Rainburn have got a pretty good bookmark to start their new era. The band that opened for Opeth on their Bangalore leg of the India tour came in as a live surprise that catapulted them back to a massive legion of fans. Fans, who devour prog rock and metal almost like a religion. Founded in 2011, Vats Ayangar was able to architect their debut into a Rolling Stone top ten. This is a definite return to glory with Rainburn on there: their full-length concept album called thirty-seven.
Diving into the collection
It is definitely a catalogue that is formidable, respectable, and explorative in every sense of the word, starting with Insignify in 2018. The band chose to think and play around with what the word “prog” meant to them. The next year came their EP, Resignify, which solidified their certain rise as an absolute unit of prog rock. Just when you thought you had them chartered for a band that liked to untether you from the world and take you away through wide funnels of escapism, they catapulted you back to the ever-growing never-forgetting cityscape in their nine-track album Vignettes (2023). What is the dose this time?
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It’s not like you’ll ever figure them out. The opening is called capsize and is an acappella-styled chant that sets an eerie tone. Just when you think your brain will warp, god comes in. These are unique, ubiquitous chords that might feel familiar, but bank on the sharper edges of dissonance. Saakallya Biswas on guitars and backing vocals and Neilroy Miranda on drums complete this trio that is built like a bullet train on old-world charm. It’s interesting to hear motifs that have classical routes to them. Technically sound, yet wild enough to take very unique routes in the compositions.
Turning the switch
Just when you get used to the winds, Rainburn breaks the rhythm with desolation. Placed and tuned like a NIN song, it unravels until we’re dropped on the delectable riff of defy. This is the pearly gates of prog rock heaven, and the band doesn’t shy away from bringing all the guns to the show. Ever seen videos of people headbanging to odd-time? That’s going to be Rainburn’s next show with the crowd vibing to defy.
You would never expect where the inspirations came from for music that Rainburn puts together. In one moment they can be keeping you seated on the edge, listening to something Dream Theatre would compose during a late-night coffee break. In another moment they would switch tracks to an electronica pattern that has a rhythm that really gels with something in their head. The result, as almost always, is something original, something that Rainburn has a solid signature over. When you listen to kings, proceed to the instrumental atmosphere focus on you, there is a dynamic spectrum that is proudly human and inspired.
When you close in with “nearer” and the track that leaves you drawing conclusions with “hereafter,” you know it’s a journey that has still come full circle. Rainburn have grown leaps and bounds since their previous experiment, and you can always expect more from this band. Destroy the facets of genres; art is the greatest alloy of consciousness on earth:
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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.
