Kekal

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Biography

Kekal (sometimes stylized as KEKAL ) is a heavy metal music|heavy metal band formed in 1995 in Jakarta , Indonesia . According to Allmusic , Kekal was one of the first heavy metal bands from Indonesia to make international inroads, and according to Keith Kahn Harris was one of the few extreme metal bands from Southeast Asia to ever make more than a minimal impression on the global scene. Founded by two musicians known simply Yeris and Newbabe, the band underwent some shifts in lineup in its early years, but emerged with a consistent lineup of three key-members, guitarist/vocalist Jeff Arwadi , bassist Azhar Levi Sianturi , and guitarist Leo Setiawan . Frequently labeled as black metal , progressive metal , and avant-garde metal , Kekal plays a very diverse style of extreme metal and hard rock , incorporating many other music genres such as ambient music|ambient , Electronic music|electronic , jazz fusion , and progressive rock .

Throughout its entire career, the band has released eight full length studio albums, an EP, two compilation albums, two demo tapes, a split album with Slechtvalk , and several contributions to various collaborative albums, and in 2004 engaged in a successful Europe an mini-tour. As of August 12, 2009, all key-members have officially left Kekal, but continue to contribute material. Though the band currently has no active members, former members of the band contributed to an eighth studio album entitled 8 (Kekal album)|8 , which was officially released in December 2010 and was made available to purchase on January 23, 2011, and a free digital audio|digital -only EP was released in 2011.

History

Early years (formation to 2002)

The early history of Kekal started out in 1990, when 16-year-old musician Jefray Arwadi formed a self-styled " Punk rock|punk ish thrash metal " band called Obliteration with some of his high school friends, but Jeff quit this group in 1991 to better learn guitar. Kekal was officially formed on August 15, 1995, by two friends, simply named Yeris and Newbabe (revealed years later as Newin Atmarumeksa), as a more straightforward extreme metal band. The name Kekal was coined by Newbabe, and is Indonesian for 'Immortal' or 'Eternal'. The band was intended as a one time project, and recruited a vocalist known simply as "Harry" to help record a four-song demo tape. This demo began to circulate and caught the attention of future guitarist Leo, who had gained experience in a Metallica and Megadeth cover band. Archived from the , 2010-11-20 09:36:11

In June 1996, Azhar Sianturi joined Kekal and the band recorded its official demo, entitled Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae , using the songwriting and production talents of Jefray Arwadi, who was also a member of the groups Excision and Inner Warfare. According to Jeff, the demo was recorded in his bedroom with only a Fostex X-28 4-track recorder|4-track tape recorder and $2 karaoke microphone. With the help of underground tape-trading circles and local fanzines, the demo soon caught the attention of the metal scene outside Indonesia and South East Asia, and few record labels began offering deals. Later that year Leo Setiawan joined the band, and in 1997 Kekal recorded its self-produced debut album, Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams , released in 1998. The album was licensed to and released by two record labels, allowing for Kekal to be known internationally, especially in the underground metal circles around Europe and North America. Harry left the band after this recording, and the remaining trio released Embrace the Dead the next year. Jeff has expressed disappointment with this album, both in the stylistic direction, which was intentionally designed to appeal to a more mainstream audience, and in the recording sessions, which would inspire the title of the band's next album, The Painful Experience . Transcribed from the liner notes to the "Introduce Us to Immortality" compilation. The following year the band contributed to a Living Sacrifice tribute album with a cover of that band's song "Mind Distant." In October, 2001, the band's third album, The Painful Experience , was released. For this album, Kekal was reduced to a duo, as Leo Setiawan left the band before the recording sessions and moved to Melbourne , Australia . (in German) Along with The Painful Experience , Kekal also contributed to the compilation album Self Krusher , released by THT Records in 2001 to commemorate that label's 5th anniversary. Reocities archive of original page In 2002, the band collaborated with the The Netherlands|Dutch band Slechtvalk to record a split album entitled Chaos & Warfare , and also recorded a cover of " God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen " for the compilation album Brutal Christmas: The Season in Chaos .

