Nitin Rajan, lead vocalist and co-founder of Mumbai-based extreme metal band Primitiv, passes away aged 42

Mumbai’s extreme metal band Primitiv lost its lead vocalist and frontman Nitin Rajan on 17 November, after he succumbed to a year-long battle with cancer. The band’s social media page posted a message confirming the 42-year-old musician’s demise:

Rajan co-founded Primitiv in 2013 along with bassist Riju Dasgupta and guitarist Rajarshi Bhattacharyya. The band prefers to identify itself as so old-school that it named itself ‘Primitiv’. The sound of the band is a blend of heavy, doom and death metal, and the band likes to call their sound - ‘Stone Age Metal’. Rajan was known to promote and pioneer many metal-led music festivals across India; he was the mastermind behind one of India’s oldest underground metal festivals Domination – The Deathfest which started in 2000 and went on for about three years, and then after a hiatus of 10 years it returned in 2013, as reported by RollingStone India. Beyond Primitiv and extreme metal, Rajan also had an illustrious career in digital media and marketing. He was the vice president and head of digital media at RadioCity and helmed projects such as Radio City Freedom Awards etc to name a few. Riju Dasgupta posted on Facebook: “Last night, after battling cancer for a year, my close friend and bandmate Nitin Rajan passed into the realm beyond. All of us are still stunned and shaken to the core by the suddenness of his loss, and we request that you respect the privacy of his family and those close to him at this time. Celebrate his life and his music, because that’s the best way to remember him.” In another post he mentioned how his last chat with Rajan was about their next album, where Rajan brushed aside questions about his health. Many members of the metal fraternity took to social media and paid their tributes: