SHEPHERD and DEATH BY FUNGI to release split album through Transcending Obscurity India

By Kunal Choksi

Two luminaries from the Indian metal scene that are largely unheralded are Shepherd from Bangalore playing sludge and the newer band Death By Fungi from Mumbai playing hardcore punk. While the former has received many accolades internationally, Death By Fungi are propagating a form of music that’s new to the country. With a common ideology and sonic vision, these bands get together to unleash about four new songs each – their fastest and most exhilarating yet – in the form of a full-fledged split album.

Transcending Obscurity owner Kunal Choksi states, “I’m thrilled to announce a split between two of the most admirable bands from the scene – Shepherd and Death by Fungi. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Shepherd and was keen on working with the band right from the start, and the worlds aligned so to speak and we’re working together now. From what I’ve heard so far, it’s the band’s most radical sound yet which is all the more exciting. Death by Fungi are one of the most deserving bands and they couldn’t have found a better band to do a split with. Their heart is in the right place and I don’t see why their music couldn’t be more appreciated all over. Their latest EP was stunning and if their new material sounds anything like that, they’re going to become one of the most sought after bands in the region. Both bands are working on something absolutely fresh as well as substantial for this split which will be unleashed via Transcending Obscurity India all over.”

Shepherd comment, “We’ve been writing these fast songs intermittently starting from as early as 2013. It started out with ‘Undergod Dog’; which we released as a limited edition bonus track on our debut album ‘Stereolithic Riffalocalypse’. Originally all we wanted to do was blow off some steam in between long and sometimes boring rehearsals but once we had a few of these high energy songs, we made plans for a separate release because they didn’t really sit well with our usual brand of psychedelic sludginess.

Fast forward to 2016, we got to know of this band from Mumbai called Death By Fungi through a mutual friend and got it touch with them about doing a few gigs around town. That didn’t work out so we decided we’ll do this split thing. Although we don’t really have the same musical background, somehow we feel a kinship with them and there’s a lot of mutual admiration between us. There’s a shared sense of being outsiders even within a niche outsider music circle like metal.”

Shepherd Video Teaser | Shepherd Facebook

Death By Fungi add, “The more time we spend playing music together, the more we try experimenting with sounds and structures. We begun writing songs that were faster, heavier and noisier. Eventually, we moved away from the skate punk influenced hardcore that we begun with to a more chaotic, eclectic slew of hardcore punk.

When Deepak from Shepherd – a band we all looked up to and liked – approached us about the doing a split, we were totally down. Sludge and hardcore punk are sonically different but share a common heritage (Black Flag, etc). Even more, there was a weird brotherhood between the bands, we were both “outsiders” in India’s modern prog metal scene and this split was an opportunity to go all out – sonically and lyrically.

In our eyes, Transcending Obscurity and Kunal are all that is good about independent music – passion, DIY ethic, drive, etc. There is no other way we’d want to release this split.”

More info on this exciting release will be published soon.

Death By Fungi Video Teaser | Death By Fungi Facebook