Till Death Do Us Part: 20 Years of Cryptic Fate

Till Death Do Us Part: 20 Years of Cryptic Fate

They call their rock Brutal... no-holds-barred Heavy Metal and the only way to listen to them is to turn up the volume and blow your mind (and hopefully not the speakers!). Writes Faizul Khan Tanim

Arguably the greatest rock act of the country, Cryptic Fate’s four members – Farhan Samad, Farshed Mahmud, K Sarfaraz Latifullah and Chowdhury F Shakib - are in a rock relationship with each other for the past two decades and are still going strong. Fate developed and maintained a sound that was completely unlike of any others in the scene. With a heavy metal influence and an alloy between their individual musical styles, they emerged as one of the most successful heavy metal bands on both the concert and recording circuits of Bangladesh.

Today, Cryptic Fate is respected, revered and they have revolutionized Bangla rock to a point where listening to them equals fighting your own demons, waging war against the 1971 rajakars or terror and even at times, falling in love. In an involved film, the characters of a very brave voice; majestic guitar tones, riffs and solos; and power drumming will generate all the mortal feelings of an immortal phantasm, convince you that you are right here, and can break free...any time and any day. Cryptic Fate was born on February 1993, when Wahed and Sarfaraz garnered the idea of a heavy metal band. Therefore, school friends Shakib, Farshed and Iresh as bassist, drummer, and singer respectively were recruited in quick succession and the original line-up of Cryptic Fate took shape. But what we do not know is that whenever the band is asked if they could travel back in time and change their name, Shakib smirks and says, “Most likely YES.”

And what we know about this band is that their debut album, the first English heavy metal album from Bangladesh – Ends Are Forever, was appreciated by none other than the then Megadeth star, legendary guitarist Marty Friedman. And this is what Marty Friedman said about Ends Are Forever: "It sounds to me somewhat more original than most of the stuff I get. Frankly, what makes it better than most are the vocals. The singer has a good sound to his voice. Also, the harmony vox are GREAT. Song #3 ("Odious Zephyr") could have used much more. The guitars are showing some limitation. In content, I think much of the guitar work is okay. Song #4 ("Captors Of Fate") has lots of cool original guitar stuff in the rhythms and harmonies but watch the intonation during the solo. Drums and bass are good in content. Overall, for me I like the songs that don't have drastic time changes - you will reach a larger audience without them, I think." But what we don’t know is that their ace guitarist Sarfaraz was out of the band for almost a year, around 2001, because of personal reasons and other priorities and missed playing in their anthemic track ‘Cholo Bangladesh’, but he soon re-joined the band.

Shakib, to this day, strongly believes that heavy metal music is very personal to him and he very emotionally explained the significance of being in a band, “I cannot ever imagine sharing this music any one other than my three band members. The spirit we share is a very holy thing and no girlfriend, wife, family member or anyone are allowed in our jamming sessions. There has to be a purpose of jamming heavy metal music, as in something has to come out of it and all three Farhan, Farshed and Sarfaraz has to be there, otherwise I would never call it a jam. I’ve never played music just for the sake of playing music but to make a song. The bonding is very important and this is my idea of a band. I feel this is my destiny – to jam and make heavy metal music with only these three individuals. The first five years is the most crucial for a band, if members can sustain, they will succeed.” Farhan also added that, “A band is all about pure luck and finding the right chemistry with band mates. They do not have to be superstars but possessing the gelling element and the want to move forward is absolutely essential.”

Over the past two decades, this band has had a couple of defining moments which makes Cryptic Fate what it is today. To highlight a few, Shakib and Farhan recollected some urgent and as well climactic moments.

Cryptic Fate: The Journey

1993

It was March and Cryptic Fate with their full line-up played their first gig at Farshed’s sister’s birthday party.

1994

They missed the chance to perform in one of their school events due to too many opening acts and time constraints. Frustrated with not finding gigs, they decided to record a full-length album and thus the idea of ‘Ends Are Forever’ spawned.

1995

Ends Are Forever is released from the record label Soundtek Productions and enjoys moderate success despite being an all-English metal album in the pre-dominant and supermarket pop-saturated audio market. The line-up was Drums – Farshed, Guitars –Wahed, Guitars – Sarfaraz, Vocals/Bass – Shakib.

