Ajal: “Ajal Tiba Bila Seruan Menjelma” demo (2010)

Playing Black Metal with touches of Thrash and hints of Eastern Metal, Ajal quoted local bands such as As Sahar,Nebiras, Mistik and Rator and international bands with the likes of Darkthrone, Bathory and Marduk as their influences. After listened to their demo, I could say I agreed Ajal is indeed playing Eastern Black/Thrash Metal, the Eastern Metal essences really showed up musically, so does with Thrash but lyrically, well that’s another story. Instead of being a straight worshipper/rip off of early Eastern Black Metal pioneers like countless other Malaysian Eastern Black Metal bands did (no need to mention names heheh), Ajal did not stray into superstitious belief, ghosts or any ancient folklores. Instead Ajal speaks about death,sin, darkside of life and many more. Now that’s something different, I guess.

Enough crapping about the band, onward to the songs themselves.

Hukuman ke Tali Gantung – This song started with a sample taken from a television news about death sentence (hanging) before the music kicked off. I was kinda annoyed with the lead guitar, It seems to be out of place and played half-hearted. The drummer executed a standard thrashy beat. The vocals, mannnnnn, the vocals! I would say the vocalist sounded very beastly not only in this song, but also throughout the whole demo! By the way, bass guitar didn’t really made it presence felt in this song, and sadly, in other songs as well.

Susuk Kheramat – This song ,just like the first one, started with an ambient sound. Guitar works in this song is better than the first one. Though I mentioned the vocalist sounded evil and beastly before, I began to realised his singing is barely intelligible. To be honest I can’t even guess wheteher he is singing in Bahasa or English! Once again, the lead guitar killed the mood with his uninspired lead works. The drummer gave a decent beat, just nice, not sloppy and not too technical either.

Ajal Tiba Bila Seruan Menjelma – Again, a sample is played at the beginning of the song. Wow, just when I thought only grindcore bands like to include samples in their song. Creative but Ajal overused it, thus made me felt all the songs posses the same flow. Again, the lead guitar really destroyed the mood. Come on, come up with comething real catchy,man!At this point, I felt if in the future Ajal decides to re-release the demo, please, either exclude the guitar solo or re-record it. It’s awful and I guess it is the biggest drawback of the demo,as well as the absence of bass (I know black metal bands usually have a very low bass mix,but hey it’s just an opinion).

I skipped the cover song totally.

Pros:
-Good ideas were thrown into the songs.
-They play Eastern Black Metal, with the touch of Thrash which something new

Cons:
-Though the ideas are good, the songs are badly executed (Bad production is excused, it’s black metal,who needs a clean production?!)
-Overuse of samples,and all samples are played at the beginning of the songs,thus ruining the listening experience
-Bass guitars are rarely heard
-Weak and uninspired guitar solos, might as well just exclude them.

I pick Susuk Kheramat as the most outstanding track of the demo. Being the first demo from them, Ajal still have lots to improve. Fans of Black Metal with raw edge will definitely dig this.

Rating: 5/10

Ajal can be contacted here.

update: Ajal requested the review to be written in Bahasa, and as part of our effort to promote local bands, we are pleased to grant their request!

Kali ini gua akan melakukan ulasan singkat tentang demo debut pertama ajal ‘Ajal Bila Tiba Seruan Menjelma’ . Dirilis pada tahun ini, hanya 66 copy diterbitkan dan terdiri dari 3 lagu sendiri dan 1 lagu cover dari SYJ iaitu:

-Hukuman ke Tali Gantung
-Susuk Kheramat
-Ajal Tiba Bila Seruan Menjelma
-Hati Syaitan (SYJ cover)

Ajal adalah:

Rohja’at – vocals
Shie’thunt – lead guitars
Warxsick – rythm guitars
Nizumaut – Bass
Luhant’nath – drums

