Artcellism: A journey 20 years in the making

The stage has been set, sound checks have been performed, the red carpet laid – all that is left, is for them to take the audience by storm. Who is "them" you might ask? Well it is none other than Artcell, the only Bangladeshi band with a cult following.

Founded back in October of 1999, the progressive metal band formed by vocalist and riff guitarist George Lincoln D'Costa, lead guitarist Ershad Zaman, bassist Saef Al Nazi Cezanne and drummer Kazi Sazzadul Asheqeen Shaju, who took the country's band scene by storm in the early 2000s, establishing themselves as one of the prominent bands in the country.

Since then, the band has come up with two studio albums "Onno Somoy" (2002) and "Oniket Prantor" (2006) alongside appearances in several mixed albums.

The celebration of the band's 20 years journey will culminate into mega event – a concert which will be held at International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB)'s Expo Zone on Tuseday, 24 December. The "Poth Chola" of the band in a sense has just begun as fans prepared themselves for their much-awaited third album.

Emphasising the long journey, Black guitarists Khademul Jahan, a close associate of Artcell, stated, "They have completed 20 years of its existence, which is a major milestone. I hope they will continue making new music. I am waiting for their third album," while Arbovirus guitarist Asif Asgar Ranjan added, "If there were no Artcell, Arbovirus would not have been formed. We were friends with them even before Artcell and Arbovirus existed. This band means a lot to us."

In addition to Artcell, the ICCB Expo Zone will also be rocked by the likes of Crunch, Mechanix, Naive, Powersurge, Trainwreck and Unmaad with additional appearances from Rafa, Romel Ali, DRockstar Shuvo and members from Black, Bay of Bengal, Dreek, Reborn, Shironamhin and Minerva.

"20 years is a lot in aggregate! And sticking together for this long is no joke. Surely, they have inspired us, Crunch to do the same. And this is a huge honour for us to be a part of this historic event. And we hope and pray that they continue doing this for another 20. Hell!! They can continue this till the end of time!" exclaimed Crunch vocalist Shovon Ahmed.      

The original line-up of the band remained together until 2017, the year that saw the exit of lead guitarist Ershad Zaman. His place has been taken up by ex-Metal Maze lead guitarist Kazi Faisal Ahmed.

At the venue, the gates will open at 3:00pm, with the celebrations lasting till 10:00pm.