Kekal (sometimes stylized as KEKAL) is a heavy metal and electronic music 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 sociologist of heavy metal, 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 range of music styles within the frame of metal and rock, incorporating many other music genres such as ambient, electronic, jazz fusion, and progressive rock. Over the course of its career, Kekal has transitioned from a heavy metal-based style to a more experimental and electronic sound.
Throughout its entire career, the band has released thirteen full-length studio albums, four EPs, several compilations and contributions to various collaborative albums, and in 2004 engaged in a successful European mini-tour. As of 12 August 2009, all key-members have officially left Kekal, but continue to contribute material. Though the band currently has no official members, former members of the band contributed to six more studio albums so far, sometimes anonymously, including their twelfth studio album Quantum Resolution in 2020, and their thirteenth album Envisaged in 2022.
History
Early years (formation to 2002) The early history of Kekal started out in 1990, when 16-year-old musician Jeff Arwadi formed a self-styled "punkish 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 15 August 1995, by two friends, simply named under pseudonyms Yeris and Newbabe (the latter 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.
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 Jeff Arwadi, who was also a member of the group Inner Warfare. According to Jeff, the demo was recorded in his bedroom with only a Fostex X-28 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 Southeast Asia, and few 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, 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. 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. Leo Setiawan left the band before the recording sessions and moved to Melbourne, Australia, but he was still listed on the album credits as a guitarist due to his contribution on the album's songwriting and general concept. In 2002, the band was reduced to a duo, and collaborated with the 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.
