The trio’s playful mix of heft and traditional instrumentation sent them viral. But they’re also confronting racism and rape culture, and struggling in a Bollywood-dominated music industry

‘We’re serving a really nice dish called metal tikka masala,” jokes Bloodywood guitarist Jayant Bhadula. “It’s metal but with so many spices that it’ll overwhelm your senses. You will headbang and you will end up dancing with us.”

This is the tongue-in-cheek mission statement of one of metal’s most original bands. Formed in 2016, Bloodywood flavour the conventions of nu-metal with traditional Indian instruments, meaning their songs are as likely to feature crunching riffs as they are the flute or the dhol. The trio – bulked out to a six-piece on stage – became viral sensations covering pop songs and alternative hits on YouTube before writing original material. From there, their fortunes soared. Their first ever gig was at German metal festival Wacken Open Air in 2019. Four years later they drew a massive crowd to the UK’s Download festival, despite the tricky task of opening the main stage early on a Sunday. More recently, their song Dana-Dan was used in a pivotal action sequence in Dev Patel’s action thriller Monkey Man.