The Veiler & The World: Metal Band Midhaven’s Mythic Leap Across Continents

There are bands that play music, and then there are bands that conjure it: calling it up like stormclouds over an impatient sea, summoning voices from the deep-time of myth. Midhaven has always belonged to the latter tribe, the ones with a touch of the occult in their amps and the scent of ancient India rising off their riffs. Formed more than a decade ago, back when Mumbai’s humidity still pressed them into tiny rehearsal rooms, they have ripened into one of the most distinctive voices in Indian metal. Psychedelic, sludge-soaked, and steeped in the philosophical murk of the subcontinent, their sound has long felt like a dispatch from a parallel universe where the Puranas were written on guitar strings.

Their latest single, The Veiler, is arguably their heaviest yet, a thunderous raag-bound descent into arrogance as embodied by the Asuras (anti-gods with too many ambitions and too little self-awareness). It is a song composed partly from a few stray lines of prose written years ago, Karan Kaul tells us, “more than meets the eye… layers to be picked at”. Yet, for all its conceptual gravitas, The Veiler arrives at a moment of real-world velocity for the band. After tearing through Bangalore in November, having just supported the monstrous Origin & Defleshed tour in Japan in early December 2025, and now standing on the precipice of Desertfest London 2026, Midhaven finds itself in a rare moment where mythology and momentum intertwine.

What follows is a conversation with two of the band’s architects, Karan Kaul and Aditya Mohanan, as they stand on the verge of a new era.

Philosophy Behind The Fury

If one were to corner Midhaven’s music like a suspicious deity and demand its essence, you might be surprised at what spills forth. Karan begins with what sounds almost like a spell: “The intent is to draw listeners in and get them to snap out of their mundane understanding of reality,” he says. Aditya speaks of performance as invocation: “Doubling down on our live experiences has created this otherworldly act people share with us.” There are bands with songs, and there are bands with worlds. Midhaven has always chased the latter.

Their sonic signature (a raucous alloy of heavy metal, progressive structures, and meditative Indian classical moods) feels both ancient and futuristic, as if a raga and a rocket collided mid-flight. Was the blend always intentional? “Bit of both,” says Karan, shrugging the way artists often do when they know the answer is neither simple nor wholly knowable. “It was intentional,” Aditya clarifies, “but also a process of discovering things we didn’t know we could do.” Like children discovering superpowers by accident... burning a hole in the wall before learning how to aim the laser beam.

Their growth has been cumulative, iterative, sometimes accidental... an evolving cosmology rather than a static aesthetic.

The World Beckons

For a band whose music is so steeped in Indianness—not the postcard India of monsoon gods and yoga mats, but the India of contradictions, shadows, and philosophical rebellions—touring abroad is both challenge and calling.

When asked what cities they’re most excited or nervous about, Aditya doesn’t hesitate: “Desertfest London. We’ve been waiting for years.” There is a story here, and Karan tells it with a laugh: “Seven years ago, we had just gone on to make the last record. Adi was at Desertfest and video-called me from there, and we knew we had to be on that stage some day.” Manifestation, Aditya says, but in their tone we detect something more: destiny’s faint perfume.

Right now, though, Japan occupies their emotional bandwidth. There is a certain poetry in an Indian sludge-metal band travelling to the land of Shinto spirits, meticulous devotion, and underground music scenes carved into basements like secret temples. Their week-long run supporting Origin & Defleshed, and their standalone show with Abiuro, Redsheer, Wombscape & Black Market, feels less like a gig schedule and more like a pilgrimage.

Misunderstood Indianness Of Metal

International audiences often carry preconceived notions about Indian music. Spiritual clichés. Mystic stereotypes. Snake charmers with distortion pedals. Aditya addresses this head-on: “The western world looks at India with certain puritanical expectations of spirituality. We wanted them to understand another side of India. The interplay between Indianness and the metal aspect is symbiotic, happening at a thematic level. We want to take them by storm.” Storm seems the right metaphor for Midhaven: loud, sudden, elemental.

Karan recalls performing in France at popular music group Bloodywood’s invitation: “A French music journalist said he had never heard sounds like these before.” Sometimes the best way to break a stereotype is to play so loudly that there is no room left for one.

The Shift That COVID Delayed

Every tour has a moment of metamorphosis, when a band realises it has crossed a threshold. For Midhaven, this moment was delayed by a global pandemic. “We’d been talking about touring abroad since before COVID,” Karan says. “We had a tour lined up in 2018. If the pandemic hadn’t happened, we’d have tried in 2020-21.” Aditya nods in agreement, the ghost of lost time lingering briefly in the silence.

The restart finally came in 2024, when Karan travelled to Germany and Bloodywood extended an invitation that reignited everything. Momentum, once lost, can be a fickle beast. But they chased it, caught it, and held on.

To prepare for international audiences, Midhaven has reimagined their live set as an immersive ritual. “We’re reworking the whole thing,” Aditya reveals. “It’s designed to be an audio-visual set with cinematic soundscaping.” The secret weapon? Touch-design artist Sachin Iyer, whom they affectionately call their “fifth member.” He’s crafting visuals that respond to the music: shifting, breathing, evolving. If their earlier shows were storms, these new shows promise to be eclipses.

The Veiler: A Labyrinth of Thunder

The Veiler was the hardest track to finish, Aditya admits. Written in December 2023, it took more than a year to cohere; partly because their former drummer lived in Malaysia, making collaboration a logistical odyssey. But perhaps a song about Asura arrogance should be difficult. Perhaps the gods demanded labour. Composed on Raag Todi, rooted in the Dhrupad tradition, and wrapped in the ethos of confrontation (with ego, with illusion, with self), The Veiler is a statement. A rupture in their discography. A doorway.

Ask them about the current wave of metal in India, and Aditya observes: “There is a resurgence of metal in the underground. Distinct nu-metal, sludge in Mumbai. A grunge-prog revival. We aim for universality of sound.” Midhaven is both insider and outsider in this landscape... rooted in India, yet aiming far beyond its boundaries.

What does growth look like for a band that once measured success in decibels and divine metaphors? Karan’s answer is simple: “The more we’ve played live, the more we enjoy it. We’ve been striving to have a great time on stage.” Aditya adds: “The way the crowd reacts is a huge takeback. If someone has taken the time and effort to learn our songs…” He trails off, but the sentiment lingers like feedback on an empty stage.

Growth is no longer about numbers. It is about reflection—finding their music in the mouths of strangers. Midhaven stands now in the liminal moment between eras. The old phase (local shows, pandemic delays, intermittent bursts) is done. Ahead of them lies Japan’s underground, London’s Desertfest, and the infinite possibility of audiences hearing their sound for the first time. They are crossing it with myth in their pockets, distortion pedals at their feet, and a storm at their backs.

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