It appears that, after a short discussion on their internal mailing list, Phenom decided to take part in a rock competition at the IISc. Prelims were last Thursday, and they made it into the finals, which happened on Saturday.

I don’t know how many people read one of my earliest diary entries here, but in it I wrote:

I maintain that at a contest like this (with competition in “mindless metal mode”), you could probably win and walk away with all prizes by simply plugging in a few clean guitars and keyboards, shelve the multi-effect pedals, add some reverb, and give the audience some good music. You’d stand out like a sore thumb, but then that’s the point – if you stand out, you get noticed.

With Phenom competing against five metal bands (pretty tight ones, who really knew their stuff – including the highly rated Myndsnare), the result was almost a given – not only did they walk away with the top prize, they even grabbed the best vocalist and best guitarist awards.

Not bad for a group that hasn’t taken part in a competition for ages. And of course they were tight as a drum – with vocalist Mark completely blowing people away both with his singing and his stage presence. And as always, Phenom clearly had fun on stage – no nervous, worried looks there. They were good, and they knew it.

Good stuff.

Now if only they’d get off their lazy butts and get their new material together that they can put out another CD. While I love their five existing songs, I am getting a bit tired of being able to predict their setlist. Come one guys, you can’t be that lazy!