Mumbai Metal Band Midhaven Set To Rock Wacken Open Air Metal Festival In Germany

Wearing T-shirts labelled ‘Nightmare’, Karan Kaul and Aditya Mohanan talk of how their dream came true. Their band Midhaven won the Indian competition to perform at the Wacken Open Air metal festival in Germany from July 29 to August 1. The victory adds to their achievements this year, which include a 19-city Europe and UK tour, and a performance at the famed Desertfest London.

“It’s a great feeling to represent Indian metal on the world scene,” says Kaul, vocalist and guitarist of the Mumbai-based psych/ sludge metal band. Adds Mohanan, lead guitarist, “This year’s line-up at Wacken has legends like Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Sepultura and Lamb of God. I’ve spent half my life dreaming of getting on that stage.”

The group is completed by drummer Aryaman Chatterji and bassist Akash Vyas. Says Kaul, “Our experience at Desertfest was fabulous. We got a huge crowd though we were slotted at 2 in the afternoon, and though we had been given only 30 minutes, our last song was loved so much we extended our limit and even got requests for an encore.”

The band had opened two shows for Indian folk-metal giants Bloodywood in France last year, besides doing a successful tour of Japan. Songs like Mahakaal, Bhairav and their 2025 single The Veiler received an overwhelming response. According to Mohanan, the effort is not to stick to straight-ahead metal but to add Indian influences through ragas on some songs. “For instance, The Veiler has elements of raga Todi. I was learning Indian music at one point so thought it would be a great idea to use a bit of classical inspiration. Karan was open to it, though he himself was part of a choir,” he adds.

Kaul points out that some of their songs make references to Indian myths. He says, “When you write and sing about Indian folklore, it’s always good to have some Indian parts in your sound. It also gives our band its own identity.”

Mohanan joined the band quite late, after being with a death metal group Killchain. Kaul says, “We started Midhaven in 2012. I keep saying it was my baby. For some years, that was true. But when Aditya joined around 2017, our band had a co-parent.” The group earlier had Aviraj Kumar on drums, but after he quit, Aryaman Chatterji of Dirge joined.

After releasing their EP Tales From The Tide in 2013, the band got a good following. They were next signed on my Universal Music the following year for the full-length album Spellbound. Though that established them, Midhaven decided to go independent for their 2021 record Of The Lotus & The Thunderbolt. “The whole market had changed by then, and everything was about streaming. In the Indian metal scene, the best thing is to be independent,” says Kaul.

While the early releases were written mainly by Kaul, The Lotus & The Thunderbolt was more of a team effort. Mohanan says joining Midhaven helped him expand his horizons. He adds, “I was getting sick of playing death metal. When Karan invited me, I was thrilled as I could do something more musical. The raga inputs happened in due course, and wasn’t part of my plan while joining them.”

One interesting thing about the musicians is that they have similar influences. All members are fans of Mastodon and Neurosis, whereas Kaul and Mohanan have both loved Opeth and Alice In Chains. Individually, Mohanan has enjoyed Megadeth and Tool, whereas Kaul loves Metallica and Pearl Jam, besides some classic rock bands.

Both musicians agree that the group has been heavily inspired by the success of Bloodywood abroad. Says Kaul, “We saw their performance and crowd interaction when we opened for them in France. It was mammoth. Such acts open the doors for other Indian metal bands. The foreign audiences say, wow, India has metal too.” Adds Mohanan, “Earlier, bands like Demonic Resurrection and Reverse Polarity set the pace for Indian metal. Today, there is a lot of variety. Bands like Gutslit and Godless have a huge set of admirers, and Dirge has a quite a following.”

Mohanan talks of a revival of rock and metal in India. He elaborates, “For a few years, there was a lull, and more young people went in for hip-hop and EDM. But today, the younger generation wants metal.” Adds Kaul, “Multi-genre festivals like Lollapalooza should add more metal acts. I saw videos of Bloodywood’s appearance at Lollapalooza Mumbai this year. It was crazy.”

For their part, Midhaven are doing their own bit to keep the metal flag flying.