EP’s first release was reputed to be filled with weird electronic sounds, synthesizer magic and the poppish guitar-driven anthems, long before the album saw the light of day or the introspective title Irtiqa was associated with this ambitious effort. With all the hype surrounding the album, Irtiqa is certainly one of the albums that Pakistani aficionados have anxiously been waiting for. Now, living up to all the hype and expectations, I imagine, is probably one of the band’s prime concerns. The album does deliver. Ambition and dedication is clearly visible or audible, rather, amidst the rising and falling of synthesized crescendos, aggressive alternative rock guitars and the meticulously crafted and programmed drums.

Pakistani Rap/Rock band Entity Paradigm is going strong with their debut album “Irtiqa”. According to the sources they have already sold 21,000 cassettes and 10,000 CDs in the first month of release. They launched “Irtiqa” along with the video release of “Aghosh” in the first week of October.

The music boom of 2002 lived up to its hype and exceeded expectations in 2003. All it needed was the steely resolve of underground musicians, the mushrooming of local music channels, and the dependency of drama oriented TV channels to fill their empty time slots with music videos. All in all, the stage was set for the emergence of the third generation of artists in 2003 such as Fuzon, Noori, Ahmad Jehanzeb, Aaroh, EP and Ali Zafar, all of whom have helped drag the industry through its latest phase of evolution.