It's a so-so welcome from Ajanta.
Ajanta have been going since 2001 but 'Destroy The Voice' sees the band finally releasing their debut single so the obvious question is to see if it has been worth five years of grafting to get to this point?
On the first few listens, the track is rather over-whelming as there is so much going on. Pulverising drums giving way to quick-fire riffs and menacing vocals akin to Zak De La Rochas quiet intones and many time changes. Its almost as if they have decided to throw in all their influences in the one go.
So far, so confusing but repeated plays start to assemble things into order and the song becomes far more listenable and other more subtle influences seep through. At its core, its metal, possibly akin to the early 1980's British Heavy Metal due to the way the guitars have a light high end to them but the vocals steer it away from this, there's no piercing yelps or squeals here.
Releasing a double A-side but with the second track being an instrumental may be seen as being risky but it further reinforces the guitar sound whilst allowing the drums to come to the fore and offering a larger variety to the sound. That said, it does come across as rather indulgent and if the band is resorting to solos on their first release, again there is a question about the amount of material they have.
Its too early to make a judgement on Ajanta but theres not too much that will have a listener hooked on this showing.