From Shillong in India, Plague Throat have been establishing their name as one of the main death metal acts in the country. I enjoyed their previous LP Human Paradox and gave it a positive review, which you can check out here. More recently, the band self-released an EP titled Evolutionary Impasse, which expanded on the project's heavy, soul crushing sound.
Frontman Nangsan Lyngwa answered a few questions for us about the Indian metal scene and the future plans for the band. Check out the interview below.
Plague Throat has some upcoming tour dates. What can one expect at your live shows in terms of a setlist and has there been a drummer and bassist confirmed yet for these performances considering you're the only remaining official and current member as of now?
Of course the new EP is on the setlist and one can expect songs from both Human Paradox and earlier releases. As for the band members, inevitably we are resorting on using session musician for this tour and we are all set.
While it is exciting that Plague Throat is touring across India, are there ever hopes or intention to tour Europe or America in the future?
Definitely there is an intention. Since we started, we have always wanted that. And hopefully it will happen soon.
Not too many Indian metal bands has reached American audiences on a mainstream level yet besides Demonic Resurrection and Skyharbor and perhaps yourselves. What other metal groups in India do you think deserve such attention?
Third Sovereign, Gutslit, Godless, Undying Inc, Orchid, and Chaos.
Do you foresee the Indian metal scene eventually reaching international awareness where audiences in the US and Europe are fully aware of your presence?
Hoping to make that happen sooner. But this would need the (metal) music industry to have more resources and systems based on catering to this particular industry. And also, investors. wink
A common complaint I’ve heard about the Indian metal scene is a lack of accommodating music venues to perform at. Has this issue improved at all?
It has improved a lot, but there are always issues where consistency of a venue is doubtful, as most of them end up closing down for some reasons or the other. For example, in Shillong, there has not been a consistent venue to date, specially for metal music.
You recently released the Evolutionary Impasse EP. Can you reflect on the writing and recording process? I believe I saw an interview where you stated you weren’t satisfied with the previous album and therefore made this EP.
Actually Human Paradox was a compilation of the songs that we have written over the years. We gained more experience after Human Paradox, which made us to avoid a lot of past errors, resulting in a more satisfying release. We started writing a few months after the Human Paradox recording. The song "The Epoch of Catastrophe – I" was actually meant to be in Human Paradox, but it didn’t fit in the album properly with the rest of the songs, so it became an intro for the EP. Malice [former drummer] wrote the drum parts for "Epoch I" in around 2015 and he sent me drum stems and I followed the drums and we developed from there. Malice wrote all the lyrics and conceived the concept and titles of the EP. We finished writing the music for the EP in late 2017 and started pre-production and recording in early 2018. Post production was done by late 2018 and we took around couple of months to prepare for the release.
What are the pros and cons you faced while working with the label Transcending Obscurity vs. self releasing music?
Transcending Obscurity PR and distribution is no doubt one of the best in India, but we also like keeping things bit toned down and not overdo promotional things, which is more easy to control during self releases. Though it is time consuming and we are getting a lot of help from our families and friends, there is some kind of great learning experience when it is a self-release.
After these upcoming tour dates, what is planned for the band?
Write more music, release more albums, and play more gigs. That’s about it.
What are some goals you hope to accomplish within Plague Throat in the far future?
We want to play everywhere and make more releases.
