There’s a certain rush to the way a two hundred ton aircraft speeds down the tarmac and finally takes to the air, leaving you with a sense of both excitement and wonder. But as I settled into my seat on flight UL-314 headed for Kuala Lampur Malaysia, at precisely 7.01 am on the 10th of July, the rush I felt was of a completely different caliber. It was something much more awe inspiring and scintillating than the simple thrill of air travel. I was the first reporter from our little island nation to pack my bags and head off to cover a live music event in a foreign country. I was off as a reporter of The Backdoor to dip my pen and self in a two day metal festival featuring some of the biggest bands in South East Asia.

Peel back the calendar a month, and there I was at good friend and guitarist extraordinaire Andrew Obeysekara’s house for my weekly guitar lesson. With a grueling session of finger exercises and arpeggio runs coming to an end, Andrew mentioned that Stigmata were billed to headline the ‘Southern Ultimate Explosion’ in Johor Malaysia. A two day metal festival that would feature some of the biggest heavy metal and hard rock acts in South East Asia. A few minutes of chit chat and a coffee or two later, we had decided that I would fly along with the band to cover the whole event.

A couple of weeks and some infuriating Visa applications later there I was on a four hour flight to Kuala Lampur Malaysia, along with Vimukthi and Tharaka two die hard metal fans that managed to rustle up the funds to come along with us. Kuala Lampur International Airport is majestic as it is crowded and after a few minutes of tentative exploring, we were in a taxi speeding at over a hundred kilometers per hour to Rookies steak house that was a good four hour drive away from Kuala Lampur.

The moment I stepped inside Rookies the first thought that sprang to mind was how badly we need such a place in Sri Lanka. The club has an ambience that is strangely serene yet pulsates wordlessly with the feel and spirit of rock and roll. With the walls painted with extravagant tattoos, posters and flags of every imaginable band from Iron Maiden to Nightwish hung in every nook and cranny and a cabinet packed full of rock and roll memorabilia that could make any self respecting rocker salivate with longing; Rookies is a truly therapeutic haunt for the few of us that hold dear the essence of Rock and Roll. The people at Rookies too were some of the most pleasant and friendly I’ve met in a foreign land. Most notable of all, the main organizer Jack Rookies an animated and bouncy fellow who immediately treated us and the band to some ice cold suds and a few stories of major gigs he had been a part of.

After a good nights sleep at a charming little hotel called the Rose Cottage; it was off to the venue to take stock of the sounds and prepare for the sound check. While the venue, a high ceiling warehouse with space to hold about 500 people was pretty satisfactory the sound system supplied wasn’t quite as good as expected. The bands had only two monitors on stage, and as any musician would know playing rock and heavy metal music without adequate monitoring is a disaster on the brink. The less than adequate sound system’s failures were evident during the sets by the opening bands as they had difficulty maintaining rhythm and lacked complete clarity in the PA output. None the less it absolutely must be mentioned that the Malaysian bands that performed do give out their heart and soul for their entire performances and that alone was admirable.

Monitors and less than par sound systems aside it was evident the moment Stigmata took to the stage exactly why they were the first Sri Lankan heavy metal act to be invited to headline a gig alongside the giants of Asian metal. With a set opened with the instrumental and oriental inspired track Andura they well and truly ripped up the stage to tiny little splinters. By the time front man Suresh had climbed on stage and started his ever consistent passionate and charismatic vocal delivery with the second song Forgiven Forgotten, the crowds curiosity of the lads from Sri Lanka was evidently turning to awe. With Stigmata’s ability to produce a frenzied progressive metal sound that is full of clarity, is technically complex and is delivered with a passion and magnetism unrivaled, it seemed like Malaysia liked their first taste of Sri Lankan Metal very much.

While the first day’s performance was received extremely well by the audience, a few glitches in some of Stigmata’s tracks were evident; mainly due to the band not being able to hear each other clearly on stage; but the slight slip ups were also recovered superbly. No mean feat considering the poor monitoring at hand which meant the bands had to rely mainly on their instincts and chemistry as a group to ensure that the music was delivered to its perfection.

With a better understanding of the sounds on stage and the sounds delivered to the crowd, the performance that Stigmata delivered on their second day was truly a treat to watch as both a Rock and Roll fan and Sri Lankan metal head. Alongside some stellar performances by bands like Karmapura from Singapore, Carnivora from Thailand and Wynken Delirium from Malaysia; Stigmata delivered a hectic set of originals including tracks from the upcoming record and a couple of Priest and Death covers that left a chaotically beautiful tremor of Pure Sri Lankan metal in Malaysia that will not be forgotten for some time to come.

After the superb two night performances Stigmata was asked by the concert organizers to open on the 14th for Australian hard core giants Carpathian. A task they showed they were more than up to. While the band did have some sound issues due to a malfunctioning amplifier and a somewhat over passive sound technician, they still managed to pull of a great set that impressed both the crowd and the Aussies. Something I did notice during the sets of other bands was that the Malaysian crowds tend to behave quite differently from us Sri Lankans. They do show a certain predilection for sitting back and analyzing the music keenly. But faced with some truly frenzied tracks from Stigmata including Jazz theory, Nothing, A dead rose Wails for Light and Spiral Coma to name a few; the likes of which the crowd has surely not heard from any other Asian band; set them off to a fury of head banging and moshing.

From all the travels I have made to foreign countries, my journey to Malaysia was without a shard of doubt one of the most enriching experiences of my life. I was privileged enough to meet some truly wonderful people; the immensely talented drummer Ittichai Buakaew from Thailand who has played sound checks for Marty fucking Friedman! an absolutely adorable bar maid from Rookies who insists she’s tall at a little under five feet, a two year old metal head that can already up the metal horns, and many more insanely cool people that I was truly sad to leave behind. But as I settled into my seat for the journey back and let myself finally relax and give in to the weariness of 5 hectic days on the road, I also felt a certain wisp of warmth in my heart. The knowledge that we Sri Lankan rockers have the ability and panache to visit a foreign country, bleed our passion and leave the audience with a taste and addiction for some good old home grown Rock and Roll, was a talisman that I can hold dear for the rest of my life.

Stigmata is a Progressive Metal outfit hailing from the lost island of paradise that is Sri Lanka. Considered as the pioneering outfit of Sri Lankan heavy metal they have been active for over 9 years as of 2009 and are due to release their third full length album in the near future.

You can listen to their work at http://www.myspace.com/stigmatasrilanka