Fallen Letters present their entire palette of music that has inspired them with Mindfractures. It is ambitious, audacious and traverses places you need to train your attention span for. After their EP, it is a promising step, showing Indian metal is bigger and bolder than ever before.
As they polish off the last grain of Meghana’s biryani from their plate-they chuckle about their songwriting process. No drugs, just rock and roll. It’s a certain poetry in motion, understanding the mind and the different illusions that pull us in. Mindfractures would have been in Vishal & Aditya’s mind from day 1, but they never thought of it as a saga. Incremental music making as an experience-with that actual human touch.
The band opens with A Fractured Monologue. Their sound has become more recognisable now-in many songs. Acoustic guitar strings play with stringed elements-something that lead singer/frontman Vishal Naidu has near perfected in his solo project. This seems to be where he lets the inner animal out-pairing with his friends to see that heated rhythm and heavy elements coming in hot. Doom elements layer the explosive entrance into the realm-while reaching that Opeth texture they all love so much.
Delving into the prog realm
As a group-they operate as friends outside music as well. Their music making process is in isolation-each of them structures it at home like a true pandemic musician. It is this comfort they take in making this an actual outlet outside their day jobs. It sounds like a passion project, because it is. Years of planning, labour and hopefully, relentless fun.
As songs reach saga like lengths, they make each experience a sonic cocoon to just recede into. Like a classical composer, background aesthetics in the song help the music progress so much more than just riff dribble that’s sloshing around in the void. It carries the song like an actual story-whether that was their true intention or not is not known. They have been inspired by some of the best that ever did it in this genre; and they bring a new light and tint to what they love.
Fallen Letters make it more apparent in quicker whip swings like Distant Lines. A commentary of a fractured individual stuck in a corporate loop, this is the kind of music everyone connects with now. Every song opens with a cinematic aesthetic-where hours of feedback have perfected the tones they use. You’d love to see them do a gear breakdown, trust me-they really do care this much.
When they write the opening to a riff that we all know will be good, they make an intricate opening to it. For a guitar band, each of their instruments get an individual spotlight, not in terms of traditional solos. It’s how the songs texture varies, and that’s what makes their musicality so addictive and groovy.
Constant, consistent innovation
There are songs like Drenched where you can see how much vocalist Naidu has improved in his delivery and experiencing the feel of the lyrics. If you’re going for the emo layer in prog metal, there is going to be specific focus on your voice. Production has made their delivery a deep, multifaceted aural chamber, where you can hear the minute details, especially if you have your headphones on. Please have your headphones on.
A fitting closing to the album comes with The Farthest Window. It is the hopefulness for the music scene and genres they are able to meld together. The way they can deliver surgically precise riffs that can peel your soul from your skin. All the bands they have inspired and they will go on to inspire.
As we walk to our respective modes of transport after our lunch-Naidu talks about a song he is working on. It is definitely on this album, and we will really never know which one it is. He talks about 4 different layers that he is thinking of adding in terms of vocals and instruments. All of this, from someone who doesn’t know any music theory, but how the music will make him feel at the end of it.
If you’ve seen them perform live, you know this unbridled passion definitely reflects. Theatrics within the music, no excess drama plastered outside.
That’s probably why they will be opening for The Smashing Pumpkins on the 11th of October 2025, at Terraform, Yelahanka, Bangalore. Buy tickets here.
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Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
