Jeff Arwadi of Indonesian avant garde metal band Kekal, recently posted the following update on the bands facebook:
“First of all, I’d like to clarify, after someone pointed out that people have seen reports (rumours) that Kekal has been completely inactive. That is not true. Starting next year, Kekal will be releasing brand-new tracks, and eventually a new album in 2018. Last August, a Facebook image was posted, about Kekal being 21 years (1995 – 2016). The years did not point about the lifespan of Kekal, it was simply Kekal being 21 years.
“Now about Kekal’s social media channels being inactive for awhile: The last person who normally takes care of the Kekal‘s Facebook page is no longer available, leaving myself as the only person, for now, who posts the news on the page, and I’ve been extremely busy since the beginning of 2016. I don’t use Facebook often, barely use it in the personal level (I don’t even have a Facebook app on my cellphone), so that adds to the inactivity of Kekal page for some months now.
“You probably wonder what am I doing right now. Well, my wife and I have just relocated to another city in Canada since last month. We now live in Ottawa, a beautiful city in which we will definitely love and be proud with it. So far I haven’t been able to continue writing and recording any new material just yet, but I plan to, this coming winter. However, many of the lyrics have been completely written, and Levi have taken some cool photos. So here I took a chance to go with the album cover!!! Yes, the album cover is done, and here it is: “Deeper Underground.”
The album’s atmosphere will not be dark and somber. There might be some angry tunes to some extent, but overall tone is positive and full of life. We live in a broken world layered by major problems, another after another. Our same world that sits on a heavily abused Earth as well. It’s so depressing just to think about these problems. Do we need to create another depressing energy with music? What we need is to create liberating energy instead, and that’s the aim of Deeper Underground. Most of the songs say about navigating life through obstacles. I believe there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but we have to take the tunnel and go deeper and deeper underground, hit the rock bottom sometimes, and feel the pain without a doubt. There’s no escape, we must face and continue moving forward in our own dark tunnel and to suffer in the process, but it’s important to suffer well and to keep our hope intact, until we are able see the light.
The tentative song titles are ‘Root of All Evil’, ‘Speed of God’, ‘The Many Faces of Your Face’, and of course ‘Deeper Underground’. I have lyrics for those already and some other untitled songs, but no music yet, so I cannot tell what direction this album is going to turn, stylistically. Watch out for the first track ‘Root of All Evil’ to be released sometime in 2017 (you will be able to download the mp3 for free or buy the lossless digital format), then the rest of the tracks would follow one at a time, until the full album release in 2018. Wish me luck on finishing this track first!
Before it’s getting too long and boring, here I close with the excerpt of the lyrics from the title track: “my refuge is here in deeper underground, a dreadful place where light is needed better to seek mercy from down below, than conquer the world from up above” Thank you. Jeff
PS: I will need all your help in updating Kekal articles on open-source info sites like The Metal Archives, Wikipedia, etc. so that info will be close to accurate. Thanks!
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Kekal‘s latest album “Multilateral” is their official 10th full-length studio album that was made to celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary in August 2015. The recording process of the album took more than 2 years to complete. Musically, the album represents human emotions and inner expressions that cannot be bound and limited by genres. With “Multilateral,” Kekal delivers a greatly experimental yet accessible music that soothe the pain of your soul. The album features unorthodox instruments such as theremin, analog synthesizers, additive synthesis, electronic beats, vocoder, and vocaloid, as well as unorthodox production approach.
CD version is a Limited deluxe-edition Digipak. Released by Majemuk Records. It has 13 tracks total, including 2 bonus tracks ‘Heartbroken By Default’ and ‘The God Particle’.
Weblinks: Facebook / Website / Bandcamp