 Have you heard the Unholy Sermon?
by Nilma Dole
If you know that the guys who
created ‘Bleed for the Gods of war’ and ‘Crown of Thorns’ are indeed
Unholy Sermon, then you’ve hit the nail in the coffin. The unholy ones,
as they are known, have been around wreaking havoc in the industry for
awhile ever since they banded in 2006. Coming a long way from their
cradle days, the lead dude Arjuna said, “We actually started off with
the social networking site hi5 asking metal freaks if they were
interested in metal music and played any instruments.” Having got a
massive response from this, they auditioned a couple of people and then
formed the outfit which actually comprised dudes from other metal
scenes. “At the end of the day, it’s the same guys who play and help
other bands out.
 he metal scene is rather small and you’re likely to get people
playing for more than one band,” chipped in Arjuna projecting a raw
metallic image with his rebonded hair and metal-screaming T-shirt. “Our
genre surfaced from the black metal but we progressed to Melodic Black
Thrash/Melodic death metal,” said Arjuna. He added, “We actually found a
good following for our music especially with regard to our original
stuff but we wanted to gain some recognition as a band.”
Being committed to the Unholy Sermonic embrace, now that the band has
announced a new line-up who will be confirmed in playing for gigs. “We
have Suchintha on rhythm guitar and we recently got Nadeesha as a
bassist and Dilshan is the drummer dude” said Arjuna who is the vocalist
and lead guitarist for the band. Unholy Sermon have enjoyed a good
fanbase thanks to their originals found on rock.lk and the fact that
some of their original songs like ‘Disciples of thy infernal’ and
‘Priests of Babylon’.
hey are in the process of recording new songs like ‘Harmartia’,
‘Personifying Procastrination’ and ‘Crucifix in fire’ that will hit the
airwaves soon. They released their demo CD of 5 songs in 2007 and are in
the midst of composing songs for their forthcoming album to be revealed
hopefully by the end of the year. Their first gig was played at the
BMICH, in an open-air concert with Wildfire and since then, these guys
have come a long way.
Whenever we play, we have a proper balance between the originals and
covers meaning we place more emphasis on originals than covers,” he
said. Arjuna said that the influences of the band would be Immortal,
satyricon, Dissection, Death, Mayhem, Carcass, Kreator and derive
influence from local bands Stigmata, Siblings of Hatred and Thapas as
well.
As for advice for upcoming metal maniacs: “Be yourself and play what
you want to play. Others will try to bring you down but if you remain
true to your music, then you will succeed.” Arjuna commended the efforts
of the independent record labels in Sri Lanka where they really try to
support the underground scene.
“We would like to thank Arya and Angel for writing the lyrics, Rogger
from Empyre, Hela Distributions and Promotions, Studio666, Vimukthi,
Dumidu and his Merlock dudes, our family, friends and fans,”
acknowledged Arjuna for Unholy Sermon.
A crusader of Sri Lankan music in Melbourne
by Mahes Perera
A crusader in keeping aloft the
classical vibes of Sri Lankan music in Melbourne, Australia, Thilaka
Rupasinghe has to be applauded for her enthusiastic commitment. A past
pupil of St. Paul’s, Milagiriya, Thilaka was in Sri Lanka recently in
connection with the releasing of a new CD and also filming videos for
some songs. The Sri Lanka Ex-Army Women’s Association in Colombo has
many branches in Australia and Thilaka has been an active singer,
participating and organising the various fundraising “Sebaliya”
concerts.
 “I stepped into the musical world at a very young age through the
SLBC’s “Lama Mandapaya” programme series and have not looked back since
then. I’m also a member of the Victorian Association of Sri Lankan
Singers, and our objective is to promote Sri Lankan music by staging
concerts, charity shows which include fundraisers for Cancer Hospitals
in Sri Lanka. We are also keen that the Sri Lankan younger generation
are made aware of Sinhala music and learn to appreciate it. We have to a
great extent succeeded”, comments Thilaka with confidence.
The year, she launched her “Aaradhana” CD will always remain a
significant year, she claims because on the CD, she duetted with
Clarence Wijewardena an opportunity that is rare to those who were not
members of his band. More recently she recorded with Sarath Dassanayake
and her current new songs are “Epaa Thavathmata” and “Sithmal Yayama”
composed by Mahinda Dissanayaka, the music arrangements were by Rohana
Dharmakeerthi and Jagath Wickramasinghe.
Two other songs recorded by Thilaka are “Maa Sujatha Suvi Sri Lanka”
and “Kandulu Kadaa” written by Bandula Nanayakkarawasam while the music
arrangements were by Rohana Weerasinghe.Thilaka’s repertoire extends to
Hindi songs as well especially to the classic songs of Latha Mangeshkar
and Asha Bhosle which will always be a winner whenever the songs are
performed as covers by other singers.
Looking back on the year 2009, Thilaka is happy for all the musical
events that happened and that she was a part of them in Melbourne,
spreading happiness to all her fans. Last Sinhala New year she had the
opportunity to sing a duet with Rohana Bogoda for the theme song of
“Avurudu Nekatha”, a teldedrama that was telecast on ITN in April. We
are keeping our fingers crossed that this year 2010 too, Thilaka
Rupasinghe will be fortunate to spread happiness to her fans in Sri
Lanka with her song for the Sinhala New year. |
