Unsigned and Unholy: What Escapes Me, Sioum, More of Myself to Kill

What Escapes Me are an Indian band attempting to bridge the gap between metal and Indian classical music, and while I’m certainly only an expert on one of those genres I’d say they’re doing a pretty good job. Those Indian instruments you hear are the sarangi and the sarod, and while the band’s metal foundation is based in djent (India seems to be obsessed with djent for whatever reason), these guys do an admirable job of keeping things interesting, even without the help of non-standard metal instrumentation.

Chicago instrumetalists Sioum call to mind the techy, proggy stylings of Don Caballero or Dysrhythmia, but with a cinematic and dramatic flair that’ll have fans of Russian Circles cheering. Yet Further is their sophomore album, and it’s out now via Bandcamp.

More of Myself to Kill tell MetalSucks via email that their debut EP Challenger Deep is “getting a lot of hype on Long Island.” Is it worthy of all the praise leveled by the gold chain, hair gel and white wifebeater-wearing set? While I’m not sure they’re quite there yet, there’s potential here — a good ear for composition and melody, and plenty of chops — so if they can put it all together into something wholly original they’ll be able to afford that LIRR ticket into the big city after all.