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KSHMR and Marnik have been an effective combination in the past, with their collaborations “Bazaar” and “Mandala”, both becoming the official anthems of Asia’s largest music festival Sunburn and definite storms in the dance music scene.
For the third time, the trio reunited and crafted “Shiva” as the successor of the previous two anthems! As you can notice in certain parts of the melody yet, “Shiva” is much more innovative and impressive than ever!

First of all, we have another artist involved, The Golden Army. The rather mysterious American artist previously worked with KSHMR on the “Game Of Thrones” remix, but its figure is quite cryptic. This time, he added the much required orchestral sound to the track, which is his highly acclaimed signature.

Adding to that, “Shiva” presents a new genre with Psytrance influences, a symbol of the uprising genre in 2017. Psytrance or Psychedelic Trance was born in Goa with the influences of the Indian religious and spiritual practices and the readily available Indian cannabis, legal until the mid-1970s. The region also happens to have been the host of the Sunburn Festival for a considerable number of years.

This spiritual connection of psytrance can primarily justify most of the psytrance tracks using Indian religious concepts, including that of “Shiva”.

The name of the track, “Shiva” also personifies the God of Destruction in the Hindu mythology’s concept of ‘Trimurti’. The vocal has been taken from a Hindu hymn which praises Lord Shiva, known as the Shiva Tandava Strotam and it proficiently does its job of adding KSHMR’s signature ethnic vibes to the song. However, the processing on the vocals presents a different vibe as opposed to general aggressiveness the hymn demands, which in my opinion could be the only but a major let-down from this track.

However, the progressive/electro tune doesn’t disappoint its fans. It presents a catchy melody by Marnik and also showcases a massive drop! Following the same “Bazaar/Mandala” structure, the drop emanates a nostalgic vibe to its listeners, while still maintaining its new personality, a well-balanced job by the producers.

Bottomline, “Shiva” turns out to be the festival banger that the fans were expecting. Classic structure, instruments and interesting drums, and a lot of energy! The psytrance idea is coherent and well done. Even though “Bazaar” yet remains the favourite song of amongst the trilogy amongst the fans, “Shiva” has the potential to surpass it.

You can listen to “Shiva” here:

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