1997

CF played their first ticket gig in the ICMA Auditorium at the suburb Katabon. They performed 10 to 12 songs and brought the house down with their extremely powerful performance.

1998

It was a hot summer day on July 12th and a moment of joy for the fantastic Farhan who received a call from the members of his most favourite band in Bangladesh, Cryptic Fate to join them as a permanent member. Shakib describes Farhan as the man behind the immense sound of Cryptic Fate.

2001

Cryptic Fate receives sponsorship from Pepsi and during the end of the year, is invited by prominent recording artist Isha Khan Duray to contribute a song to his mixed album ‘Chharpotro’. Shakib and Farhan collaborated for the first time, and the result was their first mainstream success ‘Cholo Bangladesh’. The line-up line-up included Bass/Vocals – Shakib, Guitars – Farhan and introduced Turjo on drums.

2002

Buoyed by the success of mixed albums Chharpotro and Onushilon, their second studio album with the theme of 1971 Liberation War, ‘Sreshtho’ is released from the label G-Series. The album became an instant hit.

2004-2006

Cryptic Fate spent the better part of two years writing and recording their magnum opus album ‘Danob’, which established their identity: Brutal, fresh, strikingly original – Cryptic Fate’s own brand of heavy metal. They took time and delivered their much-anticipated follow-up to their 2nd studio album Sreshtho. The result was nothing short of brilliant and it literally recharged the rage of any music hungry youth.

And Now, comes ‘Noy Maash’

Originally influenced by classic 80s metal, early 90’s grunge and all the other forms of heavy distortion-based melodies, the band’s sound has continued to mature and evolve into a unique style melding all sub-genres of rock. Not only that, the band has started experimenting with concepts of ‘home recording’ and that is how they started their concept album ‘Noy Maash’. It is going to be nine songs in nine consecutive months signifying the essence of our historical war. The significance of this album is for several reasons, the primary being - it’s a tribute to the nine-month span of our Liberation War of 1971. Secondly, Cryptic Fate wanted to make songs speedily and then pass an urgent message - test the strength of a band and its ability to stand on its own minus the support and sponsors from corporate houses and production companies. But fortunately they were blessed with fantastic sponsors. And thanks to Saadi’s Incursion Music, through which they have started this ‘digital revolution’. They have so far released two tracks online – ‘Bhorer Opekkha’ and the latest ‘Kal Boishakhi’ and the core fans believe that they are slowly maturing from Bhorer Opekkha, which suffered mediocre production and evolving into sounds of beautiful thunder in ‘Kal Boishakhi’. Ardent fans are now convinced that by the third track ‘Bidayer Gaan’, which has been released today (the 30th of May), the sound will be very close to perfect, proving  that digital home recording can fetch fantastic production value if the right amount of effort and creativity is poured in along with the right balance of good equipments.

Cryptic Fate shows immense gratitude towards their friends, who have helped and surrounded them beyond the call of duty and still serve as inspirations – Neville, Duray, Fazle, Soleman Mozammel sir from IUB, Iresh, Gibran, Shishir and all the guest drummers – Manzur, Turjo, Arafat, Nafi, Shaju and Faraz.

===
The gears used by Cryptic Fate:
K. Sarfaraz Latifullah
I primarily use a POD version 2.0 along with Line 6 MKii floor board pedal. I also use a POD HD400 but for me the best sound so far is the good old pod 2.0. Other gears include a Digitech whammy/Cry Baby Wah/Mod Tone lemon squeeze compressor/VOX Satchurator distortion pedal/ MXR Wylde Overdirve pedal/boss fuzz5 /delta lab digital delay pedal/mod tone deep dive octave pedal - I use these for the pedal board. For guitars I use Gibson Les Paul Studio / Gibson Flying V Heritage Cherry / PRS studio. Gibson flying V for giving me that powerful magnetic crunchy sound... the ceramic hot pick ups of this guitar gives that incredible sustain and harmonies. Obviously, its fully waxed and avoids any mic feedback on stage. The wide fret board makes it easier for me to play all the string pull needed without losing its dynamics. Apart from its good looks, it’s also a monster on stage! And regarding the PRS studio model Eriza Verde, it is one of the most versatile guitars I have used. Starting from rock to blues to jazz, this guitar will never disappoint you. It's very user friendly and an awesome guitar for recording and one can easily tweak it to bring out the sound one needs. The V12 finish and the locking tuners are something that keeps this guitar in shape... the narrow field pickups, which can also be spilt into single coil pickup gives you that very crispy single coil tone needed. It’s got the push-pull tone control with 5 way selector giving the  opportunity to play around and produce your own desired sound.

