Kekal is an Indonesian extreme metal and electronic music band formed in 1995 in Jakarta. According to AllMusic, Kekal was one of the first heavy metal bands from Indonesia to achieve international success, and, according to heavy metal sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris, was one of the few extreme metal bands from Southeast Asia to make more than a minimal impression on the global scene. Founded by two musicians known as Yeris and Newbabe, the band underwent lineup changes in its early years, but emerged with a lineup of guitarist/vocalist Jeff Arwadi, bassist Azhar Levi Sianturi, and guitarist Leo Setiawan. Over the course of its career, Kekal has transitioned from a black metal-based style into progressive metal, avant-garde metal, and electronic music, incorporating other genres, such as ambient, jazz fusion, and progressive rock.
The band released its first studio album, Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams, in 1998, and has so far released thirteen full-length studio albums, four EPs, several compilations and contributions to various collaborative albums. After its fourth studio album, 1000 Thoughts of Violence, in 2003, the band embarked on a 2004 mini-tour of Europe. After three more studio albums, Acidity (2005), The Habit of Fire (2007), and Audible Minority (2008), all remaining band members officially left Kekal in August 2009. The band has continued as a legal entity, and former members contribute material while the band continues to release new albums. Since 2015, all musical contributions to new recordings remain anonymous.
History
Early years (formation to 2002) In 1990, when 16-year-old musician Jeff Arwadi formed the self-styled "punkish thrash metal" band Obliteration with high school friends. Arwadi quit this group in 1991 to improve his guitar playing. Kekal was officially formed on 15 August 1995, by two members using the pseudonyms Yeris and Newbabe (the latter revealed years later as Newin Atmarumeksa), as a straightforward extreme metal band. Newbabe coined the name Kekal, which is Indonesian for 'Immortal' or 'Eternal'. The band was intended to be a one-time project, and recruited a vocalist known as "Harry" to record a four-song demo tape. This demo began caught the attention of future guitarist Leo, who had been in a Metallica and Megadeth cover band.
In June 1996, Azhar Sianturi joined Kekal and the band recorded its official demo, Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae, with Arwadi's songwriting and production. Arwadi was also a member of the group Inner Warfare. According to Arwadi, the demo was recorded in his bedroom with a Fostex X-28 4-track tape recorder and a karaoke microphone. To create reverb during vocal takes, they placed a bucket over the microphone head. Through underground tape trading circles and local fanzines, the demo caught the attention of the metal scene outside Indonesia and Southeast Asia, and record labels began offering deals. Later that year, Leo Setiawan joined the band, and in April 1997, Kekal began to record its self-produced debut album, Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams, released in 1998. The album was licensed to and released by two record labels, THT Productions in Indonesia and Candlelight Productions in Singapore.
Harry left the band after this recording. The remaining trio released Embrace the Dead the next year. Arwadi has expressed disappointment with the album's style, which was designed to appeal to mainstream audiences, and the recording sessions, which inspired 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 "Mind Distant". In October 2001, the band's third album, The Painful Experience, was released. Leo Setiawan left the band before recording and moved to Melbourne, Australia, but he was listed on the album credits as a guitarist due to his contribution on the album's songwriting and general concept. In 2002, the band became a duo. It recorded the split album Chaos & Warfare with Dutch band Slechtvalk, and recorded a cover of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" for the compilation album Brutal Christmas: The Season in Chaos.
International scene (2003–2006) In 2003, without guitarist Setiawan, Arwadi and Azhar Levi recorded a cover of "Dance Macabre" for the well-received Cradle of Filth tribute album Covered in Filth, and shortly after, they released the progressive and experimental 1000 Thoughts of Violence, which was also well received, rated eight out of ten by Rock Hard, and regarded as a highlight of 2003 by Powermetal.de. A best-of collection of Kekal's works and re-recordings of Kekal, Introduce Us to Immortality, was released that year. Also that year, the Antwerp-based radio show "Psych Folk" Radio on Radio Centraal mentioned Kekal in that show's programs on progressive music in Indonesia.; The success of 1000 Thoughts of Violence was followed up by a two-week European mini-tour, arranged and promoted by the band's record label in Europe at the time, Fear Dark. In March 2004, the band, consisting of Arwadi, Levi, and Arwadi's wife Safrina on programming, played a string of shows in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. That month, the band was featured in the Dutch magazine Aardschok. That year, they released Spirits of the Ancient Days, a collection of early Kekal demo songs. Back in Indonesia, Kekal recorded a fifth album, Acidity. The album marked Setiawan's return and vocal contributions from founding member Newbabe. Session guitarist Didi Priyadi joined and played in some local shows as an additional live guitarist. Accidity was well received, and Kekal was again noted by "Psych Folk" Radio. In 2006, the band started recording their sixth album, The Habit of Fire. In 2006, Arwadi leaked two cover songs, "The Prow", originally by Voivod, and "Juices Like Wine", originally by Celtic Frost, both of which were recorded in 2005.
