Karmant: When protest finds expression in thrash metal
Karmant is a Bangladesh based thrash metal band founded in 2016 which recently released their debut EP titled Riot in Uniform inspired by the nationwide student movement of 2018
To many, the use of heavy metal music as a voice of protest may appear strange. But history tells a different story, as over the years we have witnessed many politically charged metal songs used as protest anthems. For instance '...And Justice for All' by Metallica.
Karmant, a Bangladeshi underground thrash metal band, raised their voice by meticulously crafting a song based on the vigorous road safety movement in 2018.
Karmant has been in the underground thrash metal scene since 2016. The band consists of four members: Zami Hassan as the vocalist and bassist, Hasan Zamil & Rumman Sharier as the guitarists and Naweed Kabir as the drummer.
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With their recently released EP 'Riot in Uniform', they have made their presence felt among metalheads with aggressive sounds and thought-provoking lyrics.
The band draws most of its inspiration from the German teutonic trio. Lyrical themes include, but are not limited to fictional characters and political inconsistencies.
The TBS team attempted to learn more about Karmant by speaking with Zami Hassan, the band's founder. We learned about the inspiration for Karmant's founding and also their future plans.
"I have been playing in the underground scene since 2011 when it was highly influenced by thrash metal bands, so naturally, I subconsciously got imbued with this genre," said Zami.
"However, it took me five more years to become mature enough to form my band where I could execute my ideas and concepts," Zami added.
When it comes to forming a stable lineup, almost all bands go through a process of evolution, and Karmant was no exception.
"After forming Karmant, several musicians played with us and the lineup kept changing on and off; it is very recently after the inclusion of drummer Naweed Kabir that Karmant has a fixed lineup now, although Rumman and Zamil have been constant since 2017," said Zami.
The story of the bassist Zami Hassan turning into the sole vocalist of Karmant sort of reminds us of the iconic thrash metal band, Megadeth and its frontman, Dave Mustaine. However, Zami disagreed.
"We went through a lot of change in terms of vocalists. Then, one day, my bandmates pushed me to give it a try as a vocalist. They argued that as it was me and our lyricist, Mahmudul Alam, who were writing the lyrics and synchronizing them with the riffs, so no one could do the vocalist's job better than me. This is how I eventually became the bassist/vocalist of Karmant," Zami described.
The student movement of 2018 turned out to be a key incident for Karmant as their approach to original compositions were in the making at that time.
"I was extremely moved by that movement and everything that was happening around those days, so were other members of Karmant. I joined the movement in the streets to experience it myself as I found sitting at home in front of the TV to be futile. That real-time encounter with the actual reality taught me a lot, which was eventually reflected in 'Riot in Uniform'", Zami explained.
Almost all musicians have some degree of predisposition to a certain type of sound, corresponding to their genre when it comes to creating their own music.
When asked if the similar thing happened with Karmant too, Zami replied, "To be honest, no. Collectively as a band we have certain influences, say we prefer more the new-age modern thrash metal compared to the old school thrash metal. Moreover, we are also into Teutonic and Industrial thrash metal, but when it comes to creating our own music we don't cling to any specific style. It all depends on the lyric, the context, and what it demands. "
Zami along with other members of Karmant see the band as something through which they can exhaust their repressed emotions.
"We don't have any rigid aim such as we have to reach a big platform or we have to release a lot of albums, rather Karmant is all about expressing ourselves with absolute freedom, something which we can't always do in other places".
Towards the end of the interview Zami said that Karmant is already working on new material.
"We are right now working on four tracks. Most importantly, although our first EP has been fully in English, this time we are planning to make some of our upcoming tracks in Bangla. Followers will get notified through our Facebook page in due time, so stay tuned."
