Bloodywood’s approach to metal is, on the surface, similar to Linkin Park’s in that they often combine rapped verses with sung choruses—utilizing both English and Hindi lyrics—backed by gym-ready riffs reminiscent of Hacktivist, We Butter the Bread with Butter, and even Dyscarnate. Look beneath those superficialities and you find a ton of cool Indian folk instrumentation playing along, particularly weighted towards woodwinds and festive drums. Additionally, Bloodywood writes more mature lyrics than the standard I expect from this scene, adopting decidedly uplifting, thoughtful, and/or activist attitudes. Most importantly, Rakshak never runs out of steam. It’s an elephantine stampede of fun that infuses every moment of its forty-eight minute runtime with catharsis.
Rakshak succeeds in no small part because it expresses complex human experiences through effortlessly accessible writing. My absolute favorite piece of evidence to that point is Song o’ the Year frontrunner, “Yaad.” Navigating the death of a best friend (specifically, a pet) with simultaneously mournful and reassuring textures, this song hits like a runaway train. It’s got great lyrics and a monumental chorus, plus an excellent solo. But the real showstopper is this galloping riff/beat combo that drives the pre-chorus, which sounds exactly like the rhythm of an excited dog thundering to greet me after a long time apart.1 Other highlights like the immense “BSDK;” the hook-laden “Chakh Le” and “Dana-Dan;” and the incredibly melodic “Aaj” and “Zanjeero Se” don’t strike my heart as deeply as “Yaad.” Nevertheless, these cuts cover a lot of ground to bolster the album with memorable choruses, groovy rhythms and riffs, and dynamic pacing.
Given how effective most of Bloodywood’s songwriting and content choices are on Rakshak, it’s a shame that many tracks suffer at the hands of an unforgiving mix and master. “Jee Veerey” and “Endurant”—two songs which adeptly address issues surrounding mental illness and abuse/bullying, respectively—deserve a lot more breathing room. There are too many elements in play that fight tooth and tusk for the spotlight on the compressed soundstage. This makes it difficult for me to enjoy those wonderful folk instruments as they play counterpoint to the guitars and vocals in each song, which are quite good otherwise. Additionally, there are areas where the English rap lyrics could be improved. While “Dana-Dan” sports smooth, Tech N9ne-esque rapid-fire verses, others in “Gaddaar” and “Machi Basad” could use massaging in their phrasing and word choice to punch with greater poise and power. The rapper’s smoky vocal approach exacerbates the issue to a degree. It works well on more aggressive tracks but when applied to more sensitive and soft segments, he sounds somewhat detached.
Before I inevitably suffer the brutal swing of AMG Himself‘s Accursed Scythe of Firing for awarding a positive score to a nu-metal album, let me offer this disclaimer: Rakshak won’t change the minds of whomever rejects nu-metal on principle. I am not one of those people, and in turn found this record effortlessly enjoyable and highly rewarding. In light of that, I encourage anybody intrigued by this review to give Rakshak a fair shake. You might just find that Bloodywood crafted an energetic record worthy of your time and attention. It’s certainly worth mine!2
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: facebook.com/bloodywood.delhi | bloodywood.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: February 18th, 2022
