Reviews - MALAPETAKA - Anthem of Annihilation [2015] no comments

MALAPETAKA - Anthem of Annihilation (2015)

Happy new year! It's 2015. Well it's 4 months too late I guess, but damn it, it's better late than never. The last update was way back in September, 2014. Well, who cares. Nobody reads this blog anyway. Well, except me from time to time. Having said that, it feels good to write something in here. Even if it's once every full moon.

So what's up? Malapetaka is up. This awesome death thrash band from Kuala Lumpur is at it again with a brand new 4 song EP titled Anthem of Annihilation. I have always been a fan of this band since their first demo, which was reviewed somewhere in this blog. Even though I have not been too kind with my review of their debut release, I have always followed their progress via their facebook page. 

2014 saw the band hitting the stages with vengeance, playing local shows here and there and then went abroad to play in Nepal and India, damaging the ears of Indian and Nepalese metalheads with much gusto and wrath. At the end of 2014, some pictures were posted on their facebook page signalling a new record was in progress.

Anthem of Annihilation is a suiting title for this 4 song self released EP. The first song is called Ascendancy of Terror, clocking in at 6 minutes and 52 seconds. The track opened with the sounds from a battlefield, setting the sinister mood for the 6 minutes terror . The lead guitar intro was a few milliseconds off of the tempo though. There was an old megadeth vibe within the riff of the first verse. the solos were very very good here and then mid way through the song their nusantara influence kicked in in high gear.

The second song is Kejahilan Minda. A rerecorded track from their first demo. The nusantara/javanese influence in this one is extremely heavy. It's another brutal track. A slight setback for me regarding this song was the phrasing and timing of the vocals, which sometimes sounded a little bit off here and there. This usually happens when you got too long a lyric, and tried to fit all of the words in the verse. But that minor setback, does not in anyway take away the sheer brutality of the song. With a "growl along" chorus, I can see that this song be THE track for Malapetaka.

The third song was the song that was teased before the band put out the record officially. I was so impressed with Anthem of Annihilation, the song. The old Floridian death metal vibe is thick in this one. It had even made me think whether the band had changed it's course from their nusantara influenced death thrash to total death metal. Wait for the breakdown at 1:57. Heavy and brutal. The double lead in this one was just out of this world. There were also a bit of Gothenberg riffs being thrown in there as well. Excellent headbangable track through and through.

The fourth song is called Infernal Deconstruction and it started with an atmospheric serunai and rebab (malay traditional trumpet and skindrum respectively) sound. This song clocked in at 5 minutes and 45 second. Complete annihilation of eardrums. The center piece of this track is definitely its lyrics. Could have passed for any Cannibal Corpses lyrics anytime.

My favorite track would definitely be the third track, Anthem of Annihilation. It was the shortest track on the EP but it got everything that I loved about Malapetaka. Crazy ass solos, heavy midtempo breakdowns, dual harmonic riffages and you still get to experience that Malapetaka original nusantara sound. The lyrical theme for the song suited the track extremely well.

When I first got to listen to the promo track, the first thing that caught my little ears was the quality of the sound. The sound in this EP is a huge huge step forward compared to the dry sound of the debut. The guitars were heavy and perfectly mixed. The bass were audible enough for me to enjoy and the vocals were perfectly mixed in between. And then there was the drums. Oh my, where should I start with the drums? I loved the drum mix.

In my previous review, I commented that the drum playing were a bit off and unimaginative but knowing the fact that Naji (the drummer) joined the band several months before they went into the studio to record the demo,  I toned down my comment and suggested that naji should be given more time to gel with the band and brush up his strokes. Guess what, in this EP, Naji owned every piece of the songs. Showing off his tremendous skills tearing apart the drum set and blasting double bass like nobodys business. More power to you Naji. Older metal guys, get your daughters to marry this guy, quick!

Awesome, awesome release. Recommended.

Get a copy of Malapetaka - Anthem of Annihilation by communicating directly with the band via their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/malapetaka.kl. Labels, get in touch with the boys, organizers, get your stages open for them. Thats an order.

*Nusantara - the Malayan archipelago. Nusantara sound refers to sounds influenced by the myriad traditional Malayan-Javanese cultural music mainly coming from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Reviews - DAARCHLEA - Suns [2014] 3 comments

DAARCHLEA - Suns (2014)

As most of you might know by now, I rarely update my blog nowadays. I have succumbed to the hectic schedule of life and could no longer pay attention to this blog. The last past was way back in 2013 for god sake. 

Having said that, the other day, I managed to get my hands on Daarchlea's full lenght debut titled Suns and holy crap, was I in for a bloody surprise. First of all, I have to make it clear that I have an uncontrollable intolerance for metalcore, deathcore and all that modern metal crap. Nothings wrong with the music, its just not my cup of tea. When I was active promoting Malaysian Metal a couple of years back, I never gave those local bands that, unfortunately, fell under the metalcore banner, anytime of day, because, you know, why should I? And back then, to my ears, Daarchela fell under that banner. I ignored them. I hated their old kelawar/butterfly from afar logo too. Hahaha

A couple of moons recently, a metal blogger friend of mine asked me to go and check the band out. I hesitated because, you know, Daarchlea was a typical deathcore band so why should I. Haha. A few weeks later, I stumbled with the bands new ambigram logo. I sensed something different in the air. Just for the sake of it, I went and liked their facebook page and cought wind that the band was writing and recording Suns, their full lenght debut. They put up a teaser and guess what, it sounded heavy, scary and dark. The type of sound that can give you nightmares. So, yeah, I kinda anticipated the album, just to see how it would turn out at the end.

