Over the last 3 years, Islamabad/Rawalpindi’s metal scene has become known for churning out the highest quality extreme metal in Pakistan. ISI, Wreckage, Depletion, Necktarium and Cranial Nerves are just some of the bands to have put their stamp on the evergrowing history of our national metal scene. REVOLT however is a band that have took it to the next level by actually putting out an album last year, getting signed by a Bangladesh based label (Animatix) and are currently in the process of releasing their second album “Seasons of Oblivion.” Oh, and not to forget, they also put out a hilarious black/death styled rendition of Rebecca Black’s *cough* classic song “Friday.” So I decided to catch up with the brains behind the  quartet, Saiban Khaliq and talk about the upcoming album

Hey man, what’s up and how’s the band going?

Hey. A fan running at the speed of light is up. The band’s going at a very good and steady pace. We are hoping to release our second album as soon as our record label gives us the signal. We are done with all the artwork and everything. Lets hope that it turns out to be something big for us as this is going to be our first release through a record label. Other than that, we are hoping to play some shows this summer.

Can you give a small rundown of the band and it’s history up til now?

That’s a long story. Well me and Osama Aleem started playing together back in 2006 if I remember correctly. We used to play in a band called Xar back then but later on in April 2009, we decided to form a band by the name of ReVolt since we wanted to make something different. We want to create something more versatile and different as compared to what the rest of the musicians are making currently. We were joined by Meheryar Ali Khan as our drummer back in August 2009 and in September before the release of our first album “ReVolt”, Bilal Nizami became our bassist. Since then, we have played a couple of shows and are now about to release our second album titled “Seasons of Oblivion”.

You guys released your first album last year. How do you think you’ve grown as a band since then?

Well our first album was something we wanted to do since a long time. We wanted to play some heavy music followed by a mixture of environmental clean riffs. Back then we were not aware of our limits as a band but since then, we have tried to push ourselves over the limit and make good technical, melodic metal. That is what we hoped to achieve in “Seasons of Oblivion”. Now, we are more clear and aware of what we want to do as a band. We have tried to make create our own sound and be as versatile as we can. We want to make each album different literally and that is what we have tried to achieve in our second album as well.

The new album is going to be released on a Bangladesh based label. Tell us about the label and how you came into contact with them

Well we contacted them online and then they asked us for a demo. So we gave it to them and they liked it a lot so yeah. Animatix records is a record label which focuses on Rock and Metal mainly and they have a pretty good distribution setup.

Give us a rundown on the tracks that are gonna be on the album.

We have tried to make each song unique in our second album and we have tried to be as versatile as we can in this album with melodic and more “softer” songs like “The Beginning” and “The Void” alongside some “roller coaster” ride-like lengthy songs “Social Instructions” and “Aftermath”. “Seasons of Oblivion” is an instrumental while “My Conscience” has a symphonic feel to it. The rest of the songs are quite different from our past music as well with the likes of “Mortal Coil” and “Birth”. “Cradle to Grave” and “Infestation” on the other hand are more brutal and melodic as compared to the rest of the songs.

Your cover art for the new album was very interesting. Who designed it, and what was the theme behind the cover and also the title of the album?

It was made by one of my art teachers “Bilal Ahmed” actually who painted and designed most of the artwork of this album. “Seasons of Oblivion” means that the seasons or phases a person goes through and since Oblivion means the state or condition of being completely forgotten, the title of our album highlights the phases of the state of being completely forgotten by someone. That is what most of the content of our album evolves around as well. In this painting, we have shown the different phases and memories of that seated person who is apparently forgetting herself.

You guys also made a music video for Mortal Coil. Tell us a bit about that. Is there really much use for metal bands to spend the time, effort and money on music videos here considering the chances of getting airplay on TV are next to none? Or does YouTube provide a much better platform for the music than tv channels in this day and age?

Well we believe that bands should just keep making music or anything they want to in general. In the end, most of us claim that “we make music for self-satisfaction”. If that is the case, then why give a shit if your video is not played on the television or anything? Youtube is more of a sharing base for all of us I guess and its just about sharing our stuff with the rest of the world through an easily accessible medium. We then try our best to share our stuff as much as we can and we hope that people appreciate and share our stuff as well if they like it.

Let’s talk about the live front. How many gigs have you guys done so far and how has the reaction been? Do you think that in Pakistan the live setting plays a role for metal bands getting their music out to likeminded people, or is the Internet a better medium for that?

We have played around 8-10 shows up until now if i remember correctly. The reaction has been quite shitty at some gigs but at some, it has been quite overwhelming. However, it was a great experience and we hope to play more shows in the future as well. In the end, i believe that setting the sound up is a band’s responsibility in some cases. In most of the cases, it is merely impossible to do so as the organizers are just a bunch of kids who don’t know shit about music. Either way, it is always worth the risk and these sorts of experiences are essential for every band. The sort of music we play is actually enjoyed more when played live by all sorts of people but if we talk about getting our music out even to like-minded people genuinely based on quality, it is better to use the internet or album selling in order to popularize and genuinely find fans of your music. That way, at least they would know what they are listening to keeping in mind the sound quality of most of the shows organized in our country.

If you were to reccomend 6 Pakistani bands (metal or otherwise) to a foreign listener, what would they be?

a) Venom Vault
b) Depletion
c) Odyssey
d) Qayaas (even though they are not metal wholly, they are pretty good)
e) Orion
f) Jal (they are the best)

Thank you so much for the interview. Any parting words for the reader?

I would like to thank Iron Markhor from ReVolt’s side for the interview. It was a pleasure and an honor. We are hoping to make as much quality music as we can in the future. Other than that, I would like to urge all of the bands/musicians in our country to support and help each other as that is the only way we can raid our country’s music scene so to speak and bring a change collectively. Thanks again!