Warfaze

Warfaze
The current lineup of Warfaze in 2012.
Background information
Origin	Dhaka, Bangladesh
Genres	Heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock,
Years active	1984–present
Labels	G-series, Ektaar Music Ltd
Associated acts	Rock Strata, Aurthohin, Miles, Bassbaba Sumon, Iqbal Asif Jewel, Russel Ali, Aces, LRB, De-illumination, Vibe, Winning, In Dhaka, Legend, Metal Maze, Artcell
Members	Sheikh Monirul Alam Tipu (drums and percussion) Samir Hafiz (guitar) Ibrahim Ahmed Kamal (guitar) Shams Mansoor Ghani (keys) Naim Haque Roger (bass) Palash Noor (vocals)
Past members	Mizan Rahman (vocals) Babna Karim Sunjoy Russel Ali Fuad Ibn Rabbi Bassbaba Sumon Iqbal Asif Jewel Balam Biju Cézanne Sazzad Arefeen Oni Hasan (guitar)

Warfaze is a Bangladeshi hard rock band. The group consists of Palash Noor (vocals), Ibrahim Ahmed Kamal (lead guitar), Sheikh Monirul Alam Tipu (drums and percussion), Samir Hafiz (Guitar), Shams Mansoor Ghani (keyboards and vocals), and Naim Haque Roger (bass). Multiple changes have taken place in membership since its founding in 1984. Since their inception, the band has released eight albums, including seven studio albums and one compilation album. In addition, they have released several singles in band mixed albums. They have also released three songs in a Lalon tribute album called 'Somorpon' which also included songs from Habib Wahid and Aurthohin.

Over the years, Warfaze has featured some of the finest Bangladeshi musicians in the genre, most notably Kamal, Babna Karim, metal vocalist Sunjoy, Khaled 'Bassbaba' Sumon, guitarist Russel Ali (who currently works with Elliot Yamin) etc.

The band has experimented with different subgenres of hard rock and heavy metal over the years. Warfaze's role in the development of progressive metal in Bangladesh has been an inspiration for several Bangladeshi bands, such as Artcell.

The initial membership consisted of Kamal playing bass, Helal on drums; Mir and Naimul sharing lead and rhythm guitar duties, and Bappi singing vocals. This initial line-up underwent the first of many changes with Helal, Mir, and Bappi having to leave the band for personal reasons. The band was far from breaking through to the mainstream music scene in Bangladesh dominated largely by pop acts. Heavy metal music was not much popular in Bangladesh back then.

Kamal took up lead guitar duties for the band at this stage and the rest of the positions were filled with Babna Karim as the bassist, Tipu as the drummer, and Rashed as the vocalist. This second line up had to be discontinued when Naimul emigrated to the US. At that time, there were three other Dhaka-based metal bands: Rock Strata, In Dhaka, and Aces. Mashuk, the lead guitarist of In Dhaka, and Fuad (of the same band) volunteered to help Warfaze as guest members. At the time, Warfaze was mostly a cover band, covering bands such as Whitesnake, Dokken or Iron Maiden.