Formed in 1999, long considered Nepal’s first-ever death metal band – Ugra Karma – have released their third full-length ‘Photonic Death’. The band was kind enough to send us some answers to questions we sent out to them:
UA: What’s up fellas! Let’s go back to the beginning for a bit – what were the band’s influences back when you started and are the influences the same now?
We still listen to the same stuff we grew up listening to – thrash metal of early Metallica, Slayer, Rigor Mortis, Cranium, Dark Angel, Sadus, Sodom, and later Black & Death Metal of bands like Sepultura, Sarcofago, Morbid Angel, Unleashed, Von, Sinister, Macabre, etc. Those are our earliest influences and you can find a piece of each of these bands in our earlier releases. However, after a couple of decades of metallic journey, we think we have evolved our own style of Death Metal that is barbaric and utterly unique to Ugra Karma. I think this new album is a good example of that unique savagery that we have managed to create and record.
We happen to be Nepal’s first band that played original Metal music, not just Death Metal but any Metal. With or without us Nepal will always have a bunch of Metal bands playing live in small and large venues till the end of time. Nepal has a rabid fan following of extreme music, particularly Death Metal and Grindcore. In the last decade, a lot of foreign DM and Grindcore bands have come and played in festivals and gigs and are appreciative of the crowd reaction that they get here. By this time, Nepal has earned a reputation for being one of the best places to play extreme music.
UA: What are the themes of this album – any particular message in the lyrics etc.
The most prominent theme in “Photonic Death” is Death, obviously. The album title itself is about how the universe might end. There are many scenarios out there but the one I prefer is the one where after trillions upon trillions of years, every matter decays into radiation including black holes (which also leak radiation over time). The universe will be nothing but photons and forever expand at a higher and higher rate. No photon will ever interact with another photon and thus time ends. ‘Pyrelord (Karmachandaal)’ is the guy that tends the funeral pyre when Hindus cremate their dead. ‘Rogyapa’ serves the same function as the guy that does sky burial in Nepal’s uplands and in Tibet. He hacks up the dead and feeds everything, including bone marrow, to the vultures. ‘Glacial Incoffiation in Everest’ talks about those mountaineers who die on Mount Everest. Since almost all of them are left where they fall, their bodies just lie there, frozen for decades without decaying. Other songs are about that massive 7.9 earthquake we had in 2015, violence involving the Nepali knife Khukuri, and the after-effects of a thermonuclear explosion. There is also a German song about the annihilation of humans from this planet. There is a philosophical song about my own personal belief which I have dubbed ‘Siddharthic Nihilism’.
During the production of this record from 2019-2022, I was traveling a lot thru USA, Germany, France, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Cambodia, Tibet, and Nepal. I just happened to be in Portland at that time and so some of the vocals were recorded at a studio in SE Portland. We also did some mastering work there. However, most of the work was done in Kathmandu at Rollins Studio by Sushil Manandhar and myself.
Huge thanks to the band for taking the time to answer those questions! Now go blast those new jams below!
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