"With a heart imbued with love and purity,
And a will tuned to do His bidding in virtuous acts,
If you seek His abodes, then shall be fulfilled
All your cherished desires and objects."

- Journey to Murugan

Two man group DIARCHY (2015) are from Bengaluru (also called Bangalore) the capital of India's southern Karnataka state in India. These guys know how to roll Tamil style. They have their own signature beer called Olicana Pale Ale, a single malt and single hop brew. Pale Ales always give me a headache as I tend to drink more ... uh, than one, but if the DIARCHY lads would like to bend elbows, I am down with that. What I am also down with is this 9 song effort, 'SPLITFIRE'.

"Kamal Hossen" sets the opening of 'SPLITFIRE' in motion with heavy, deliberate pounding METAL drums and guitar layered with cantillating and effected vocals, but does not split my noggin with crunch. The music is a bit more in the post metal camp with a quirky vocal line. I must admit, after this 1^st track, I was not expecting much. Not that it wasn't a valiant effort, just that I have heard this before ... heavy pounding METAL circa year 200x.
Then I got my head right with Lord Murugan.

Second track "Tirunelveli" whirls and undulates while a woman's voice breezes the refrain, "No Time". Swaying like a cobra being charmed on some Bengaluru street while passersby stand transfixed at the serpent's bobbing and weaving, the music leading the way into the serious groove of "Gone Too Late". The bang-on incisor guitar leads collar me and hold me with stunning note choice. Now the cobra flares its hood and with open mouth, shows us the business end of the snake ... I am way down with this song, simultaneously embracing groove riffs and post-metal while not annoying the living shit out of me. "Splitfire" brings astral desert rock vocals,  ALICE IN CHAINS guitars, KYUSS extract mad counterpoint riffs and a bit too much chunka-chunka guitar. I would have liked this one to lose some of the metal pins and go for the grease. Prakash gets a point for his vocal delivery.
"Home" showcases guitar-sitar ambience and standout composition with folk guitar string pedal tones that bring up

"White Summer - Black Mountain Side" by one James Page. Right the fuck on ¡! DIARCHY lads sequenced this release well; "Home" fits perfectly here. Furry critter tribute "Badger" (do they have badgers in India?) stretches out with deliberate pacing and again, is perfectly sequenced after the preceding instrumental. "Sunny Side Up" grinds a licentious VELVET REVOLVER "Shiver" lap dance moment while getting it on with impatient Darwinian song lyrics that ask, "What is a man without a plan?" then answers, "Run out of time". Indeed. "Kraanti" is the second instrumental foray on 'SPLITFIRE'  that takes you to a lysergic land of chewy, sweet smoke riffs chirping, warbling and freewheeling to a punishing bombastic TOOL metal outro at 2:57 that you can put in a bong and smoke. Finally, "Best Way Out Is Always Through" pivots around a Robert Frost quote and - hey, who is that coughing at 2:03? This song has a LED ZEP "Boogie with Stu" Dravida vibe to it and wraps up this Indian delicacy of 'SPLITFIRE' like a sweet bowl of Rava Kesari.

By George, I dig this release 'SPLITFIRE' by DIARCHY. The cultural intonations of rocknroll and metal music are not limited geographically to 'native' English speakers. In fact, I find world cultural influences bring out interesting aspects of any transmigratory art form more often associated with certain places and times. Let Sri Krishna guide you. Have a listen to 'SPLITFIRE' by DIARCHY. Jolly Good Show, lads! If you ask a woman, who goes about the street selling vegetables to sing a song, she will only go on crying, 'Listen to the dani bandolier Spotify playlist featuring his reviewed bands!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/272H3UBARsuksY3BqU0CzP?si=bNxviWOHS9m7FOsEJxJAsg