Aurthohin

Aurthohin (অর্থহীন) is a Bangladeshi hard rock and metal band formed in 1998 by bassist, singer and songwriter Sumon.^[1] He is the only founding member still with the band. Aurthohin are known for their mix of melodic acoustic numbers and extremely heavy metal numbers in their albums often containing lots of bass slaps, taps and solos. They have released six albums. In 2008 they released their album Aushomapto 1 and its sequel in 2011 Aushomapto 2. Their current line-up is Sumon on vocals and bass, MARK DON on vocals and drums, and Shishir on guitar and keyboard. In 2014, after Ibrahim Ahmed Kamal Ahmed left the band,Kazi Faysal Ahmed from Metal Maze has been playing with Aurthohin as well as a guest guitar player.But in 2015, their line up is only accomplished with 3 members. on October 215, rafa left the band due to too much pressure on his other bands AVOIDRAFA and CRYPTIC FATE

History

The idea of a band, and the name of the band, Aurthohin, came from Sumon's solo project, Sumon O Aurthohin. The album, released while Sumon was still a member of Bangladeshi metal pioneers Warfaze, featured vocals and bass work by Sumon and a slew of guest artists and musicians. One particular track, the titular "Aurthohin", featured eight of the most prominent guitarists of the era playing a collection of 27 solos, while the vocals were performed by the then-vocalist of Warfaze, Sunjoy. The name of the band came from that track, leading into his first album as a band Trimatrik ("Three-Dimensional", in Bengali).

Trimatrik (1999–2000)

The album featured a confusing line-up of musicians, since Sumon credited both musicians that had left the band and had joined after the album was recorded. According to the sleeve of the album, though, the line-up consisted of Sumon as vocalist and bassist, Piklu as lead guitarist, Russell on the rhythm guitars and other vocal duties and Rumi as the drummer.

Trimatrik also started a trend of songs that would see "sequels" in later albums, including the ballad "Odbhut Shei Chheleti" and the taunt anthem "Guti". The album also featured a few acoustic based soft rock numbers with heart melting lyrics such as "Amaar na bola kotha".

Biborton (2001)

Continuing with the same line-up that was confirmed as the band, Biborton would grow to be Aurthohin's most critically acclaimed and widely accepted album yet. Featuring the sequels to the numbers "Odbhut Shei Chheleti" and "Guti", it also featured complex guitar and bass solos by the duo that was Piklu and Sumon and mixed in a blend of hard rock numbers intertwined with soft, melodious songs. Popular songs from the album include "Odbhut Shei Chheleti-2", which featured Artcell vocalist Linkon as a guest artist, as well as "Guti-2".

Notun Diner Michile (2002)

Russell had left the band due to differences with frontman Sumon, paving the way for Kronic vocalist Imtiaz to fill in as guest vocalist for one of Aurthohin's most ambitious projects. Featuring the longest song in Bangladeshi rock history, "Shaat Din", it was released to huge expectations nationwide. The song, "Shaat Din", spanned 28 minutes and 31 seconds long, chronicling the last seven days of an inmate on death row. The album received mixed reviews, some praising the ambitiousness behind "Shaat Din" but feeling the other songs did not differentiate themselves from the pack.

Dhrubok (2003)

Imtiaz left the band, and the band collectively decided not to take any more guest members. Shishir of dNA joined the band as the new keyboardist and guitarist. The band then faced their biggest problem to date when vocalist Sumon got sick and doctors told him he would not be able to sing as he did before. Sumon had to stop singing most of the metal vocal arrangements, and the band decided to take a new vocalist. Rafa, the drummer of Severe Dementia joined the band as the vocalist and also a drummer. Aurthohin's fourth album, Dhrubok was released in 2003. Dhrubok went on to be one of the year's biggest hits and received overwhelming positive reviews.

Band problems (2005–2008)

Shortly after Aurthohin's 4th album 'Dhrubok' got released Sumon's health deteriorated. Due to Sumon's illness the band stopped almost all the gigs. At the end of 2004 longtime guitarist Piklu left the band. Sumon got the affiliation from MTD (Michael Tobias Design). In 2005 Sumon's jaw got dislocated.Doctors told him to give up singing permanently. Chances of recovery were very low. Aurthohin stopped all their activities, Sumon and the others were planning to disband. But suddenly things began to change as Sumon was getting well. Aurthohin performed with the same line up until 2006. Kamal of Warfaze joined as a guest guitarist. After doing a few gigs Sumon offered him a permanent place which he accepted. Soon after the band started working on their fifth album.