International scene (2003-2006)

Upon return to Indonesia, Kekal was back in the studio to record a fifth album Acidity (album)|Acidity which included guest musician Didi Priyadi on guitars, as well as playing some local shows with him as an additional live guitarist. Acidity was released in 2005 and was an official reunion album for the band, which marked the return of Leo, and a vocal contribution by founding member Newbabe. Acidity was well received, and in 2006 the band started recording their sixth album, The Habit of Fire . In 2006, Jeff leaked two cover songs, "The Prow," originally by Voivod (band)|Voivod , and "Juices Like Wine," originally by Celtic Frost , both of which were recorded in 2005.

Jeff's move to Canada (2006-2008)

Departure of band members (2009)

In March 2009, Azhar Levi decided to step down from Kekal. Jeff Arwadi said that although this closed a door, Kekal would continue as a musical unit in a "new era" of the band's history. On August 12, 2009, Jeff announced that he and Leo had left Kekal, and that the name would continue but without active members. He said that, as well as unspecified personal reasons, he decided to leave the band because, after being closer to nature and in a less densely populated city in Canada, he was unable to continue to make dark and angry metal music which he did in the past with Kekal. Shortly after, Kekal put up an offer of three albums for free download on its website, including its best-selling album to date, 1000 Thoughts of Violence .

Many of its fans perceived that Kekal had technically split-up/disbanded at the moment band leader Jeff announced his departure from the band, despite the fact that Kekal as an institution still existed and the institution itself was not affected by any founding member leaving. To end the confusions among the fans, the band issued a statement posted on its official Facebook Page: "KEKAL IS NOT DEAD!!!& #33; When Jeff left Kekal it doesn't mean the band is dead!" The band's MySpace and Facebook pages are still active and currently being moderated mainly by volunteers from the band's Street Team members, as well as Azhar and Jeff themselves.

Current activity (2010-present)

On January 13, 2010, Kekal announced that a new album was in the works, and that former members Jeff, Leo, and Levi were all contributing. Then, on February 15, Jeff posted a music video on his Youtube channel for an, at that time, untitled new album. The music video was for a song entitled "Tabula Rasa", which was also released for streaming. On June 23, 2010, the band announced on its Myspace and Facebook that it would release its eighth album entitled 8 (Kekal album)|8 in late 2010, and that further details would be forthcoming.

On August 15, 2010, a remastered, limited-edition version of the band's second album, Embrace the Dead , was released as a free-download for up 1000 downloads in celebration of the band's 15 year anniversary.

Kekal's newest album, 8 , was made available for pre-order on December 22, 2010 by Whirlwind Records, which included an offer of free shipping within Europe up to December 24. The album was released on January 23, 2011.

On March 2, 2011, Jeff Arwadi announced on the Kekal Facebook page that he and Leo were recording new music, and said that another album would probably be released sometime in 2012. On April 2, Kekal announced that a download-only Extended play|EP would be released in June or July, and would contain two brand new tracks recorded in 2011, as well as separate guitar and vocal tracks of "Tabula Rasa" for the purpose of remixing by the general public. On April 26, Jeff uploaded a music video for the song "Futuride" from the upcoming EP, which was promised to be released in July. The official release date for the album, July 10, 2011, was announced over Facebook on June 23, 2011. The title of the EP was Futuride EP , and three tracks from the album were made available for public use under Creative Commons licenses|Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. On February 24, 2012, Kekal announced the title of its upcoming album, Autonomy .

Music

Style

Although most notably known as a progressive metal and avant-garde metal|avant-garde or experimental metal band, Kekal has origins in black metal , but even with its debut album the band demonstrated a unique style, and on its third album, The Painful Experience , the band fused its black metal style with progressive metal. Mark Allan Powell described the band as " indie music|indie death metal ". According to Powell, most of the band's songs were midtempo to fast with a heavy, guitar-driven style, though the band incorporated "certain elements of variety into the sound." Vocals were varied, ranging from "normal singing to death growls to wailing screams, with the addition of what are called 'sick vocals' by Harry on the first album." Powell further noted that Kekal's first two albums made "effective" use of female vocals. In a 2001 interview, Jeff expressed ambivalence to what style the band was described as, as long as it was "metal."TCU zine (2001), Kekal Interview, "We're most definitely a metal band. We don't really mind what people call us: black metal, unblack metal, white metal, black/white metal. As long as it's metal we're ok with it. Though we prefer to call our music extreme metal." (Jeff Arwadi) On its fourth, highly technical album, 1000 Thoughts of Violence , the band plunged into ultra-progressive experiments, and its well received fifth album, Acidity , used double bass drum blasts and saw the band incorporating styles such as electronic music|electronic , black metal, progressive metal, progressive rock , classic rock , indie rock , psychedelic rock , trip hop , jazz , ambient music|ambient , and avant-garde music|avant-garde . Jeff Arwadi responded to the "avant-garde" label in an interview with Ultimate Metal.com: “For us, avant-garde is not a classification of music. It is a state of being, a state of becoming... ...once your music can be classified easily, I don't think the word progressive or avant-garde fits. So that's why we mention in our bio that “avant-garde” is an ideal state for us, and not a classification.”

