KRYPTOS - Nolan Lewis

"Spiral Ascent" gained encomiastic reviews... Now, after three years, they are back with their second full-length album "The Ark of Gemini". Nolan Lewis, vocalist and guitarist of KRYPTOS, introduce us to the metal scene of mystical India through his interview... \r\n

\r\nMetalzone: First of all, I would like to thank you on behalf of metalzone for this interview. To begin with, would you like to introduce yourselves?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: Hello and cheers to everyone at metalzone. We are Kryptos from Bangalore, India..... also known as the beer capital of the Indian subcontinent haha. \r\n

\r\n

\r\nMetalzone: After "Spiral Ascent" in 2004, you released a new album last year, named "The Ark of Gemini". Would you like to tell us about this album and more specific about the lyrics and artwork?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: Actually ’The Ark Of Gemini’ was scheduled for release late last year but it had to be delayed due to various issues. The album will definitely come out sometime during March/April 2008 through OSM Records. Musically we’ve turned things up a couple of notches compared to our debut. The riffs are way more aggressive and catchier, there are a lot of twin melodies floating about, lots of epic solos just like in the old days and just extremely memorable songs from start to finish. The artwork was done by a local artist and good friend of ours, Prasad Bhat. He did a fantastic job and really brought our vision to light. Basically the artwork is open to interpretation. It depicts the world as the ’Ark’ so to speak and the Gemini twins or heads represent the past and the future which are at odds with each other. It’s a very abstract way of depicting the strife that the world is going through at the moment, where we refuse to learn from our past and instead forsake the present for an illusory tomorrow. We are running out of time and it’s a pity we don’t really seem to notice.
\r\nThe lyrics deal with a whole variety of subjects like the hypocrisy of religion, ancient mythology, sci-fi themes, escapism and the warped state of humanity brought about by greed and the lust for power. Not exactly made for a bright sunny afternoon haha. \r\n

\r\n

\r\nMetalzone: What are your influences, because your music is a mix of many metal styles. What inspires you most when you write a new song?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: Our main influences will always be the classic bands like Sabbath, Priest, Maiden, Candlemass etc. Then we have our thrash influences like Coroner and Kreator as well as bands that push the boundaries of metal like Nevermore and Dark Tranquillity. When we put all these influences together along with what we bring to the table as individuals we more often than not come up with some fantastic music. A lot of things inspire us when we write new material like what generally goes on in the world around us, to movies, to books to bizarre incidents of which there seem to be no shortage of.
\r\n
\r\nMetalzone: You come from a country, which has no tradition in metal music. How is the metal scene in India?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: It’s doing quite well actually. It was pretty dormant for a long time but over the last few years it completely exploded. There are bands all over the country playing every genre of metal you care to name and the fantastic thing about most of the bands here is that they all have a sound of their own more or less. \r\n

\r\n

\r\nMetalzone: How do you see metal scene in Asia in general? There are some bands from Korea, Taiwan, China and much more from Japan. Are the people
\r\nthere familiar with this kind of music? And which do you think is the reason, that bands from such countries aren’t well-knowm, or known at all, in the metal fans throughout the world?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: I guess it’s doing pretty well. I’m not too keyed up with most of the Asian metal scene unfortunately. Japan of course has a lot of really good bands but I haven’t heard much from the rest of Asia. I think the main problem that afflicts Asian bands is that most people outside the continent don’t really have any access to the scene in this part of the world. There isn’t much media coverage and it’s very difficult for bands from here to tour the U.S or Europe so both these factors combined make things a bit difficult. \r\n

\r\n

\r\nMetalzone: I realised that you haven’t incorporated anything from the tradition of your country concerning your music style. Haven’t you ever come up with the idea to play metal having some musical elements from India?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: Usually that’s what most people think of when they listen to an Indian metal band but the reason we don’t use traditional Indian instruments or themes in our music is because we haven’t been brought up on it. We were brought up listening to Sabbath, Priest, Maiden, Zeppelin, AC/DC etc so it would sound a bit ’forced’ if we put a raaga or something similar in our music. If we do something like that in the future we’d want it to come naturally to us rather than stick it in a song just for the sake of sounding Indian.
\r\n
\r\nMetalzone: Because of your unique culture, is there any difficulty in trying to play metal?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: Yeah it is pretty difficult especially since rock/metal isn’t a widely accepted form of music here. Very few bands manage to keep going because they are constantly under pressure from society to conform to it’s norms. We’ve been around for close to 10 years now and we’ve carved a small niche for ourselves which seperates us from the madness of society so we’ve been a bit fortunate in that respect. \r\n

\r\n

\r\nMetalzone: Are there any live performances that you have given or any you prepare for, in order to promote your album?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: We play all over the country and we do have a small tour of India lined up to promote the new album. The launch gig will take place right here in our hometown Bangalore and we are also planning on recording footage of the gig for a possible DVD release in the near future.
\r\n
\r\nMetalzone: An artist that you admire a lot and you would like to be on stage together?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: Wow I could fill up an entire page on that haha. Probably, off the top of my head, I’d love to share a stage with Mercenary. They make some of the most amazing music on this planet and they seem like really genuine, down to earth people. So yeah, Mercenary gets my vote.
\r\n
\r\nMetalzone: What should someone expect from KRYPTOS?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: What people can expect from Kryptos is 100% pure heavy metal with absolute passion and conviction. We aren’t a trend or a fad that will disappear tomorrow. We aren’t a typically cliche metal band either. We have something to say and our music does the talking. We love doing what we do and it shows in our music. If you like your metal with lots of melody, aggression and that killer old school spirit then we’re the band for you. \r\n

\r\n

\r\nMetalzone: After gaining encomiastic comments for your first album, what are your expectations and ambitions from this band?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: Our main aim is to tour abroad and to get our music out to as many people as possible in as many places as possible. There’s no doubt in our minds that we could give just about any band out there a run for their money in a live setting and we plan on making this happen in the very near future. If anyone happens to catch us live, we will make sure they don’t go home disappointed because we will give them our absolute best.
\r\n
\r\nMetalzone: Do you occupy yourselves entirely with your band? Do you believe that one can live exclusively from music? And if some members-or all of them-work, how can this affect the progress of a band?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: As much as we’d like to make a living off of our music, it isn’t really possible at this stage in our country. I guess unless you’re a really well known band that can sell a lot of albums you really have to struggle to get by. Three of us in the band have regular jobs while another is still in university. So far it hasn’t really affected our progress since our jobs don’t really mean jack shit to us haha, so it’s just something that we have to deal with and not dwell upon.
\r\n
\r\nMetalzone: Is there anything you want to share with metalzone’s readers?
\r\n
\r\nLewis: First off I’d like to extend a warm round of cheers to every single one of you out there. We hope to catch you on tour someday. In the meantime you can check us out at www.myspace.com/kryptosindia. Our new album The Ark Of Gemini is coming out real soon through OSM Records so watch out for it. Finally and most importantly always be true to yourself and to who you are no matter what anyone else thinks or says.
\r\n
\r\nMetalzone: Thank you very much for your time and I wish you the best..
\r\n
\r\nLewis: Thank you very much. It was an absolute pleasure. Cheers and stay METAL! \r\n

\r\n

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\nAliki Maxoutoglou \r\n

\r\n

\r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\nLine-Up
\r\n
\r\nNolan Lewis - Guitars/Vocals
\r\nRohit Chaturvedi - Guitars
\r\nJayawant Tewari - Bass
\r\nRyan Colaco - Drums
\r\n\r\n

\r\n