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Acidity
Acidity
Studio album by Kekal
Released	February 2005 (THT Productions/T.O.P/Musica Studios, cassette); March 2005 (Fear Dark Records, CD)
Recorded	Vision Studio, Jakarta, Indonesia; Studio Vertigo, Melbourne, Australia
Genre	Avant-garde metal, electronic, extreme metal, heavy metal
Length	56:06
Label	THT Productions/T.O.P.; Fear Dark Records
Producer	Jeff Arwadi; Mixed at Vision Studio
Kekal compilations chronology
Kekal studio albums chronology

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Arising Realm Magazine	9.0/10^[1]
HM Magazine	favorable^[2]
Imperiumi.net	5+/10^[3]
Metal Storm	7/10^[4]
Powermetal.de	Highly favorable^[5]
"Psych Folk" Radio	Extremely favorable^[6]
Rock Tribune Magazine	85/100
Terrorizer	8.5/10

Acidity is the fifth album by Indonesian avant-garde metal band Kekal. It was recorded in celebration of the band's tenth anniversary, and was an official reunion album for the band.^[2]^[7]^[8] It marked the return of guitarist Leo Setiawan to the band, and includes the vocal talents of founding member Newbabe. The album was released following the band's successful 2004 European mini-tour, and a promotional concert and release party was held for the album on 13 March 2005 in Indonesia.^[9] It was considered by many to be the band's strongest work to date,^[10] and is one of four albums available for free download from the band on its website.

There is a music video created for the song "Dream for a Moment".^[11]

Concept

The band has stated that while each song does not represent the overall sound of the album, each song contributes to the album concept.^[8] According to Jeff, the title is referencing acid indigestion caused by urban stress and eating fast food, and represents the stress of city living and economic hardship.^[12]

Style

Acidity continued with the experimental precedent set by 1000 Thoughts of Violence and included a wide variety of musical styles including avant-garde, black metal, classic rock, electronic, indie rock, progressive metal, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, and trip hop.^[2]^[13] Other elements incorporated into the sound were jazz and ambient passages as well as double-bass drum blasts.^[2] The vocals range from black metal shrieks to death growls to clean vocal styles.^[2] A review by progressive.homestead.com, a division of "Psych Folk" Radio, listed the album style as including elements of "symphonic metal, heavy metal (more like early Iron Maiden), dark and brutal metal, even a few seconds of hiphop metal".^[6] Other elements cited were "gothic wave", jazzy melodies and improvisations, "pop song orientation with metal background", "progressive techno-electronic", "wild" progressive rock, and "some mad freakout theatrical avant-garde vocals", ambient guitar feedback, and "perhaps of few seconds of some Indonesian element."^[6]

In an interview on Ultimate Metal.com, Jeff responded to the band being labeled "avant-garde": "For us, avant-garde is not a classification of music. It is a state of being, a state of becoming... ...once your music can be classified easily, I don't think the word progressive or avant-garde fits. So that's why we mention in our bio that "avant-garde" is an ideal state for us, and not a classification."^[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jeff Arwadi

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Characteristicon"	5:59
2.	"Strength in My Weakness"	4:56
3.	"Thy Neighbor's Morality"	7:25
4.	"A Dream for a Moment"	5:50
5.	"Broken"	4:46
6.	"Envy and Its Manifesto"	5:59
7.	"The Way of Thinking Beyond Comprehension"	8:51
8.	"Romanitika Destruksi"	2:25
9.	"Blessing in Disguise"	5:38
10.	"Empty Space"	4:08

Line up

Jeff Arwadi – vocals, guitars, programming, mixing
Azharlevi Sianturi – bass, vocals
Leo Setiawan – guitars
Newin Atmarumeksa – vocals

With special guests:

Didi Priyadi of Happy Day – guitars
Jason DeRon of Paramaecium, Altera Enigma – guitar
L. Rion – drums
Hans Kurniawan of Inner Warfare – keys^[15]

References

^ Freitag, Michael. "Kekal - Acidity". Arising Realm Magazine. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Morrow, Matt (2005). "HM - Kekal Review". HM Magazine Sep/Oct Issue (#115). HM Magazine. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
^ Korpinen, Antti (3 October 2006). "Kekal - Acidity". Imperiumi.net (in Finnish). Retrieved 16 June 2012.
^ Promonex. "Kekal - Acidity - Rating details". Metal Storm. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
^ Lang, Stefan (2 April 2005). "Kekal - Acidity". Powermetal.de (in German). Weihrauch Median Verlang. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Kekal : Acidity". Progressive.homestead.com. "Psyche Folk" Radio. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
^ Neithan (2 June 2005). "Music is very unique and personal". Archaic Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
^ ^a ^b Kekal. "Acidity (2005)". Kekal.org. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
^ Kekal. "Kekal Shows". Kekal.org. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Kekal". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
^ Spitonitself (1 June 2007). "KEKAL - A Dream for A Moment". YouTube. Retrieved 2 June 2012.^{[dead YouTube link]}
^ Kekal (11 September 2010). "Flashback, 15 Years of Kekal (1995 - 2010) - Part III: Acidity". Facebook. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
^ Wagner, Jeff (2010). Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal. Bazillion Points Books. p. 342. ISBN 9780979616334. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
^ Jordan, Jason. "Kekal - UltimateMetal Revisits Indonesia". UltimateMetal.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
^ Lang, Stefan (28 April 2005). "Interview mit Jeff Arwadi" (in German). Powermetal.de. Retrieved 12 February 2011.