Bermain Black Metal dengan sentuhan Thrash dan Eastern Metal, Ajal menamakan band tempatan seperti As Sahar, Nebiras, Mistik dan Rator dan band antarabangsa seperti Darkthrone, Bathory dan Marduk sebagai pengaruh mereka. Setelah mendengar demo mereka, gua boleh katakan bahawa gua bersetuju Ajal memang bermain Eastern Black / Thrash Metal, Elemen Eastern Metal memang muncul secara musically, begitu juga dengan Thrash tapi ldari segi irik, itu cerita lain. Daripada menjadi band yang meniru bulat-bulat gaya band-band terawal Eastern Black Metal seperti band Eastern Metal generasi baru yang lain (tidak perlu menyebut nama heheh), Ajal sebaliknya berbicara kepercayaan takhyul, hantu atau kisah kuno. Sebaliknya Ajal berbicara tentang kematian, dosa, sisi gelap kehidupan dan banyak lagi. Itu sesuatu yang berbeza, gua rasa.

Cukup bercakap tentang band, mari terus ke lagu-lagunya.

Hukuman Ke Tali Gantung – Lagu ini bermula dengan sampel yang diambil dari sebuah berita televisyen tentang hukuman mati (gantung) sebelum muzik menerjah masuk. Gua agak upset dengan lead guitar, berbunyi macam out of place dan tidak bersungguh-sungguh. Drummernya bermain standard beat Thrash. Vokalnya wahhhh vokalnya!! Gua berani mengatakan vokalis terdengar sangat beastly (apa erti beastly dalam Bahasa eh?hahah!) tidak hanya dalam lagu ini, tetapi juga sepanjang semua lagu dalam demo! By the way, bass tidak benar-benar membuat kehadiran terasa di lagu ini, dan sedihnya, dalam lagu-lagu lain juga.

Susuk Kheramat – Lagu ini, seperti yang pertama, bermula dengan bunyi ambient (barangkali sampel juga). Guitar works dalam lagu ini lebih baik dari yang pertama. Walaupun gua cakap vokalis terdengar jahat dan jijik , gua mula menyedari nyanyiannya hampir tidak difahami. Sejujurnya gua tidak boleh meneka samada vokalis bernyanyi dalam Bahasa atau bahasa Inggeris! Sekali lagi, lead guitar membunuh mood dengan solo gitar yang lemau. Drummer memberi beat yang elok ,hanya bagus, tidak sloppy dan tidak terlalu teknikal.

Ajal Bila Tiba Seruan Menjelma – Sekali lagi, sebuah sampel dimainkan di awal lagu. gua fikir hanya band-band grindcore yang memasukkan sampel dalam lagu mereka. Kreatif tetapi Ajal overuse penggunaan sampel, sehingga membuat gua rasa semua lagu mempunyai flow yang sama. Sekali lagi, lead guitar membunuh mood! Tolong berikan sesuatu yang kreatif la brader! Pada ketika ini, guarasa kalau di masa depan aAal memutuskan untuk kembali merilis demo ini sila exclude gitar solo atau record semula. Ia awful dan gua kira itu adalah kelemahan terbesar demo ini, serta tidak adanya bass (gua tahu band black metal biasanya memiliki cmix bass sangat rendah, tapi itu hanya pendapat).

Gua skip cover song terus.

Pros:
-Idea yang dihasilkan adalah bagus.
-Mereka bermain Eastern Black Metal , dengan sentuhan Thrash, dimana merupakan sesuatu yang baru

Cons:
-Walaupun dengan idea yang baik, execution lagu-lagu adalah buruk (produksi buruk adalah dimaafkan, sebab Black Metal mana memerlukan produksi yang clean?!)
-Overuse sampel, dan semua sampel yang dimainkan di awal lagu, sehingga merosakkan listening experience
-Bass gitar jarang kedengaran
-Solo gitar yang lemah dan tak bersemangat, baik exclude saja.

Gua memilih Susuk Kheramat sebagai lagu yang paling menyinar dalam demo ni Memandangkan ini demo pertama dari mereka, Ajal masih mempunyai kelemahan untuk dibaiki. Fans Black Metal dengan raw edge pasti akan suka .

Rating: 5 / 10

Penulis menggunakan Google Translate untuk menterjemahkan artikel.Sungguh pemalas LOL.