Kekal – Embrace the Dead

Kekal
Embrace the Dead
1999 THT Productions
Jakarta, Indonesia

Jeff Arwadi – Guitars, vocals, keyboards, programming
Leo Setiawan – Guitars
Azhar Levi Sianturi – Bass, vocals

Side 1:

1. Longing for Truth
2. Embrace the Dead
3. The Fearless and the Dedicated
4. Healing

Side 2:

1. The Final Call
2. From Within
3. Scripture Before Struggle
4. Millennium

This was the last of the (initially) cassette-only releases by Kekal, but it was quickly released on CD by a couple of labels within a year or two of release. According to the band, this follow-up to 1998’s Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams had a very problematic and hard recording process. The follow-up 2001 album The Painful Experience was written about that process. This difficulty led to a more intense and chaotic sound – which still fits their sound perfectly as well. They are still mixing many extreme metal styles – black, death, thrash, etc – while moving closer and closer to their later avant-garde extreme metal style. There are even acoustic interludes here and there. Like all of their older material, this has been remixed (a couple of times) and made available for purchase on BandCamp since original copies (and re-issue copies as well) are long sold out.

Kekal – Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams

Kekal
Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams
1998 THT Productions
Jakarta, Indonesia

Harry – Vocals
Leo Setiawan – Guitars, narration, keyboards
Jeff Arwadi – Guitars, vocals, keyboards
Azhar Levi Sianturi – Bass, vocals

Side A

1. Rotting Youth
2. Armageddon
3. Spirits
4. Deceived Minds
5. The Conversion

Side B

1. Behind Those Images
2. Reality
3. Escaping Eternal Suffering
4. A Day the Hatred Dies
5. My Eternal Lover

This is another release that you probably know of, and can currently buy on BandCamp – but it technically started as a tape release on the underground THT Productions label. It was quickly re-issued on CD and tape by Valentine Sound Productions. This is considered to be the “original” Kekal style, even though they were constantly evolving so I don’t know how that was determined. They did go more avant-garde later on, but even here there is so much mixing of black, death, power, gothic, etc metal that It still sounds avant-garde in many ways. “Rotting Youth,” “Escaping Eternal Suffering,” and “My Eternal Lover” are all new versions of demos from 1996 that were later released on Spirits From the Ancient Days (which was re-released as Primal Spirits of the Immortal). This was their first full-length because 1996’s Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae was technically a compilation with new songs. After this, they released one more initially tape-only release called Embrace the Dead before they connected with labels like Clenched Fist and Fear Dark.

Kekal – Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae

Kekal
Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae
1996 THT Productions
Jakarta, Indonesia

Leo Setiawan – Guitars, vocals
Newbabe – Bass, vocals
Yeris – Guitars, vocals
Harry – Vocals

Side 1:

1. Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae Act I – War in Heaven – The Fall of the Ancient Serpent
2. Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae Act II – Demonicide
3. Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae Act III – Miracles at the Persecution
4. Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae Act IV – The Return of the Holy Lamb

Side 2:

1. Spirits of the Unblack
2. No Master
3. Kebangkitan Orang Mati
4. Introduce Me to Immortality

Technically here I am reviewing the 2020 release Primal Spirits of the Immortal, which you can find on BandCamp. Since this is a tape underground blog, I am focusing here on the demo tape that was re-released as part of that compilation. That tape itself was also kind of a compilation – the band had released a very limited demo in 1995 of four songs. Those four songs were remixed in 1996 and included on Side 2 of this tape. It’s also not clear if Kekal was always completely a Christian band or not, but they were a part of the underground scene with this demo and later tapes and CDs at least. This tape is a little less experimental than their later releases, but you still hear the experimentation from the beginning. On this tape, this Indonesian band are a mix of black, grind, thrash, death, and many other extreme metal genres. In 2004, the band collected the 1995 demo, some unreleased Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams demos from 1996, all four original parts of the “Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae” song from 1996, a pre-Kekal Obliteration demo (not the Oklahoma band) from 1990-1, and added re-recorded versions of two sections of “Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae” and released it as Spirits from the Ancient Days. The 2020 re-issue of that compilation saw the Obliteration tracks dropped and the name of the CD changed to Primal Spirits of the Immortal. That limited edition CD is hard to find, but you can easily find the digital version on BandCamp. The song “Spirits…” from this demo was later recorded on their follow-up 1998 cassette Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams.

Inner Warfare – Tumbal

Inner Warfare
Tumbal
1996 THT Productions (THT 01)
Jakarta, Indonesia

1. Tumbal
2. State of Mortality
3. The Dead Self
4. The Greatest of All Discoveries
5. Language of the Heart

Like I mentioned on the Sentimental Journey review, this band is a side project by Jeff Arwadi of Kekal. As far as I can tell, this is the first tape by them. It feels a bit more experimental and industrial than the follow-up, which was still pretty experimental and industrial itself. At times, this reminds me of the more chaotic songs by Lung. Even though it often sounds nothing like Lung. These songs were shared on YouTube, but I have never seen a full track list of this tape, and the song videos don’t have track numbers with them. I put them in the order they were on an old review of the tape from Automata zine. If this is not correct, please let me know. Also, don’t who else was in the band at this time.

Missing Information: Is this the correct and complete song order? Who all played on this? Need a full scan of the cover as well.

Inner Warfare – Sentimental Journey

Inner Warfare
Sentimental Journey
1997 THT Productions
Jakarta, Indonesia

Jeff Arwadi
Scott Donovan
Hans Kurniawan

1. Views from the Balcony
2. Temptation
3. If I Have to Die

Inner Warfare was a side project led by Jeff Arwadi from Indonesia. Arwandi is also known a member of Kekal and Worldhate. Hans Kurniawan of Kekal also joined him on this project. This was the band’s second release after 1996’s Tumbal. While this is not the same extreme metal as Kekal, it is still an experimental mix of industrial and melodic alternative rock with a few extreme elements thrown in. This was one of many hard to find releases on THT Productions out of Indonesia, so it’s good to see a few of these finally surfacing here and there. After this, the next release was 1998’s Works of Transformation.