Watch: EXODUS Joined By 11-Year-Old Viral Rock Sensation MAYA NEELAKANTAN At Orlando Concert

November 8, 2024

11-year-old guitarist Maya Neelakantan from Chennai, India, who has gone viral for her "America's Got Talent" audition, joined EXODUS on stage on Monday, November 4 at the House Of Blues in Orlando, Florida to perform the EXODUS song "Brain Dead". Fan-filmed video of her appearance can be seen below.

This past August, Neelakantan went viral again for her rendition of METALLICA's "Master Of Puppets" at the "America's Got Talent" quarterfinals. The young guitarist had previously covered PAPA ROACH's "Last Resort" in front of a packed live audience at the "America's Got Talent" auditions.

Maya recently hung out with SLAYER and EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt. In addition, TOOL guitarist Adam Jones gifted her one of his own signature Gibson Les Pauls after coming across her rendition of TOOL's 16-minute masterpiece "7empest". In 2023 she went viral after playing a mashup of 22 TOOL songs all in one take.

"I have been listening to SLAYER, METALLICA, SLIPKNOT, EXODUS and LAMB OF GOD ever since I was two years old," she said. "I loved thrash metal because of how energetic it sounded. Every time it was playing, I always jumped up and down."

As for how she envisions her own music, Maya said: "My dream is to create a genre of my own. Something that merges all of my musical interests together. It'll be a combination of extreme thrash metal and intricate Carnatic music in its traditional form. And it will be something as crafted as TOOL music."

In September, Maya joined TESTAMENT on stage at the House Of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada to perform the TESTAMENT song "Curse Of The Legions Of Death (C.O.T.L.O.D.)".

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