This writer was sitting at a table with three others last morning, starting the balmy day off with States of Chaos, Hyderabad-born thrash metal outfit Godless’s new album. Two of us were comfortable with the genre. One person’s metal quotient was “medium”. And the last person’s immediate reaction at the prospect of such doom-inducing music was literally, “Not happening, I can’t do this.” To give credit where it’s due though, she eventually acquiesced with the caveat, “You’ll have to switch it off when I tell you that I’ve had enough.” But wonder of wonders! She sat through the entire nine-track, 28-minute long record without a word of protest, even going to the length of bobbing her head up and down at times.

It was thus surprising when, talking later to the band’s bassist Abbas Razvi, he described their own music as something that metal-averse listeners would find tough to approach. “Some background or understanding of rock makes it easier to accept the guitars and drums. But this is not easy listening; it’s not something that you can hear casually. It’s different if you’re into metal. But someone who is not used to growling and screaming, and fast drumming and choppy guitars will find it difficult,” he told us.