On the next album, The Habit of Fire , the band maintained its use of styles such as electronica , psybient , and jazz fusion , but shed its black metal roots and introduced atmospheric soundscape s and an industrial music|industrial vibe.

Influences

Kekal has identified itself with the punk rock and Heavy metal music#Origins: late 1960s and early 1970s|early metal scenes, and considers itself a “street-progressive” band that is aesthetically more akin to Sonic Youth or The Mars Volta than to bands like Dream Theater . The band claims roots in 1980’s forms of heavy metal music|heavy metal as pioneered by bands like Iron Maiden , Bathory (band)|Bathory , Trouble (band)|Trouble , Helloween , Celtic Frost , Sodom (band)|Sodom , Death (metal band)|Death , and Massacre (metal band)|Massacre . Dimebag Darrell has also been cited as an influence, and the band claims that one of its ‘trademark’ riffs was invented by Darrell.

Currently, Kekal has cited an influence from many styles of music and now lists a large host of artists as an inspiration, including a-ha , Amebix , Autechre , Björk , Black Sabbath , Camel (band)|Camel , Celtic Frost , Chroma Key , Cocteau Twins , Chick Corea , Miles Davis , Depeche Mode , Discharge (band)|Discharge , Duran Duran , Gazebo (musician)|Gazebo , Godflesh , Iron Maiden , Joy Division , King Crimson , Led Zeppelin , Mahavishnu Orchestra , Massive Attack , Curtis Mayfield , Merzbow , Pat Metheny , Wes Montgomery , Gary Moore , Napalm Death , N.E.R.D. , Outkast , Pan Sonic , Paradise Lost (band)|Paradise Lost , Parliament (band)|Parliament , Pet Shop Boys , Pink Floyd , The Police , Portishead (band)|Portishead , Radiohead , Red Snapper (band)|Red Snapper , Return to Forever , Rush (band)|Rush , Soft Machine , Talk Talk , Tangerine Dream , U2 , and Voivod (band)|Voivod .

Songwriting and recording techniques

Jeff has stated that starting from the album The Painful Experience they incorporated their own approach to record drum tracks in the studio which they call "hybrid drums", a mix of real-time performance and software-based matrix decoder|matrix programming. He also mentioned the efficiency of using the hybrid drumming compared with getting a drummer: "About the drummer, it is still very hard to find a right drummer because Kekal music is ranging from very extreme-metal with blast beats and fast double bass drum|double-kicks , to powerful rock music|rock beats that demand steady tempo, and to some polyrhythm ic playing and time-signature shifts in the characteristics of jazz and prog drumming. We would need 2 or 3 kinds of drummer for Kekal. That's why the best thing for the recording is to make the hybrid drumming." In other interview, Jeff mentioned the process of recording of The Habit of Fire , starting from collecting sampling (music)|samples and creating MIDI information, then manipulating the sounds to create what he called the 'skeleton'. Then riffs, MIDI-triggered instruments, synthesizer s, and melodies would be added and the structure re-arranged once again. Once the song structure was set, the guitars would be re-recorded, then bass and drum tracks would be put on top, then vocals. Jeff also mentioned during the interview about the 2011 Futuride EP, that he has experimented with additive synthesis on the recent songs he has recorded and uses guitars to counter-balance the sounds generated by the additive synthesis.

Ethics and ideological stance

Kekal and DIY ethic

Kekal claims to have followed a strong DIY ethic throughout the majority of its career. Kekal owns the copyrights of the band's recording masters and has 100% artistic control over music, production and artwork. Kekal has recorded and produced most of its albums in its own studio/workstation, manages the band itself, does its own photo sessions, and designs its own album artwork and covers. As Jeff stated "So far, we've been known as an independent band who never want to get signed by record label, to maintain our independency and control over our artistic freedom, and also to own our recording masters and copyright.. Instead of band signing, we always prefer to license our finished albums to record labels."

