Interview : Against Evil – English

One month before the release of their new album End of the Line, I had the opportunity to ask Against Evil’s M Sravan Chakravarthi (vocals/rhythm guitar) some questions.

End of the Line review

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Hello and first of all, thank you for your time! Would you please describe the band Against Evil for someone who never heard about you before?
M Sravan Chakravarthi (vocals/guitar): Against Evil is a Heavy Metal band that hails from the city called Visakhapatnam, India. We play Old School Heavy Metal with high octane riffs and a blend of distorted and melodic vocals.

Where does the name Against Evil come from?
Svaran: There is no specific story behind the name. Our compositions and lyrics mostly have elements like war, good vs evil, Racing, etc… so we all liked the sound of the name Against Evil. It is both traditional and powerful in a way.

Against Evil is about to release End of the Line, its second full-length, how do you feel about this release? Are you satisfied with what you’ve achieved on this album?
Svaran: End of the Line was totally a different experience for us in terms of composing, recording, releasing and promoting. What started as an EP ended up as a full-length album. Composing, recording and mixing were done in two phases but we were able to preserve the same sound throughout. We are extremely happy on how it came out and can’t wait for everyone to listen to it.

How does the composition process happen? Was it different from the previous album?
Svaran: The composition process is always the same. We come up with a riff idea, we share, discuss and develop it into a song. The only difference for the new album is we did 5 songs in 2020 and 4 more songs in 2021 due to the pandemic.

You are now signed with Doc Gator Records, did it change anything for you? About creating music, recording, or anything else.
Svaran: Signing with Doc Gator Records was a huge step for us. It helped increase our presence in the world metal scene and also led to our first European tour in 2019. It didn’t really change anything in terms of creating music, recording, etc. 

About the artwork, you asked All Things Rotten again. How does the collaboration happen with him? Where does the idea to represent you on every cover art come from?
Svaran: We have been following Andrej from All Things Rotten for a very long time and his works were killer. We got in contact with him for the artwork of our first single War Hero and we loved his work. From then on there was no looking back. He did all our artwork.

On the song Out for Blood, you have Billy Sheehan as very special guest, how does this collaboration happen?
Svaran: It was quite an unbelievable collaboration with the legend himself. We got in touch with him through a friend. By that time all the songs have already been recorded and ready to be mixed. We asked him if he would be interested in playing bass on one of our songs. Out For Blood was our first choice of song as it has an 80’s hair metal kind of vibe. Once he heard the demo he accepted to play and he literally took the song to another level.

Your music is a blend of Old School Heavy Metal style, with some Power and Thrash touches, what are your musical influences?
Svaran: Our musical influences include bands like Megadeth, Accept, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Slayer. I feel our music style is a bit unique because it’s a blend of Heavy, Speed, Power and Thrash metal with two vocalists.

Do you also have non-musical influences? Like books, movies?
Svaran: I am a big-time movie buff, especially when it comes to super hero movies. I’m always up to date with the popular cinematic universes. I also watch a lot of television shows, etc.

India’s Metal scene is progressively growing, maybe you also see its evolution since the beginning of the band? What do you think about India’s Metal scene?
Svaran: In terms of potential, I feel Indian metal bands are up there with the other countries. The audience however, is very limited. Regional music, Pop and Hip Hop always dominate the market. But, with more shows, more popular bands touring the country, I hope there will be a change.

Unfortunately the world is suffering of the Covid crisis since more than a year now, how do you face the situation as a band? How does your country face it?
Svaran: India which is one of the most populous countries in the world was hit really bad by the corona virus pandemic. The nation went into a lockdown in March 2020 and we were all restricted to our homes. As musicians we put this time into something productive writing new material, practicing our old ones, staying fit and hoping we get out of this as quick as possible.

Did the worldwide crisis had any impact on the album?
Svaran: I’d say yes it affected our whole plan of writing, recording and releasing the album. We started End of the Line as a 5 song Ep but ended up with a 9-song full length album because we had time in our hands. We’ve utilised that time in composing and recording more music.

Maybe you already have plans for the future? Or even for the album release?
Svaran: The album release is on its course. We hope the pandemic doesn’t deviate us from our plan. We are looking forward to tour with the current album by the end of this year if this corona situation eases.

In 2019, you played some shows in Europe, how do you remember this tour?
Svaran: I say the tour is the biggest milestone in our lives. We savoured every moment of our tour. The people, the energy, the warmth literally made us fall in love. We interacted with a lot of bands, made new friends and played our hearts out. We thank the “Heavy Metal Fans” Facebook group, Doc Gator Records and our awesome fans for making this happen.

What are your best and your worst memories as musicians?
Svaran: Playing live at Turock Open Air in 2019 before a crowd of 5000 was probably our best memory. The bad memory is when we started out as musicians. We all have gone through a phase where we did not get the respect we deserved.

Do you have any hobbies aside from music? Maybe you also have a day job, or can you live from your music’s incomes?
Svaran: It’s really difficult to make a living off of music these days. So, we all have our day jobs/businesses. I have a family-owned business that I take care of.

Maybe you already heard about the French Metal scene? Do you know some French bands?
Svaran: Haven’t heard much about the metal scene in France but I have seen Alcest live once in India. I instantly fell in love with the sound and started following their works. Gojira is another French band I listen to.

What would be your next big step as a band?
Svaran: The next step is to take our album deeper into the Metal community and wait till this pandemic eases and start touring.

To which indian dish would you compare your music to? Why?
Svaran: I would compare our music to one of our favorite Indian dishes « butter chicken » because it has a complex flavor and its irresistible just like our music!

Last question for me: which bands would you love to tour with? I let you create a tour with Against Evil as openers and three other bands.
Svaran: Let’s say I have a wild imagination, it would definitely be Accept, Megadeth and Judas Priest.

Thanks again for your time, last words are yours!
Svaran: I would like to thank Acta Infernalis for this opportunity and I would urge everyone to check out our new album End of the Line and support us. You will not be disappointed. Take care and stay safe. Cheers!

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