INTERVIEW UGRA KARMA

"Nepalese regard their mountains as sacred and have a high regard for everything the mountains provide: annual monsoons, fertile rivers and breathtaking beauty."

We in Europe, or more specifically here in Germany, are mostly confronted with bands from Northern or Central Europe, the USA or Australia, even Southern European bands are less on the radar, and South America is also less present. Now I am pleased to present Ugra Karma, a band from Nepal, based at the capital Kathmandu. Read for yourself what vocalist and bassist Sunil, who founded the band in 1999, has to say about death metal, the difficult early days of the band, mountaineering in the Himalayas, the caste system in Nepal and the serial killer Charles Sobhraj.

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Hello from the Rhineland to Kathmandu! How are you and the band doing at the moment ? You are currently looking for a new guitarist, how is the project going?

Hails! We have a new pair of guitarists now. We’ve started writing new material and are getting ready for a tour in a few months.

But let's start from the beginning: Ugra Karma are pioneers and the first band in Nepal to play death metal, right? Please tell us something about your musical socialization, which bands you started listening to. How was the situation in Nepal before the appearance of the internet, was it possible to get access to releases? The majority were cassette releases, right? What about magazines and fanzines, was it possible to get information and read interviews with the bands in pre-internet times?

We started out at a time when the internet was still in it’s infancy. So communication with other metalheads was a slow process. We used snail mail to trade with people from all over the world. This was our primary means of getting access to metal. We would also collect cassette tapes, zines and records when we traveled to foreign countries. Since nothing can replace physical/tangible stuff, we still use snail mail for trades.

Let's get to the music: When I listen to your last album "Photonic Death", bands like Angel Corpse,  Order from Chaos, early Immolation, Incantation, Mortem from Peru, or the Czechs from Krabathor come to mind alongside Morbid Angel. Ancient, brutal death metal. How do you feel about these bands, what has made a lasting musical impression on you or influenced you?

Most of the bands you have mentioned are bands we grew up listening to. Early Sepultura and Sarcofago, Macabre, Sinister, Unleashed, VON, Rigor Mortis etc. have also influenced Ugra Karma. I have a particular respect for bands that stick to their own sound and don’t try to change with the changing tastes of fans. Uncompromising, abrasive and offensive bands are our cup of tea.

You call your music “Himalayan Metal of death”, and your latest awesome release named “Photonic death” covers death in all its different forms. ‘Glacial Incoffiation in Everest’ is about mountaineers who die on Mount Everest. In an earlier release “Mountain Grinders” there is a track about Annapurna, the most dangerous mountain in the world with a killing rate of 41% of the mountaineers who try to climb on the top , which I read. Related to this topic: Do you know the case of Charles Sobhraj, the serial killer who also killed western tourists on the hippie trails in Nepal in the 1070s? I saw a good series about it called "The Serpent."

Ugra Karma’s lyrical content mostly covers death in its various forms – serial killings, mass murders, ritual sacrifices, accidental deaths, nature’s murderous wrath and even the death of stars and galaxies.

Charles Sobhraj is still in Nepal’s Central Jail. After an escape from a high security Indian prison, a massive manhunt in and around Asia ensued resulting in his arrest in Nepal in the 1980s. Even after he finishes his long sentence here, he might end up in prisons in India or Thailand, where he is still on their wanted list.

My father went mountaineering in Nepal in 1994 and 1998 and told me about his impressions at that time. How does the average Nepalese relate to the Himalayas and mountaineering? Is there an understanding for it, do people like it or do they consider the mountaineers to be a bit crazy?  Have you  ever been mountaineering in whatever form yourself?

Nepalese regard their mountains as sacred and have a high regard for everything the mountains provide: annual monsoons, fertile rivers and breathtaking beauty. Most of the Nepalese who climb mountains are paid Sherpas who help western mountaineers reach the peaks. Other Nepalese aren’t particularly fond of mountaineering. As for me personally, I go trekking on the foothills of the Himalayas fairly regularly. Never had any desire to go mountaineering, doesn’t seem like it’s fun. But I do love alpine trekking.

Looking back, how would you view the effort and difficulties of forming a metal band in relation to young people living for example in Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands or the USA ? How available was equipment at the beginning of the band and what was the situation regarding recording facilities in Kathmandu? And how has the situation changed since then?

Back when we started out, there wasn't a single venue to play our music or a studio to record in. We finally found a fellow metalhead who happened to have a recording studio. None of us, including the engineer, had any idea as to how to record metal. Through trial and error and weeks of working all day long, we finally managed to record a demo and later a full-length. It wasn't the greatest sound but coherent enough to hear all the instruments and not just a wall of poorly recorded noise.