Jeff's move to Canada (2006–2008) In 2006, after recording The Habit of Fire, Arwadi moved to Canada while the rest of the members were in Indonesia, precluding the band from playing shows or touring. At the same time, they left their longtime record label, Fear Dark, and the status of the band was in question. After few months of uncertainty and rumors of a break-up, they remained together to keep the band as a studio project. They signed licensing deals with two record labels to release The Habit of Fire in 2007. The album was well received and named CD of the Month by UK's music technology magazine Sound on Sound, as well as being nominated for The Best Avantgarde Metal Album in 2007 by Metal Storm. In 2007, Arwadi leaked another cover, "Redemption", originally planned as part of a Johnny Cash tribute album by Open Grave Records that was shelved. Later in 2007, Arwadi announced on the band's Myspace blog that a new Kekal album was on the way, which he had been working on by himself. It was revealed later on that the new album, Audible Minority, would be released officially on 25 December 2008 as two versions: a free download and a limited edition Digipak with 11 songs, including a cover of the A-ha's "Locust". The Digipak version was never released, and the album ended up a free download instead.
Departure of band members (2009) In March 2009, Levi left Kekal. Arwadi said that although this closed a door, Kekal would continue in a "new era" of the band's history. On 12 August 2009, Arwadi announced that he and Setiawan had left Kekal, and the band would continue without active members. He said that, as well as unspecified personal reasons, he left 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, angry metal music. Shortly after, Kekal offered three albums for free download on its website, including its best-selling album to date, 1000 Thoughts of Violence. To address fan confusion, the band issued a statement on its official Facebook page, "KEKAL IS NOT DEAD!!!! When Jeff left Kekal it doesn't mean the band is dead!" The band remains active without official members, its pages being maintained by a volunteer collective and all music contributed by former members of the band, and then, after 2012, anonymously.
Current activity (2010–present) On 13 January 2010, Kekal announced that a new album was in the works, and that former members Arwadi, Setiawan, and Levi were contributing. On 15 February, Arwadi posted a music video on his YouTube channel for a then-untitled new album. The music video was for the song "Tabula Rasa", which was also released for streaming.
On 15 August 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 to celebrate the band's 15-year anniversary. Kekal's album 8 was available for pre-order on 22 December 2010 by Whirlwind Records, and was released on 23 January 2011.
On 2 March 2011, Arwadi announced on the Kekal Facebook page that he and Setiawan were recording new music and another album would probably be released sometime in 2012. On 26 April, Arwadi uploaded a music video for the song "Futuride" from the upcoming EP, which was promised to be released in July. The EP, Futuride, was released in July 2011. In addition to two standalone songs, the EP contained three trackings from "Tabula Rasa" made available for public use under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. On 24 February 2012, Kekal announced the title of its ninth studio album, Autonomy, released on 19 December 2012, first as a limited, hand-numbered deluxe-edition double-CD with the 2008 album Audible Minority (previously unreleased on CD) as a bonus disc. On 29 June 2013, Autonomy was released by Indonesian netlabel Yes No Wave Music as a free digital download but restricted to Indonesian market only.
On March 19, 2013, Kekal released the EP Unsung Division. The band's tenth studio album, Multilateral, was released in 2015. In December 2016, the band announced an album for 2018, Deeper Underground, and a single, "Root of All Evil", set for release in 2017. Kekal's eleventh studio album, Quantum Resolution, was released in 2020, and a twelfth studio album, Envisaged, was released in 2022.
Music
Style
Although mainly known as a progressive metal and avant-garde or experimental metal band, Kekal has stylistic origins in extreme metal, particularly black metal, but even with its debut album the band demonstrated a unique style. Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams featured a varied sound of black and death metal and incorporated a range of vocal styles such as high pitched black metal shrieks, death growls, and female singing. On Embrace the Dead, Kekal used a combination of black metal with death, classic, and doom metal elements and included hints of Gothic and dark wave.
The third album, The Painful Experience, saw the band fusing its black metal style with progressive metal and included elements of thrash, classic, and power metal. Mark Allan Powell described that 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."