Celebrating Thrash's decade-long journey in metal

To entertain listeners who prefer heavy metal, Thrash has been standing strong for the last 10 years as an integral part of the metal scene in Bangladesh, beating all odds. 

Formed originally by four college metal-fan boys Sameer Azmi (vocal and bass), Sumit Gaurab (guitar), Mujtaba Nurul Hamim (guitar) and Asif Mahmood (drummer) from Mohammadpur in 2011, the members have always been a friend and confidante to each other since the beginning, to overcoming their struggles and finally becoming a prominent face in establishing heavy metal as a form of the musical genre in the country.

Mujtaba Nurul offered Hamim Sumit Gaurab to join Thrash. "Back in 2008 during SSC, I started playing the guitar," he shares "Gradually, I started playing with other bands and after working with about 20 bands in the making, I came across the urge to create my own lineup. I was looking for a keyboardist and after e few jamming session, their dedication and attitude towards music clicked on my mind." Thrash's current lineup is: Sameer Azmi (vocal and bass), Sumit Gaurab (guitar), and Muktadir Anzan (Drums).

According to the members, the name of the band was suggested by Ryan, their EP illustrator. They were making songs and were bringing out an EP, but they couldn't settle down on a name that could hit them to the core and couldn't find a name that was spot on. They came up with different names but none of them worked out.

As they grew up in Mohammadpur playing music, they were witnessing the metal uprising of the area under the influence of the renowned bands Dissector, Abominable, Homicide, Carnivore, and Sacrilege, among others. This helped in shaping and influencing the culture that makes them an integral part of metal music in Bangladesh without any qualms.

Finding sponsorship and performing extreme metal music hasn't been easy in the country for Thrash. Low ticket prices, lack of proper organisers, venue crisis, impassive audience, and all other problems that have existed in the metal music scene made their journey a rather tough one.

"If you are a pop or rock musician and produce good music, then you are most like to get good feedback here. When it comes to concentrated music like the thrash genre, the struggle is a thousand times bigger," said Sumit Gaurab. "Sponsors might sponsor a rock band but not a metal group. Those who are decision-makers in sponsoring industries, maybe they listen to popular music and don't listen to heavy music at all."

Sumit also emphasized making impactful and quality music so that people accept the bands. "If we look into our contemporary bands from previous years, many bands could not come up with albums. They had very few songs including us. In many cases, several bands couldn't survive," he adds.

In 2020, Thrash won the Wacken Metal Battle with their new drummer Muktadir Anzan, who was a former member of Dissector. Thrash was scheduled to go to Bangalore Open Air in India and compete with India, Srilanka, and Nepal.

However, the corona pandemic brought everything to a standstill. Nonetheless, their activities and such achievement reenergised the metal community in Bangladesh.

Being recognised as a member of the Bangladesh Musical Bands Association (BAMBA) was one of the best achievements of the band in 2021. After a 10-year journey, they received the membership of the association adding more diversity in the band industry of Bangladesh. 

Thrash is the first Bangladeshi metal band to release an EP, named "A Lesson in Thrash" in 2012. Their popular tracks include — "Crossfire", "Indianization", "A lesson in Thrash", and "In for The Kill". They are currently working on producing more numbers. Recently, they have performed live on the first day of the year at an extreme metal concert --Vulgar Congregation. 

"I just want to get on with the Album or at least the recording of new songs. At the end of the day, everyone needs new songs," concludes their current drummer Muktadir Anzan.