Foreign made guitars, amps and pedals were impossible to find in any music stores. The only ones we could get were poorly made Indian replicas of Jackson, Ibanez, Dean and so on.

These days, however, we can buy pretty much any brand of musical instruments and accessories in Nepal. Studios are of international standards and even venues have great acoustics. Things have changed drastically from the days of our humble beginnings.

I saw that you have already played in France and also at the Obsene Extreme Fest in the Czech Republic. Where else have you played outside of Nepal? In Nepal itself or also in Kathmandu - what is the scene like there nowadays? What kind of gigs are there?  There is the Nepal Deathfest which includes Nepalese and international bands as well and I even found a movie about metal in Nepal called "Growling Mountains". Which bands from abroad come to Nepal to play? What can you tell us about these topics?

We play quite often in Kathmandu and we go on frequent tours throughout Nepal and to neighboring India. Besides France and Czechia in 2019, our “Plague and Pandemic Tour 2020” saw us play in several central American countries including Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

“Growling Mountains” is a French-made documentary about Nepal’s metal scene and features Ugra Karma as the main protagonist. I believe it was shown in the channel Arte in France and Germany. The documentary has received critical acclaim and has won some awards in the independent film circuit.

Several well-known metal bands have played in Nepal, during the annual Nepal Deathfest and other events. We recently had Nervo Chaos play in Kathmandu. Other bands that have played Nepal in the past include Decapitated, Behemoth, Napalm Death, Manzer, Defiled, Defeated Sanity, Fleshcrawl, Skinless among others.

What other bands from Nepal or Kathmandu in particular are worth mentioning, both those that no longer exist and those that are current?

Currently there aren’t many death metal bands actively playing here in comparison to the days before the 2019 pandemic. But in the past we have had some great bands like Aakrosh, Dying out Flame, Narsamhaar, Broken Hymen ans so on. 

You also spent some time in the USA and played there with Shroud of the Heretic. Was it always your goal to return to Nepal one day and to reactivate Ugra Karma? I read in an interview that some of the old band members now live all over the world. Do many, perhaps maybe the better educated Nepalese, often go abroad, partly because of the jobs?

Nepal is a country of emigrants. Educated ones go to the US, Germany, UK, Canada and Australia. Blue collar workers go to the gulf countries in the middle east, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia just to name a few.

I went to the US in early 2000s to get a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering. I recently received a PhD in the US in the same field. During my stay there, I played in several death metal bands including Blood Havoc (2003-2005 Portland, Oregon), Lost Lady Saloon (2008-2009 Black Eagle, Montana) and Shroud of the Heretic (2010-2012 Portland, Oregon). I also did a one man death metal project called Anthrovore around 2005-2006 while I was living and working in Montana.

What can you tell us about the current political and social situation in Nepal?  80% of the population are Hindus, right? Nepal has been a republic since 2008 and the monarchy was replaced, there was also a new constitution in 2015. How did you experience this, how did these changes affect people's lives in concrete terms? And what influence does the caste system still have? Officially, it was abolished, but it still has some influence, right?

I have zero interest in the politics of this country. I, myself, have been through five different systems of government in Nepal. Right now we are a democratic republic, but this could change any day.

The caste system is unconstitutional now, but the majority still believe in the hierarchy of castes. I myself was born a Brahmin Aryan, the highest caste here. But I dislike this hierarchical system based on an accident of birth.

Since you have already traveled a lot in the USA and elsewhere, including Germany, as I read, how do you assess the differences in mentality between the western and eastern world? And how did you experience Germany and the Germans?

I have been a fan (for lack of a better word) of Germany and die Deutsche Sprache since an early age. Your country has produced Nietzsche, Bach and Einstein among others. German-invented things that are used all over the world including the first motor car, the first controlled-access highway system (Die Autobahn) (by the way: the first German highway was opened in 1932 by Konrad Adenauer, then mayor of Cologne, namely the Cologne-Bonn route. This is just a hint, as quite a few people like to associate the invention of the "Autobahn" with the person who, with the help of thousands of willing helpers, plunged Germany and half the world into chaos. The attribution of the invention and implementation of the Autobahn to Hitler was, like so many other things, a reach into the Nazi propaganda bag of tricks-note from the author), pioneering medications, and a myriad of technological inventions and innovations. Your emphasis on punctuality and orderliness is to be truly admired.

The last words belong to you. What else would you like to say? What are the next steps and plans for Ugra Karma?

First a tour of Nepal followed by a European/American tour and then go into the studio to record another album.

Thank you for the interview. Hails from the Himalayas!