Farhan Samad
I started with a third-hand Ibanez RG350, upgraded the pickups to DiMarzios and changed the bridge & pickup selector. I still have it though I hardly ever use it since I got a matt black Epiphone Les Paul Goth. The stock pickups kick ass so I never changed them. I use a Line 6 Pod 2.0 as my processor. It's still the best processor in the world so never even considered getting anything else. I added a Digitech Whammy and a Boss Octave pedal to my rig. Also, I just got an Electro Harmonix Memory Boy as gift a couple of days ago that will be featured in Jantrik Golojog, CF’s 5th studio album.

Shakib Chowdhury
I use a maroon Yamaha 5 string bass guitar. Its cheap, $499 US (I think) and I don't know the model. I started my life with a 4 string pink, Yamaha, in 1993, and I have had two Ibanez guitars in the middle. I prefer Yamaha simply because it was the first. I am not attached to my instruments; I don't take care of them. As long as it works, I am fine. I don't know whether I am using light or heavy gauge strings. When a string breaks, I go to the shop and get new strings. I have no brand preference for strings.
I also use a bass POD processor. Now, this is an essential piece of equipment because its vital for my bass tone. Farhan tweaks the POD to bring out the kind of tone I like. The POD is simply a life saver.

Farshed Mahmud
I have been playing a Sonor Force series drum kit with Sabian cymbals for the past 10+ years. My setup is fairly straightforward. I have 10”, 12” 13”, 14”, 15” and 16” toms, a 22” bass drum, and two snares – a Pearl Sensitone 5” steel snare and a Sonor 4” wood snare. I use the Pearl snare for live shows, and switch between the Pearl and Sonor for studio recording, depending on the song and what tone I want. My cymbal set up is as follows: 16”, 17” and 18” crash, a 24” in heavy ride with a massive bell, a 20” China, 8”, 10” and 11” splashes, 10” mini china, and 14” hi-hats. I recently acquired a Pearl cowbell, which you can hear on our single “Ondho”. I also got myself a Pearl tambourine hi-hat attachment, which I plan to use in a few of our new songs. My double bass pedal is a DW5000. I used to play Iron Cobras, but I like the DW more because it seems smoother to me, and it also looks nicer. I like to hit my drums hard, which is why skin selection is very important. For my bass drum, I recently switched to Aquarian heads and I love the depth in sound. For the rest of my kit, I use coated Remo heads with clear resonant heads. For a metal drummer, the sound is heavy but with enough musicality to shine through the guitar distortions. The key to a good sounding drum kit is tuning. Without properly tuned drums, it does not matter what you play, it will not sound good. In this context, I recently acquired my new best friend – the Drum Dial. It is the best tool to tune drums, bar none, and I highly recommended to every drummer out there. About drumming techniques, I was self-taught, with no formal training. I learned to play along with my favorite songs and developed my chops that way. However, I would suggest to everyone out there to get online tutorials and get your basics right. Also acquire a basic metronome and get used to playing to them to get your timing perfect. Fast and furious will only get you so far if you do not have good time and if your hits are inconsistent and weak. Therefore, when practicing, hit your drums hard. Make a lot of noise and wake your neighbours up. If you are not getting any sound complaints when you are practicing, you should be embarrassed.





Photo Credit: Sharf Ahmed Saadh for Live Square. P.S.: Will upload a better image. Sorry this one is in a spread and hence the merging was not complete

Photo Credit: Mahmudul Hasan Rony/ Incursion Music

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