15 Indian bands you should be listening right now

Elemental are a death metal band from Bhopal, India, formed in 2012. Their sound leans into brutal, slam shaped riffs with grind pacing, tight chugs, and guttural vocals.

FFO: Cannibal Corpse, Cattle Decapitation, Aborted

Survival Through Sufferings are a technical deathcore band from Kolkata, India, active since 2016. They combine guttural vocals, blast driven sections, and breakdown heavy structures with more complex riffing and tempo shifts. “Necromantic Inheritance” keeps the focus on precision and impact, built for dense modern deathcore sets.

FFO: Whitechapel, Thy Art Is Murder, Suicide Silence

Kasck are a thrash metal trio from Pune, India, formed in 2015. Their sound pulls from classic Bay Area speed, fast palm muted riffs, sharp leads, and driving drums, with a modern bite in production.

FFO: Anthrax, Slayer, Nuclear Assault

Within Ceres are a progressive modern metal band from Goa, India, formed in 2014. They blend technical guitar work, atmospheric keys, and a mix of harsh and clean vocals, moving between heavy breakdowns and melodic hooks. Their writing often points toward futuristic or dystopian ideas, with tracks built around djent rhythm patterns and big choruses.

FFO: Gojira, Periphery, TesseracT

By now if you’re a Media Junkbox reader, Bloodywood needs no introduction. From New Delhi, formed in 2016, the band gained popularity with their mix of nu metal with Indian folk instrumentation like the dhol and flute, and singing in English, Hindi and Punjabi.

Obliterating Vortex are a technical death metal band from Darjeeling, India, active since 2012. Their music focuses on fast, tightly synced playing and frequent rhythm changes, backed by guttural vocals and relentless drums. Releases like Machineurotic set out a style that values precision and density over simplicity.

FFO: Nile, Decapitated, Hate Eternal

Gutslit are an extreme metal band from Mumbai, India, active since 2007. They fuse brutal death metal with deathgrind speed, built on slam riffs, blasting drums, and low vocal delivery. Across albums like Amputheatre and Carnal, the themes stay within gore and violence typical of the genre, with touring that reaches well outside India.

FFO: Dying Fetus, Aborted, Hate Eternal

Disquietude Vengeance are a deathcore band from Kolkata, India, formed in 2022. Their sound centers on down tuned chugs, big breakdowns, and harsh vocals, with touches of eerie atmosphere on tracks like “Nocturnal Whispers of Torture.” The album Psycho Sadistic Existence frames their approach as straightforward deathcore, with lyrical focus on darker mental states.

FFO: Lorna Shore, Suicide Silence, Carnifex

What Escapes Me are a progressive metal band from Kolkata, India, active since 2009. They blend djent grooves and metalcore punch with experimental arrangement choices, including Indian classical instruments such as sarangi on Egress Point. Songs shift between polyrhythmic chugs, ambient layers, and melodic choruses, aiming for contrast between aggression and detail.

FFO: Dream Theater, Killswitch Engage, TesseracT

Bhayanak Maut are a Mumbai, India metal institution active since 2003. Their style sits between groove metal and metalcore, with heavy rhythmic riffs, dual harsh vocals, and breakdowns shaped for live pits. Over time they have folded in some deathcore influence, while lyrics often lean toward urban tension, violence, and dark humor tied to their scene identity.

FFO: Slipknot, Lamb of God, Pantera

Fallen Letters are a Bangalore, India progressive rock and metal band with an atmospheric, alternative lean. Their songs move from quiet, moody passages into heavier guitar climaxes, sometimes pulling in shoegaze or art rock textures. The album Mindfractures frames introspection as a core theme, using dynamic builds rather than constant heaviness to carry the material.

FFO: Tool, Opeth, Karnivool

Peekay are a modern metal project from Hyderabad, India, with activity split between India and Los Angeles. Fronted by Pranati Khanna, the sound blends djent influenced grooves, post hardcore edges, electronic layers, and wide vocal range from clean lines to harsh screams. Tracks like “Hyperspace” point to themes of isolation and digital age pressure, delivered in a tight alt metal format.

FFO: Spiritbox, Jinjer, Avenged Sevenfold

Midhaven are a progressive sludge metal band from Mumbai, India, formed in 2011. They combine thick, slow moving riffs and heavy psych tones with broader progressive structures, while weaving in Indian myth and classical theory. The concept album Of The Lotus & The Thunderbolt leans into themes of time, cyclical existence, and Shiva related imagery, using long builds and layered vocals.

FFO: Mastodon, Tool, Opeth

Estrotomy are a slamming brutal death metal band from Darjeeling, India, formed in 2017. Their sound is built on detuned slam grooves, blunt rhythmic breaks, and very low guttural vocals, with an emphasis on physical pacing over melody. Carcinogenic Humanity stays rooted in gore themed writing and genre conventions, aimed at underground slam listeners.

FFO: Suffocation, Devourment, Abominable Putridity

Yonsample are a progressive metal band from Kolkata, India, originally formed in 2008 under the name Moshpit. They combine djent rhythm work, metalcore energy, ambient keys, and alternating harsh and clean vocals, aiming for aggressive grooves that open into atmospheric sections. The album Extropy helped define their local modern metal identity through tight timing and layered arrangements.

FFO: Meshuggah, Periphery, Skyharbor