Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams

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Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams
Kekal - Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams.jpg
Studio album by Kekal
ReleasedJanuary 1998, THT Productions (Cassette)
October 1998, Sonic Wave (CD/Cassette)
RecordedApril and December 1997, Yaski Studios, Jakarta, Indonesia
Genre Christian metal, [1] [2] traditional heavy metal, [2] thrash metal, [2] melodic black metal [3]
Length50:11
Label THT Productions/Sonic Wave, Candlelight Productions
Producer Jeff/Kekal
Kekal chronology
Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae
(1996)		Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams
(1998)		 Embrace the Dead
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Matt MorrowStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
The Phantom TollboothStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]

Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams is the debut album by Indonesian extreme metal band Kekal released in 1998. Vocalist Harry left the band after the album's release. [4]

Indonesia Republic in Southeast Asia

Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is the world's largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands, and at 1,904,569 square kilometres, the 14th largest by land area and the 7th largest in combined sea and land area. With over 261 million people, it is the world's 4th most populous country as well as the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, contains more than half of the country's population.

Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal and visual transgression".

Kekal Indonesian metal band

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.

Contents

Recording

The music on the album features extremely fast melodic black metal mixed with classic and thrash metal, and incorporates a range of vocal styles such as high pitched black metal shrieks, death growls, and female singing. [3] Recorded on 16-track analog tape in April and December 1997 as two separate sessions, the album was originally released as a cassette by THT Productions in January 1998. Later in October 1998, Sonic Wave and Candlelight Productions re-released the album as CD and cassette with a different cover artwork. It went to sell 5000 copies total until being completely sold out in 2002. [5] The album was re-mastered and re-issued in June, 2014.

Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo. The songs usually use fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work. The lyrics often deal with social issues and criticism of The Establishment, using direct and denunciatory language, an approach borrowed from hardcore punk.

Singing act of producing musical sounds with the voice

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, gazal and popular music styles such as pop, rock, electronic dance music and filmi.

Death growl voice type

A death growl is a vocal style usually employed by death metal singers but also used in other heavy metal styles, such as metalcore. Death growls are sometimes criticized for their "ugliness". However, the harshness of death growls is in keeping with death metal's abrasive music style and often dark and obscene subject matter. The progressively more forceful enunciation of metal vocals has been noted from heavy metal to thrash metal to death metal.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Kekal; all music composed by Kekal.

No.TitleLength
1."Rotting Youth"3:32
2."Armageddon"5:19
3."Spirits"6:32
4."Deceived Minds"4:11
5."The Conversion"5:49
6."Behind Those Images"3:17
7."Reality"5:19
8."Escaping Eternal Suffering"5:18
9."A Day the Hatred Dies"6:15
10."My Eternal Lover"6:11

Personnel

Electric guitar electrified guitar; fretted stringed instrument with a neck and body that uses a pickup to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses one or more pickups to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals. The vibration occurs when a guitar player strums, plucks, fingerpicks, slaps or taps the strings. The pickup generally uses electromagnetic induction to create this signal, which being relatively weak is fed into a guitar amplifier before being sent to the speaker(s), which converts it into audible sound.

Bass guitar Electric bass instrument

The bass guitar is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, except with a longer neck and scale length, and four to six strings or courses.

Drum machine electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments

A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds. Most modern drum machines allow users to program their own rhythms. Drum machines may create sounds using analog synthesis or play prerecorded samples.

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Jefray Kurnia "Jeff" Arwadi is a musician, music producer, and graphic designer, a native of Jakarta, Indonesia who now resides in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is mostly known as a former guitarist, vocalist, and record producer for the avant-garde/progressive metal band Kekal. Professionally, he has made a career as a graphic designer and has worked at various companies for more than a decade. In the past, he was also known in the music scene for his works as a freelance graphic designer under Soundmind Graphics, and until his 2006 move to Canada, Jeff owned and ran his own home-based recording studio, Vision Studio, in Jakarta. He also was a staff member of the record label THT Productions. In addition to his roles in Kekal, he was also the co-founder of progressive metal project Altera Enigma and was involved with bands such as Armageddon Holocaust and Inner Warfare.

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Leo Setiawan Indonesian musician

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Armageddon Holocaust was an Indonesian black metal band formed by two musicians known by the pseudonyms Doctor Dark and Dark Thriller.

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Autonomy is the ninth full-length studio album by Indonesian experimental metal band Kekal, first released on 19 December 2012 as CD version by German record label Whirlwind Records and then digitally by Indonesian record label Yes No Wave Music on June 29, 2013. This is a second Kekal album being recorded and released without official band members. The digital version of Autonomy can be downloaded for free from Archive.org.

References

  1. ↑ Cantwell, Alex (14 March 1999). "Interview with Jeff". Chronicles of Chaos. Open Publishing. Retrieved 26 August 2010. Near the end of the interview, Jeff talks about the band members' Christianity.
  2. 1 2 3 4 King, Chris (31 July 1999). "Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams". tollbooth.org. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Morrow, Matt. "Kekal - Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams". TheWhippingPost. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  4. ↑ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Kekal". AllMusic . All Media Guide . Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  5. ↑ Arwadi, Jeff. "Official Kekal Discography". Open Publishing. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
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