Kekal and Christianity

Kekal has acknowledged in interviews that the band members, at the time interviewed, subscribed to a Christian ideology, and has been described as one of the first black metal bands to profess Christian beliefs. Known to have fans from different religious backgrounds, the band has stated on its Facebook page that as an institution it is not a Christian metal band and does not endorse any particular religion or ideology, and has always maintained that it is about music, life, and universality, and stands against any form of elitism and exclusivism in today's culture. Kekal has been with associated the unblack metal scene, but in a 2001 interview Jeff stated that the band didn't really care what it was labeled as. Although Christianity has comprised a part of the band’s lyrics, the band has said that from The Painful Experience onward its lyrics have not been associated with religion or ideology at all. Mark Allan Powell commented on this in Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music , stating that "on the band's first two albums the songs testified to their Christian faith in an upfront way", but that on The Painful Experience the band pulled back from an overt approach that "Jeff says tended to turn people against the band before they gave the music a chance." According to Powell, "they maintain that three-fourths of their albums are purchased by non-Christians." Although Powell considered the band a ministry, in an interview with HM Magazine Jeff Arwadi said that the band had never been involved with a church or ministry, and that it never would. He also asserted that in Indonesia there was no specific Christian metal scene, and Kekal was considered just like any other “ secular ” band. He further stated that while it was “cool to know” that the band was accepted by the Christian metal scene, at the time of the interview that scene was less than 50% of the band’s audience.

Jeff Arwadi in particular has expressed a belief that Christianity is not a religion, as in his opinion most religions are about laws, organizations, rites, and dogmas, while Christianity is about Faith. In an interview with Avant-garde Metal.com, Jeff clarified that for him personally, faith is something that drives the human life, and, just like diet and exercise, does not have to be associated with religion whatsoever. When asked by Lords of Metal webzine to clear up the "confusion" surrounding the band's stance regarding God, Christianity, and religions in general, Jeff responded that his views about religion are "very different than the view in western countries," and further said that "in Indonesia, religion is not an issue of faith nor tradition. It’s more the constitutional issue, that means the legal and political ones. I am not anti-religion person, but I do against religion in a political and legal context."

Line-up

Former members

Jeff Arwadi ( Altera Enigma , Armageddon Holocaust , Doctor D, Excision, Inner Warfare) - guitar , Singing|vocals , Programming (music)|programming , drum machine , sampling (music)|samples & music loop|loops (1996–2009)

Azhar Levi Sianturi (Mournphagy) - Bass guitar|bass , Singing|vocals (1996–2009)

Leo Setiawan - guitar (1996–2001, 2005–2009)

Harry - Singing|vocals (1995–1998)

Newbabe - Bass guitar|bass , Singing|vocals (1995–1996, 2004–2005)

Yeris - Electric guitar|guitar , Singing|vocals (1995–1996)

Guest musicians

Didi Priyadi (Happy Day, In Memoriam) - session and live Electric guitar|guitar , live Singing|vocals

Kenny Cheong ( Altera Enigma , Soundscape) - Fretless bass guitar|fretless bass

Jason DeRon ( Paramaecium , Altera Enigma , inExordium) - Electric guitar|guitar

Doctor D ( Armageddon Holocaust , Doctor D, Bealiah) - Singing|vocals , Noise (music)|noises and sampling (music)|samples , Programming (music)|programming

Safrina Christina (Excision) - Singing|vocals , Keyboard (instrument)|keyboards , programming (music)|programming

Hans Kurniawan (Inner Warfare) (in German) - keyboard instrument|Keyboard

Habil Kurnia - Keyboard (instrument)|Keyboards , Audio engineering|engineering , Audio mixing (recorded music)|mixing

Hana - female Singing|vocals , Synthesizer|synths

Vera - female Singing|vocals

Discography

Full-length albums

Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams - 1998

Embrace the Dead - 1999

The Painful Experience - 2001

1000 Thoughts of Violence - 2003

Acidity (album)|Acidity - 2005

The Habit of Fire - 2007

Audible Minority - 2008

8 (Kekal album)|8 - 2010

Copyright Citations

This article is licensed under the GNU License
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1. Slechtvalk

Undetermined Music Artists