Blind Image (Chennai)

Biography:
Blind Image is an extreme/groove/thrash metal band from Chennai, India. Influenced by Meshuggah, Sikth and Megadeth, Blind Image has built up a reputation as being a powerhouse in Indian metal, with 2 extremely successful albums to their name and several headlining shows across the country t boot.

The 2008 release of Blind Image’s independent debut album “Psychobabble” put the band firmly on the map, with orders coming in from across the country within a week of release, and several booking agencies confirming Blind Image as headlining acts for their fests. “More Than Human,” the to-be-released second album is a departure from the band’s old school thrash metal roots and is more in the vein of extreme metal/metalcore and new age thrash metal. “More Than Human” will be released on Nov 7th 2009 in conjunction with Headbangers India, a website dedicated to promoting Indian metal.

History:
Blind Image was formed late in 2006 by drummer Srikrishna with guitarist Prashant Matthias. Shricharan, the current guitarist of the band was a friend of Krishna’s and was called in to play bass for the band initially. For more than a year, he played the bass guitar, with David Simon handling the vocal duties. When the hunt for the second guitarist began, after many disappointing auditions, the band decided to go ahead with Shricharan and Prashant on guitars, and started looking out for a new bassist. Muneeb, who played bass for a popular thrash metal band named Fall Of Reason, agreed to play bass and was recruited into the line-up. However, this was short lived, with Muneeb heading back to his home county of Jeddah, leaving the bass guitarist‘s spot wide open. Tibu, from a city based funk rock band Public Issue filled in for a few shows and even recorded on the band’s debut album but found the music too far away from his tastes and left the band, just in time for Muneeb to return. In Aug 2009, Prashant left the band to pursue his higher education in guitaring, at the Musician’s Institute; L.A, leading Shricharan as the sole guitarist. A recent line-up change has brought Madhav (ex Maelstrom) on bass guitar and Siddharth Nair as the second guitarist of the band.

Critical Acclaim:
• Blind Image has headlined some of the biggest metal festivals in India and has supported Indian metal powerhouses such as IIIrd Sovereign, Demonic Resurrection, Metakix, Parikrama, Sledge etc.
• Blind Image’s second album “More Than Human” was reviewed by Rolling Stone Mag (India), Hierophant Nox (UK) Headbangers India, among other zines, and the response has been fantastic.
• In Jan 2008, Prashant Matthias, the guitarist of Blind Image filled in as guitarist at a competition judged by the members of popular progressive death metal band Opeth. At the end of the competition, Mikael Akerfelt of Opeth announced Prashant as the best guitarist and awarded him an autographed PRS guitar.

Discography:
• Psychobabble (2008) [Independent Release]
• More Than Human (2009) [Supported by Headbangers India]