Review Summary: If you're finding it difficult to break the habit of wearing your influences on your sleeve, find better influences.
Indus Creed are, for all intents and purposes, India's FIRST hard rock band. Formed in 1984 under the rather silly moniker "Rock Machine", the band were the first to record and release an album of originals at a time when any band whose entire set did not consist of popular covers ran the risk of being booed off stage. This isn't to say that Rock Machine/Indus Creed's music is always excellent music. Their early work was heavily derivative of the Bon Jovi/Europe/[Insert Hair Metal Band Here] oeuvre that dominated the airwaves in the 80's, right from their be-mulleted heads to their spandex-ed legs. This in itself is a trend that has dogged Indian rock music through the years. It's natural for young bands to come charging out of the gates aping whoever it is that inspires them to plug in their guitars every morning, be it Guns 'N' Roses, Nickelback, or Lamb Of God. However, it is depressingly rare for bands to stay together long enough to shed the confines of their influences and develop their own artistic voices without selling out to make overtly commercial music in an effort to crossover to the bollywood market, a la fellow Indian rock stalwarts Euphoria and Pentagram. Indus Creed seemed poised on the verge of developing their own, more "Indian" sound, when they broke up in 1995. However, they reunited 16 years later to pick up where they left off.
The first thing you'll notice about "Evolve" is that, while the band has shed the likes of Bon Jovi and Europe as influences, they still haven't found a completely unique voice. This time around they take their cues, very noticeably, from modern Prog heroes such as Porcupine Tree and Spock's Beard.
This is not to say that Indus Creed plays like a poor man's cover band of the aforementioned greats. Every track on the album is filled to the brim with hooks, layered complexity, technical flash and a great deal of emotional depth. While "Fireflies" is mostly made up of strummed acoustic guitars and electronic effects, buoyed by an oh-so-Spock's-Beard synth melody, "Dissolve" kicks off with a pyrotechnic display of guitar wizardry which grabs hold and doesn't let go. The gently building verses and soaring choruses on "Take it Harder" are the stuff movie sountracks are made of, while the Porcupine Tree-on-steroids riffing in "No Disgrace" and "Bulletproof" is the stuff YouTube guitar and drum covers are made of.
While one is often reminded of the band's influences, most of this is because vocalist Uday Benegal is a dead ringer for Neal Morse and often chooses to sing in his middle register which gives his his melodies a very Steven Wilson-esque air. However, lead guitarist Mahesh Tinaikar consistently proves himself the equal, in skill if not creativity, of Alan Morse, while drummer Jai Row Kavi, shows that, while he is not the equal of Gavin Harrison or Nick D'Virgilio (and really, who is?), he is more than worthy of being emulated in his own right. Bassist Rushad Mistry plays a very understated supporting role, while keyboardist Zubin Balaporia's fingerprints are all over every song, alternating between providing texture and initiating the melody. Lyrically too, the band is consistently excellent, with melodies and words being both accessible and relate-able without ever falling into the trap of cliche.
One strange drawback of the album is that, while individually every song is a gem, the album as a whole suffers from a general air of same-ness. The tempos remain more or less constant, even though time-signatures change, and the soft-loud dynamic gets a tad overused, making one song hard to distinguish from the next. The smooth production also buffs out all rough edges on the rockers such as "Bulletproof" and "No Disgrace" stripping them of any sense of grit and urgency, and makes them largely indistinguishable from the softer numbers.
Despite these drawbacks, "Evolve" does not have a single sub-standard track, and the standouts alone make it a worthwhile listen. While the band eschews the epic scope and song lengths of traditional progressive rock in favour of a more immediate and 'catchy' approach to songwriting, it does so without sacrificing any lyrical depth or musical complexity. The songs here will fit comfortably on any playlist next to Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, or whatever Prog-Rock band you happen to be listening to and make for a worthy contribution to the genre.
Highlights:
Dissolve
Fireflies
No Disgrace
