The walls plastered with clay are adorned with puppets, masks and kohomba leaves; proclaiming proud a venue that is the haunt of Colombo’s artists and enthusiasts of the fine art of drama. But on the 4th of July the Punchi Theater’s serene ambience was tempered with something much more sinister, chaotic and strident. On that night the Punchi Theater was home to some good old home grown Rock and Roll.

Come 7.30 the venue was packed with a mixture of metal heads, rock n rollers and a few brave souls with a itching to test the frenzied waters of the Sri Lankan rock n roll industry.

The first to take stage was the Fuz Mechanx, and for a band that has been around for over 4 years, they certainly have done the time gone by justice. While the band as a whole is really starting to show its maturity and class, vocalist cum guitarist Ravin’s playing has improved vastly both in terms of technique and style, and is turning out to be one of Sri Lanka’s finest front men. And the addition of Suren on base has paid the band invaluable dividends.  The youngster from Wesley is young in years but boy can he play; technique, personality and passion on stage all rolled into a bundle of wonderfully refreshing energy.

A note to mention about Fuzz’s front man though is that he occasionally seems to have difficulty when projecting on to the mic, which is mainly due to the fact that he seems to forget where his mic is while riffing. Which in turn causes his vocals to sound a tad bit strained at times and could affect his vocal health over time. It would undoubtedly do him good to study some of rocks great front men like Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge and Araya of Slayer who have mastered the art of projecting their vocals effectively while riffing. That said he does seem to have improved in this area from the older days, as the miss-projections are rarer.

While there were quite a few in the audience that were skeptical of the bands ability to blend in with the maestros of the heavier arts; with a hard grinding set of kick ass covers of Dream theater, Black Label Society, Metallica and Dio! Complementing their more than adequate originals, they certainly sent a shot gun blast through all doubts that they would have trouble fitting in.

Next up were the psychotic foursome from the hills of Kandy, and what ever substances they manage to find over there to pump their bellows, it certainly seems to be doing the trick. Paranoid Earthling and especially front man Mirshad Buckman certainly know how to get the crowd going. With a series of originals including the psychedelic tune Bringing Down the Sun, and the raunchy track 69 along with a few covers, notably of Alice in Chains, they showed how adapt they really were at getting the crowd moshing and quite randy. Oh and I’m pretty darn sure that Mirshad stuffs his pedal full of whatever he uses to get stoned. The effects he manages to spurt out from it are quite other worldly.

Taking the stage in Sri Lanka for what is probably the last time before the launch of record number three, Stigmata started off their 14 track set with Forgiven Forgotten with a mission that was evident; to inject the crowd with a neck wrenching and mind boggling dose of pure Sri Lankan metal. And boy do they do it with style! Front man Suresh delivers his art from the get-go with a passion and charisma that is unrivalled and is a pure pleasure to watch onstage. And the fact that his vocals have developed over the years in range, strength and stamina is a testament to the fact that the man has no reservations about giving it a 110% each time every time. A pleasant surprise for the audience was that it turns out he has a knack for playing acoustic guitar that he showed off with quite the charming performance of Falling Away from Hollow Dreams.

With a set list comprised of quite a few Hollow Dreams favorites, tracks from Silent Chaos Serpentine and some truly epic works off the upcoming record their message to the audience was crystal clear; with an act cleaned up and more focused than ever before they are ready to take on Asia, starting off with a tour of Malaysia at the Southern Ultimate Explosion 2009. No mean task considering the fact that they just recently went through a major line up change with departure of Ranil ‘Jacky’ Senarath. The effort by Tharaka in replacing Jacky in such a short time too, considering the complexity and importance of Jacky’s role in Stigmata is more than impressive. And apart from a few minor glitches in a couple of tracks, which was not helped by the fact that he seemed to have trouble with his monitor; he seems to be blending extremely well with the other four. It was also heartening to see Jacky getting a warm farewell from the band announced onstage.

Splitting the paradigm was a gig of great importance to each and every one involved in it. It was the first opportunity for the Fuz Mechanx to show the fans of the heavier scene in Sri Lanka just what they were capable of. It was a trip down memory lane for the Earthlings to share the stage once again with the Stigs. And for Stigmata it was an opportunity to thrash out their message of unity, focus and vision amidst the controversies and setbacks. But most importantly, Splitting the paradigm in its essence stood proudly for something much more: Bringing together a kick ass fusion of groove, grunge and progressive metal, united, and ready to show the fans, cynics and whole country that Rock and Roll in Sri Lanka in all its diverse genres, is still very much alive and is growing faster than ever before.