Biday Shongbidhan by Minerva

"Biday Shongbidhan" is the debut album by Groove Thrash/Heavy Metal band, Minerva. It was released on July 13th, 2013 from Incursion Music in Paperback and Digital format (which contains a full 12-page booklet). Featuring 8 tracks, two of which are in English, the album was a follow up to their win at the 2011 Incursion Battle of the Bands, a band hunt competition held by the record label company on 24th of June at Saffron in Gulshan, Dhaka. In the finals, they performed their signature 14-minute tribute "medley", with songs from Azam Khan, Nagar Baul (James), LRB (Ayub Bacchu), Miles, Warfaze, Aurthohin, Cryptic Fate, Artcell, Black, Nemesis, Arbovirus, Powersurge and Mechanix proceeded by their own single "Mrittur Shesh Chhoy". They won by 2.5 votes against Openfly, along with BDT 10,000 Prize Money, Certificates and a record deal for a song under Incursion label. Minerva's guitarist, Rafsan was awarded best guitarist while drummer Bijoy, won the best drummer award. However, the band took two years to work on a full length album that was released exclusively from Incursion. Biday Shongbidhan revolves around pain, suffering, revolt and the fight for justice of the mass people of Bangladesh during political turmoil and all sorts of social issues and corruption. Minerva thanks all bands, old and new who have come forward to help them flourish in the underground music scene and beyond. The album featured guest artists: Taskin Ali, Mark Don and Imtiaz Prio. The album was also produced, mixed and mastered by their own guitarist, Sultan Rafsan Khan at HyperTune Studios. The album artwork, sleeve and other designs were don by Raiyan Momen, while the photography was handled by him as well as Shayafet Hossain Saajeeb.

Drummer Bijoy and Guitarist Rafsan had been jamming for almost 3 years while Vocalist Ishmi and Bassist Nabil had been working on a different project. The quartet was looking for something else in terms of music to do, and Shohan came in, led the group as the Band Manager and introduced them to jam together. The sheer chemistry they found was undeniable and unexpected, and that's how "Minerva" was formed in 2009. Sultan came up with the name, and an idea of why they should be called that: "Minerva" was the Roman goddess whom the Hellenizing (historical spread of Ancient Greek culture and religion) Romans equated with the Greek goddess "Athena". She was the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts and last but not the least, inventor of music. This is the main reason why the band considered and approved the name because it shares their thrive to invent and redefine music in Bangladesh Underground with their signature Groove Thrash/Heavy Metal sound. During this first lineup, Ashiq was the Guitarist. However due to studies, he left in January 2010, and 4 months later in May, Niloy Kabir from Unscarred joined as his replaced. His debut show with the band was on 1st May at the "Arunodoy" SSC Batch Community 2010. Later on however, he had to leave the band a year later in June 2011 and Galib joined in his place as Guitarist alongside Rafsan. This was the lineup that eventually won the Battle of the Bands competition and earned Minerva a spotlight of the mainstream from their extremely good reputation in the Underground music scene. After that, they started work on their debut album. In October of 2012, Nayeel Risat joined Minerva in place of Nabil, and the band proceeded to work and complete their debut album and released it the next year in 2013.

The lineup of "Biday Shongbidhan" consisted of the following:

Ishtiak Tanvir Ishmi: Vocals
Sultan Rafsan Khan: Guitars; Backing Vocals
Tawfiq Ahmed Bijoy: Drums
Injamamul Haque Galib: Guitars
Nayeel Risat: Bass
Shohan Al Masud: Band Manager

Guest appearances by:

Imtiaz Prio: Tune on Tracks 5, 8 and some parts of 4, Back Vocals on Track 4
Taskin Ali: Guitar Solo on Track 8
Mark Don: Vocal Harmonies on Tracks 2, 3 and 6

The album can be streamed and purchased on Apple Music here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/biday-shongbidhan/674508647

The album is also available for streaming and purchase on Amazon Music here: https://www.amazon.com/Biday-Shongbidhan-Minerva/dp/B00DYVGQCS


Track List:

01. Abirbhab
02. Mrittur Shesh Chhoy
03. Ashirbaad
04. Jaatra
05. God of War
06. Dhongshoprapto Jaatishotta
07. Blood of Italia
08. Shongbidhaner Biday


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

Artwork

Front-Back [Physical Release]

Front-Back [Digital Release]

Inside Inlay [Physical Release]

Inside Inlay [Digital Release]

CD [By special request to Incursion from band to release in "Silver Disc"]

Booklet [Pages 1 & 12]

Booklet [Pages 2 & 11]

Booklet [Pages 3 & 10]

Booklet [Pages 4 & 9]

Booklet [Pages 5 & 8]

Booklet [Pages 6 & 7]

Biday Shongbidhan Main Artwork by Raiyan Mohsin