Pune Times - Times of India, December 5, 2002
Roopesh Raj  Times News Network
 
 

 
 
It's been so long in the coming that there's more a feeling of 'finally!', than the usual hype that accompanies a rock album release in India. Agni's new album, Mrityunjaya, will be released in Pune on Saturday.
The video for the song Tandav is already out on B4U and PT got an exclusive listen to four tracks from the album.
Before we can even get in between the chords and lyrics of this much-awaited release, it's a thing of pride for Pune, that a local grass-roots band, bucked the trend, fought the popped-out market, kicked ass for over a decade and today, can savour sweet victory in terms of having an album out there. Even if the album has been released by a new label from Chennai, Kosmic.
So down to the music. Our throats go dry and our heart beats faster as we draw this parallel.
Agni is to Indian rock, what Pink Floyd was to rock music of its time. Not in terms of musical texture, but in terms defining a new sound.
Before you reach for your own opinion gun to shoot this down, hear us out.
Rockof the 60s/earlY-70s,was defined by a Deep Purple-Led Zeppelin sound. Floyd created a new sound in that-era. Rock in India today is still evolving from a classic rock hangover to a grunge-hip-hop-metal sound.
Agni has a sound on this album that stands apart from this modern Indian rock sound. Like Floyd, it's difficult to explain, easy to experience. . Maybe it's the manner
in which Uday's power vocals easily shift from English to Hindi, like , they were one lingo. Maybe it's Koko's clean guitar tone that sparkles against crunching drum'n'bass lines. Maybe it's the fact that Ross and Bell have ensured that enough of kick is
in the music to keep the public headbanging. Maybe it's top city journolist Sanjay Mukherjee's poetic lyrics that juxtapose defiantly against a hard sound.
 
Maybe it's the sudden operatic feel that the huge string section and backing vocals engulfs you with. Maybe all the sweat and blood Agni has put in all these years has paid off. Maybe Agni's deceased bass guitarist Juggie is in a rocker's heaven going,
'yeah guys, that's it'. Whatever, it's a new sound and it belongs to Agni.    
 
 
Indian Express - Pune,  December 2002
 

 
 
ROCK STREET JOURNAL (Sam Lal) - October 2002
 


 
 
The significance of Mrityunjaya lies in its inherent Indian-ness, which the band have been able to achieve without losing an iota of their rocking power or resorting to the cliche that tabla and dholaks in the context of a rock band are fast in danger of becoming. In fact, the only overt Indian sounding instrument is the conch shell that opens 'Tandav', the kick-off track on Mrityunjaya.
Yet, the album has a distinctly Indian feel and that is not at all due to the fact that some of the lyrics are in Hindi.
Takefor instance, Koko's soloon 'Mann'. It is a proper rock guitar solo but the melody instantly marks it out from guitar solos the world over, stamping it with a feel that is uniquely Indian. There is also a jugalbandi
on 'Firegod', which begins with a very driving riff and a thoroughly rocked-out verse and chorus structure which then gives way to the aforementioned jugalbandi featuring ,guitars and drums. Nothing Indian about the instruments and yet thoroughly Indian.
This is good stuff. 
Mrityunjaya also features a couple of ballads like 'Kinara' and 'Maya' which might make it onto heavy rotation
playlists of music channels. And it'll be a good thing if they do because Mrityunjaya is an album that explores new territory and it has the potential to knock down a lot of doors and take Indian rock to the masses.