9-song album, including one Heavy jam at track 2.
I like this album - - not as an international act, or a cross-genre thing - - just as a straightforward, hard-rocking, well constructed set of music. I like the fullness of the sound, with the clean, snarly vocals, the Jerry-Cantrell-esque power chord progressions, and the wanderlust across the fretboard.