DEVOID is a band that I have known for long, since they have been in the Indian Metal scene for quite some time and have performed regularly in all major gigs and I was also glad to see them live for the first time in Bangalore Open Air where they opened for some big names like ICED EARTH and IHSAHN, my first encounter with their music. Hailing from Mumbai, India, these boys put out "The Invasion" in 2013 and created quite a stir in the Death / Thrash scene. Though I do have faint memories of them from that show, I really haven't heard any more news from them after that and didn't care to really dig them as well for some weird reason.

With just 5 songs in it, "The Invasion", a concept EP is their sophomore release after their first album "A God's Lie" in 2010, comes as a pretty easy album to listen to and has a lot of interesting growling vocals by Arun Iyer and equally beautiful backing vocals too. It has lots of melodic elements going beyond what's a norm for a Melodic Death band and hence creates an element of Progressive Death in my opinion, though basically it's a Death / Thrash band. Starting off with an atmospheric melodic acoustic guitar strumming "Intro", the album pretty much screams at your ends from then on.

The album slowly gets into the heavy zone with the title track "The Invasion" which is a very catchy number and then "Pandemonium is Now", bringing heavy ground breaking riffs and heavy blast beats and mostly carrying the music in high tempo. DEVOID seems to only have a single motive, break the ear drums of the listener with the thick guitar riffs of both Sanju Aguair and Arun Iyer and the double blast beats drumming of Shubham Kumar seems to gel perfectly with the music, though for most of the album I had a feeling that the drums were mastered technically than really being played when the album was recorded and due to which the album is not all that pleasing. The bass of Abhishek Kamdar is used very interestingly and can be heard being spread all over the music, making it catchier than it otherwise would have been. My favourite song from "The Invasion" has to be "The Brahma Weapon" simply due to its catchiness and skull breaking riffs and also due to my faint memory of me seeing the band playing this song live in its utmost brutality. The last song "The Grand Design" has lots of melodies and creates a perfect ending to "The Invasion" and clearly indicates DEVOID  is lot more than just another Death / Thrash act and brings in lots of variety with its timely melodies. While the lyrics in the album speak about an alien invasion on planet earth and its effects on the planet, which is quite interesting for a modern Thrash band, the Production which is taken care by the vocalist himself, Arun Iyer, is surprisingly good for an Indian band where even the melodies can be heard with all the details engrossed in it.

Currently signed with Transcending Obscurity India, having formed in 2005, and having already released an album "A God's Lie" in 2010, this is another attempt by DEVOID to explore their creativity, especially in the lyrics department. The band seems to be only playing the occasional gig in Mumbai and elsewhere and their success or failure in the near future, say 5 years from now, will make a huge impact in the Death / Thrash scene in India in my opinion and for that the trick lies in them playing live more often and I can't wait to see them live again!.