With a BABYMETAL collaboration under their belt and the Return Of The Singh tour on the horizon, India’s breakout metal stars have announced their brilliantly-titled second album Nu Delhi. In an exclusive interview, vocalist Jayant Bhadula unpicks Bloodywood’s love for their home city, the sense of danger that underpins the record, and why new single Tadka is inspired by an Indian culinary technique…
When Bloodywood opened Download’s Main Stage in 2023, the sheer size of the crowd basking in the June sun was proof that India’s chief metal act are the real deal. Hot off the heels of debut album Rakshak, their fusion of monstrous riffage with traditional Indian instruments like the dhol and tabla had rightfully sparked worldwide critical acclaim, putting Indian metal firmly on the map.
Shining a light on mental illness, calling out sexual abuse and exploring both love and loss was the name of the game – in both English and Hindi. Now, after last year’s comeback single Nu Delhi and a collaboration with BABYMETAL on Bekhauf, the trio (comprising Jayant Bhadula, Karan Katiyar and Raoul Kerr) have today (January 31) announced details of their second album, Nu Delhi, while also sharing its third single Tadka.
“We always try to advocate for things that are close to us,” Jayant tells Kerrang!. “With Nu Delhi, we wanted to let the world know that there is this thriving music scene – not just metal – in India, which is on par with what's happening in the world. The first single, Nu Delhi itself, is a love letter from us to this city.”
While Jayant is in the middle of sorting out merch, his bandmates are absent because Raoul is arranging visas for their Return Of The Singh tour – which conveniently lands in the UK on album release weekend – and Karan is editing an upcoming music video. Despite landing a deal with Fearless (which is coincidentally the direct translation of Bekhauf), Bloodywood still put 100 per cent of the same hands-on care into the band, unable to shake that DIY mindset which has served them so well.
As the band celebrate the reveal of their second LP, we chat to Jayant about immortalising their love of Indian food in new single Tadka, creating a piece of Asian metal history with BABYMETAL, and their goal to change perceptions of India through Nu Delhi.
What’s the meaning behind the new single Tadka – because it’s a word often associated with cooking, isn’t it?
“The exact meaning of tadka is ‘the art of unlocking the essence of spices and condiments, transforming a dish into an explosion of taste.’ It's used to enhance the flavours of the dish that you're cooking. When you put a tadka on something, there are obviously red chillies, mustard oil, mustard seeds – it just makes that dish taste like something else. From South to North India, East to West, everyone has such different ways of using the same ingredients – and this is what tadka does. It’s a giant explosion of flavours!”
What made you want to write a song about that?
“All the topics that we write about are things that are that close to our hearts. [On tour], we were eating European food – which is nice for a few days – but eventually we realised we really craved Indian food. Why not write about how amazing it is? It’s an art, when it comes down to Indian cuisine – you have to keep the spices balanced.
“Karan came up with the instrumentals, the riff that goes into the chorus, it felt like it was saying something – there's a word there. Tadka is such a great word, and that's how it snowballed – because tadka isn't just used for cooking. You can use it as a metaphor for putting flavours in your life, putting some spice into your life. [Although] we really do have a passion for food, all of us!”
Bekhauf with BABYMETAL was a piece of Asian metal history – there’s three languages in one song! How did you end up working with them?
“I've been a fan of BABYMETAL for some time. My exposure to them was Gimme Chocolate!!. I went into this rabbithole where I also heard Megitsune – that is one of the best metal tracks, in terms of arrangement, I've ever heard. We were performing in Tokyo, and [BABYMETAL producer] KOBAMETAL came to the show. [Much later], Karan was creating the instrumentals for Bekhauf, and coincidentally, he got a message from KOBA around the same time, saying, ‘Let's do something together.’
“We had parts already written for them, where if they liked it, we’d go ahead. Karan called me at 1am one morning saying, ‘Brother, you have to pronounce these three lines slowly, because BABYMETAL are going to sing them in Hindi.’ They sang in Hindi, but also, singing in Japanese was always part of the plan. We had an idea of how we wanted the syllables to be hit, and they delivered. Everything worked in a lot of synergy.”
Has touring the world given you a newfound appreciation for New Delhi?
“This album is New Delhi saying, ‘Hi, we've entered the metal world chat properly.’ Absolutely, there is more fondness when I'm in New Delhi. You're at home, you have your friends around you, you feel a certain sense of safety. [Although] when we are on the road, it also feels like home. You see people that do not know what language you speak, but they're singing along. At Graspop Metal Meeting, there was a Pakistani guy [holding an Indian flag] who lives in Europe, who said, ‘I feel so represented because of you.’ This appreciation dissolves any homesickness… apart from the cuisine!”
In your recent documentary Expect A Riot, Karan said that his hope was to “change the perception of India” with this album. What perceptions are you hoping to change?
“On any social media platform, there's a certain level of Indian hate – it's rampant right now. Racism and Indian hate has become trendy at this point – ‘Oh, BABYMETAL, why did you collaborate with these P******?’ We're not at a place of peace in the world. That is something that needs to be tackled on social media – not just for us, but for everyone in the world. But the first step we can take is to change that perception.
“We come from a civilisation that is one of the oldest in the world – if not the oldest. It's such a diverse culture, you cannot just go through the entirety of India in one lifetime and understand all of it. We are a nation that is not just traditional and cultural, but has provided so much to science as well. You're not going to change this perception by attacking anyone else, but by trying to make them understand your perspective. This album is sharing a part of us, and the love of the city that we come from. Hopefully people will understand and see beyond the filter of the Indian hate that is going around.”
What can we expect from the rest of the album – does the heavy use of synths in Bekhauf tease a departure from your more pure folk-metal style?
“There’s an element of danger – not only from our unfiltered opinion, but from the way we have experimented in this album. One of the experiments is Bekhauf and Nu Delhi was something familiar. Everyone had their own opinions on what we should do with the next record. We did what we have done since the beginning: put the most honest feelings out, and let people hear it to decide for themselves if they like it or not.
“There are a lot of unfiltered opinions, emotions, the element of catharsis. The way I sing, I have done things that I have not done before – the same goes for Raoul and Karan. Karan experimented a lot in terms of how he mixed the album. We tried using a lot of engineers to mix it, but it just did not have that vibe that Karan was able to put out. All of these elements come together [on Nu Delhi].”
Nu Delhi is released on March 21 via Fearless Records. Catch them on tour across the UK from March 22-27 – get your tickets now.
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