Ends are Forever by Cryptic Fate

"Ends are Forever" is the debut album of popular heavy metal band of Bangladesh, Cryptic Fate. This important album was released in 1995 from Soundtek in Cassette format only. Important, because this was the first English heavy metal album of Bangladesh. The album was influenced heavily by the likes of : Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Dream Theater, Metallica (Pre-Black album) and Seattle music scene of the USA. The band mentions in the album sleeves that it was in fact, Alice in Chains, for sparking the original inspiration. Ends are Forever was completed in exactly 9 full shifts, composed in exactly 1 month (The tracks "Moment in Madness" and "Apprehension" was composed during the studio sessions) at the Soundgarden Studios, recorded by the legendary sound engineer of Bangladesh, the late Imran Ahmed Chowdhury (Mobin) and Charu Bhai. The mixing/mastering was done by Mr. Mobin as well, while the Sleeve Illustration was done by Alamgir (Jamil) and the coloring was done Farzeen Mahmud. Photography of the album was done by Ehsanul Huq. On a rather humorous tone, the album was dedicated to the "hordes of arachnophobic people running for their lives!!!!!".

In 1993, Cryptic Fate was formed when childhood friends Waheduzzaman Khan and Khwaja Sarfaraz Latifullah conceived the idea of forming such a metal band. They quickly recruited their school friends Chowdhury Fazle Shakib, Farshed Mahmud and Iresh Zaker as bassist, drummer and vocalist respectively. This 5-piece band was the original lineup. The name "Cryptic Fate" was given by Shakib, the story of which goes that he had been praying when the name came to him. The following year in 1994, the band faced frustration by the lack of concert opportunities for English song covers. So, the band decided instead to focus on composing. Shakib came up with riff for Cryptic Fate's first song ever: "Captors of Fate". Farshed them came up with the lyrics for it and also the name. A demo was then recorded by the band in Farshed's living room. However, it received at most lukewarm reviews from the listeners. To make things worse, Farshed had to leave for the states subsequently and the band falls in a state of limbo and considers calling it quits. However, Farshed insists that he would come back within a year to record the eventual full-length album. Hearing this, the band members agree to stick together.

A year passes by and Farshed, as promised, returned to Dhaka in the summer of 1995. Within a month or so, the band completed 8 whole songs. The band then started recording at a fast pace at Soundgarden Studios in July on 1995. As mentioned above, in 9 shifts and with the expertise of musical genius Imran Ahmed Chowdhury Mobin, the whole album was recorded, mixed and mastered. The album enjoyed moderate success as heavy metal, specially an all-English heavy metal album was not the norm in the Bangla Pop saturated Band Music scenes.

The lineup of "Ends are Forever" consisted of:

Chowdhury F. Shakib: Bass and Vocals
K. Sarfaraz Latifullah: Guitars
Waheduzzaman Khan: Guitars
Farshed Mahmud: Drums, Vocals on "Apprehension"

The album is next to impossible to find as a physical cassette copy. The only place to get digitized tracks are on The Watson Brothers' website, uploaded by long time friend and guest performer of Cryptic Fate, Arafat Kazi here: http://www.thewatsonbrothers.com/mp3/endsareforever/

There is confusion in the internet and also among newer fans regarding the track, "Apprehension". In most download sites and even in the link above from The Watson Brothers' website, the 9th track that is found has a track title Apprehension; but it is infact, "Eternal". Eternal is the track that was remade in Bangla named "Protibaad" for the band's 2nd album, Sreshtho. It should be noted Eternal was not featured in Ends are Forever. As it is an English song however, it can be assumed it was recorded during the same time, either earlier or later, than the release of Ends are Forever. The original 9th track is in fact Apprehension and it features drummer Farshed Mahmud on vocals. The song should be available on Cryptic Fate's official Facebook fan group after this blog post has been published: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crypticfate/?source_id=7847154617

There is also an unofficial LP (actually bootleg) that is available on ebay. This version includes completely different artwork. This is actually a Brazillian bootleg of Metal recordings from exotic locations, this time from Bangladesh. The LP is released by Naja Music, which is a faux label. The sleeve says its made in India by Fonnit enterprises for Naja Music. More details and pictures can be seen in the Discogs entry here: https://www.discogs.com/Cryptic-Fate-Ends-Are-Forever/release/4569006

THIS CRYPTIC FATE ALBUM IS EXTREMELY RARE, AND INFORMATION ABOUT IT WAS ALSO QUITE SCARCE, UNTIL NOW: Bangla CD Covers is the FIRST place on the internet where actual information, sleeve scans (never seen before on the internet) and back stories have been compiled in one place. This would NOT have been possible without the following individuals:

Mr. Glenn Caulfield: DJ, The Anger Management Show, Radioactive.fm (http://www.radioactive.fm/), Wellington, New Zealand for providing the cassette sleeves scans and the tracks, including the rare "Apprehension". Thank you also for being an absolute joy to talk to and for making history. Lastly, thank you again, for mentioning me and Cryptic Fate in your show. Truly I'm grateful to you for everything.

Ashfaqur Rahman, for the providing the cassette front sleeve scan that Cryptic Fate had uploaded a long time back

Mr. Tanmoy Kairy, who is the original uploader (on AmaderGaan.com) of the aforementioned scanned front sleeve with the number "73", which actually was attached by him as it was his 73rd album in his collection. This also clarified and depicts that Soundtek did not use a number it for its domestic release. Rather all the cassettes actually bore no numbers.

Ahmed Instisar Fardeen, for sharing an image of his OFFICIAL signed poster of Cryptic Fate's Ends are Forever

Track List:

01. Ends are Forever
02. Withered Alive
03. Odious Zephyr
04. Captors of Fate
05. An Oath Unto You
06. Bloodshed
07. The Sanity Deceiver
08. Moment in Madness
09. Apprehension

**Eternal - Unreleased, recorded either before, during or after Ends Are Forever

(click on the images to view them in larger sizes)

Artwork

Cassette Sleeve [Front] provided by Mr. Glenn Caulfield

Cassette Sleeve [Front] provided by Ashfaqur Rahman and Cryptic Fate FB page. Originally uploaded by Mr. Tanmoy Kairy on AmaderGaan.com. The number "73" was actually attached by him as it was his 73rd tape in his collection.

Cassette Sleeve [Inside] provided my Mr. Glenn Caulfield

Demo Tape of Ends are Forever from K. Sarfaraz Latifullah's FB fanpage

Demo Tape of Ends are Forever from K. Sarfaraz Latifullah's FB fanpage

Original Ends are Forever Poster signed back in 1995, provided by Ahmed Intisar Fardeen

Original Ends are Forever poster, from Cryptic Fate's official FB page

All Lyrics [custom-made canvas by me]

Ends are Forever was also the main performance in Cryptic Fate's participation of the official inauguration concert program of recording label Incursion, Inclusion Classics, held on the 20th of April, 2012. The concert was held at the Russian Cultural Center, Dhanmondi of capital Dhaka. Cryptic Fate's supporting act in this concert was Funeral Anthem, a thrash metal band.

Incursion Classics present Cryptic Fate Ends Are Forever concert poster from Incursion Webazine, April 2012