Aushomapto 1 (2008)

After a long break of five years the band releases its 5th album by the name Aushomapto 1. With this album the band completes THE GUTI songs series. It was a series of four heavy metal songs and the last song 'Guti (The Finale)' was a huge success. In this album there is also a sequel of another song from the album Dhrubok & the song's name is 'Chaite Paro'. The another hit song of this album was 'Chaite Paro-2'. Overall the album Aushomapto-1 was one of the hit albums of the year 2008 and the band won Best-Band Award in 2008.^[2]

Aushomapto 2 (2011)

Aurthohin released their 6th studio album on 25 November 2011.^[3][4][5] It contains 11 original tracks including sequels to previous songs 'Shurjo-2', 'Nikkrishto-2', Golper Shuru ('Audbhut Shei Chheleti prequel') and 'Anmonay-2'. Due to illness Kamal couldn't participate in the whole album. He played in 3 songs. Most of the guitar solos are done by Shishir while Rafa also contributed guitar solos in 3 songs. "Uru Uru Mon' , "Anmone-2", " Nikkrishto-2", "Surjo-2" and "Cancer" has been instant hit. All songs except "Uru Uru Mon" are written by Sumon and all tracks composed and produced by Aurthohin. It took them only four days to create the album

After Aushomapto (2011–present)

Due to illness of Sumon, Aurthohin didn't play many concert's in 2012. After a long break they came back with live gigs in early 2013. In the middle of the 2013, Aurthohin announced on their Facebook page that Kamal is no more with the band. On 15 October 2013, they released their new single "Amjonota", that has lyrics about Bangladesh's current events, corruptions, political conflict and other issues.

Lineup change

After playing 12 years together Rafa left the band due to his work pressure & schedule clashes with Aurthohin. Mark Don, Drummer of Trainwreck & Guitarist of Metalmaze joined as drummer in 2015.

Present

Now they are working for their 7th album CANCER ER NISHIKABYO which will contain chaitei paro-3, guti-5, nikrishto-3, notun odvut sei cheleti, amar proticchobi-2

Popularity

Aurthohin along with Rockstrata, Warfaze, Artcell, Cryptic Fate, Stentorian, Metal Maze, Black, Nemesis, Vibe, Kronic and The Attempted Band are among the first and few bands in Bangladesh to popularise rock and heavy metal in the country. Their popularity paved the way for many bands to be formed especially in Dhaka.

Members

Current

• Sumon a.k.a. BassBaba – Vocals, Bass & Guitar (since 1998)
• Shishir Ahmed – Lead guitar & Keyboards (since 2003)
• Mark Don – Drums & Backing vocals (since 2015)

Former members

• Shovon on guitar and vocals (1998–1999)
• Tonmoy on guitar (1998–1999)
• Rumi on drums (1998–2000)
• Minhajuddin Ahmed Piklu on guitar (1999–2004)
• Ponir on guitar (1999–2000)
• Latifur Rahman Rassel on vocal and guitar (1999–2001)
• Muntasir Mamun Shuvo on drums (2000–2007)
• Ibrahim Ahmed Kamal on lead guitar (2006–2013)
• Raef al Hasan Rafa - Drums, Vocals,Guitar (2003-2015)

On session and guest appearances

• Iqbal Asif Jewel on guitar and keyboards (Miles) (1999–2001)
• Prem on keyboards (2000)
• Apu on keyboards (Triloy) (2001–02)
• Imtiaz on vocals (Kronic, Kral) (2002–2003)
• Faysal Ahmed on lead guitar (Metalmaze) (2011–2013)

Discography

Studio albums

• Trimatrik (2000)
• Biborton (2001)
• Notun Diner Michile (2002)
• Dhrubok (2003)
• Aushomapto-1 (2008)
• Aushomapto-2 (2011)

Compilation albums

• Charpotro (2001)
• Anushilon (2003)
• Projonmo (2003)
• Agontuk (2003)
• Lokayot (2004)
• Agontuk 2 (2004)
• Shopnochura (2004)
• Agontuk 3 (2005)
• Underground (2006)
• Live Now (2007)
• Underground 2 (2007)

References

External links

• Official website