The Devil is defeated, darkness has lost its Power Fire and Brimstone will torment him eternally (Revelation 20:10) (Song #7: Reality) I am sure most ours’ knowledge of the Revelations is limited to what was told to us by the veteran Brit-Legends, Iron Maiden. Here’s a band from Indonesia, out to educate everybody about some other intricacies of the Bible, Christianity, etc. in between their blasts of damn good music. Kekal, from Indonesia, is a black metal band with a Thrash influence / feel. However, they’re a far cry from the usual black metal bands of the world, in that they don’t ascribe to the "Support the War Against Christianity" theory. In fact, just the opposite. Their attitude is highly positive; their lyrics are pro-Christian, anti-satanic and promoting light and positivism rather than darkness and evil. While I don’t know if they are really serious about what they preach, it definitely is a strong stand against posers who like some music only if it’s blasphemous / evil / controversial. Personally, I don’t have any problem with the Pro-Christian attitude. But the idea of Light doesn’t appeal to me. Black metal music always felt better with an aura of darkness / coldness / grimness around it (How many of you have heard Burzum in a dark isolated room – the feeling is INTENSE!!!!!). Anyway, to get back to Kekal, most of their songs are musically "typical" of black metal, in their tone – pretty straightforward, fast, aggressive. There is the classic high-pitch vocals (although there are growls, deep throat vocals too intermittently), a raw, angry, black feel. The closest example to another album would be Marduk’s "Those of the Unlight" – you can notice the intermediate feel between too polished or refined sound (la Dark Funeral, Setherial) and the totally raw feel (la Darkthrone). The guitar tone is not as distinctly Black as the typical Scandinavian bands. It’s my guess that the tone of guitar and drums are problems due to lack of good equipment. (Well, it’s definitely better than most of Indian Recordings I have heard). For all you know, it might be the band’s aim to achieve such a sound. All said and done, I could really appreciate their music. Moreover, what sets them apart from the umpteen other bands is their strong song-based approach to writing music. Within first few listens, you’d be easily able to identify and even hum along their songs (I’d not like to use the word "catchy" because it brings in wrong connotations). There is a lot of variation in their songs and each is complete in itself. Most songs have a bit of Thrash influence, more so when the solos come in. Sparing a couple of songs towards the end of the album, which were slow / doomy (to me, even slightly balladic), I enjoyed all songs. The coldest and darkest song is undoubtedly "Bring Those Images". Overall, I found "The Conversion" to be the best song. There are female vocals in few songs, which are more of an interruption than an embellishment. Overall, the whole album, while no way short of aggression, is also highly "accessible" and enjoyable. Definitely worth checking out.