Theyve finally released the album a couple of weeks ago and I finally managed to get my hand of them yesterday. Holy fucking crap, the album is brilliant. I cannot stop shaking my head while blasting the album full blast on my way to work. This is just brilliant. Everything, from the song writing to the music production were top notch. I said to myself, I gotta update my blog and talk about this album. This needs to go huge. Fucking huge.

Daarchlea is a blackened deathcore band hailing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Suns, their highly anticipated (and rightfully so) debut album, contains 10 songs. There are Dusk/Midian era Cradle of Flth evilness in there, some Dimmu Borgirs, Deathcult Armageddon epic clean singing in there (to me, the whole album sounded like a 30 minute extension of Progenies, with less orchestra) and in some songs, you will find the presence of Norwegian black metal style riffs were thrown in as well. 

Everything is top notch, especially the sound. The guitars were heavy, crunchy and with the right amount of warmth. The drums (which im always particular of) was brilliantly mixed, the snare sound was magnificent (woody, the way I like it) while the toms and bassdrums were perfectly mixed. Decent solos here and there and lastly the star of them all, the keyboards. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. On top of it all, the vocals. You got the typical low growls and high pith shrieks and the clean singing. The vocals can sing. The harmonies were pitch perfect.

I have to applaud the music arrangement, dude. Kudos to the band for crafting the songs beautifully. Trust me, this will end up being an instant classic. This is a sublime album. If I were to define this album with only one word, that word would be SINISTER. Fucking SINISTER. Get this album, support the band, tell everybody about them. This is a local product thats worth your support. The band needs to push this album for international circulation, like big time. Daarchlea, bloody hell.

Contact the band via their facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/daarchleaofficial.

Review: Malapetaka - 2013 Demo. no comments

KL Death Thrashers, Malapetaka. (credit to owner of photo)

 

1. Malapetaka is a four piece death thrash band hailing from Kuala Lumpur and this is a review for their much anticipated 2013 death thrashing demo. I have written about them previously and there was also a cool interview with their frontman Ah Boon and Guitarist Ashok, somewhere in this blog. Check that interview out to find out more about this young talented band.

2. I really love this band and shall give them as much support as I could but I am not going to hold back any punches when it comes to reviews. Having said that, lets move on to the demo tracks. The demo contains 5 decent death thrashing songs including an intro. The guitars were a bit light weight for my liking but I dont really mind that as long as I can listen to their notes. The riffs were extravagant and plentiful. Kudos for that. The solos are original (heavy translation of Malaysian/Indonesian ethnic sound through a distortion) and executed with perfection. Its kind of weird but tolerable.

3. The bass sound were too low in the mix and its barely audible. That made metal their sound a bit dry. If the bass was audible, I believe it can add more dimensions to their songs since Ash's works on the riffs have already been good, with an audible bass, good can be elevated to bad ass.

4. Now, the drums. Man, where should I start with the drums. Being a drum enthusiast myself, the first thing that can affect my attitude towards any metal albums, would always be the drum mix. As much as I love the band, I can not bear to tolerate the drum mix in this demo. The sound was extremely dry, lack of reverb with a plenty amount of unnecessary feeback on the snares. It does not help that it was also quite high in the mix.

5. Stroke wise, I believe it can be better, because, to my puny little ears, the drum department lacked the groove and swing, two ingredients that are required to keep any good songs intact. The drum fills were extremely awkward and timing were a bit off here and there. Fills were meant to be bridges connecting different parts of a song, so when the fills were off beat, it may affect the whole song, the riffs and the vocals.

6. But I was also made to understand that drummer, Mr. Naji was recruited a couple months before the band entered the studio to record this demo. Give him more time to perfect his skills and in no time I honestly believe that he can be an incredible asset to the band. There were a few spots here and there where he showed real skills holding down the intense beats. More power to you, Mr. Naji and maybe more double paddle next time? Haha.

7. The vocals? Boon did a good job managing the vocals.It was high in the mix. But my only problem with the vocals were the off beat/tempo phrasing in some part of their songs. Properly timing and phrasing your words/vocals in perfect sequence with the tempo/beat is very very important because the failure to do so will affect the groove of a song. I believe the use of metronome would do the trick next time fellas.  But being the vocalist, you got no other choice but to develop your own sense of tempo/groove. Having your own sense of tempo will also help you when ever you got a broken monitor for your live shows. I believe that can be done with more time and experience.

8. What ever it is, the band is still worth supporting. They are hardworking and friendly. I hope to see them more on the live stages, so organizers? Wutcha waitin for?