CD REVIEW: DEATH VOMIT (Jogja Corpsegrinder) - "Forging a Legacy" CD (2014), by Andrew Sick

Death Vomit (Jogjakarta Corpsegrinder) - Forging a Legacy (Armstretch Records)

The Indonesian f***ing gods of Death Metal Death Vomit are back after eight f***ing years to dump their second full length album "Forging a Legacy"! The line-up of this f***ing bomb is Sofyan Hadi (Guitar / Vocals), Oki Haribowo (Bass / Guitar / Vocals), Roy Agus (Drums) and the brutal f***ing trio are performing a Death F***ing Metal adding a big Brutal Death Metal touch with a total outstanding Death Metal composition that makes you f***ing addicted! Vocals of this shit are f***ing great, diverse and f***ing powerful, riffs are for the most totally f***ing great and enjoyable as f*** with a present and great job at the bass and finally the drums of this f***ing shit are just damn perfect to all f***ing levels, f***ing tight as shit, varied and f***ing sick with a great performance for the complete trio! "Forging a Legacy" consists of nine songs and lasts about 33 minutes of pure f***ing excellence with a composition almost f***ing perfect sharing a great atmosphere with a knowledge of the true Death Metal without any f***ing doubts! A production f***ing flawless, perfect mixing and sound, f***ing heavy with much depth making this f***ing shit really sounds like a f***ing bomb right in your shitty f***ing ears! Death Vomit have managed to make a triumphant return with this powerful addictive f***ing release with mostly catchy f***ing parts and eargasmic to listen with perhaps the only negative part being having two songs which are a little less dynamic and enjoyable but without removing the brutal momentum of this majestic f***ing shit! "Forging a Legacy" is a f***ing must for all Death Metal / Brutal Death sickos and Death Vomit is touching the perfection and certainly making the history of the extreme musick! F***ing Outstanding Shit! 9/10. [This review was first published by Andrew Sick of Sick Reviews on 1 January 2015 and is used here with his kind permission.]

Oki Haribowo (DEVO bassist), Kieran James (Busuk Chronicles), and Corna Irawan (then DEVO band manager) in Jogja at the monument shown in the intro to the Flames of Hate DVD, October 2011.

Jogjakarta Corpsegrinder Community @ Avila Studio, October 2011. Andria Higa is seated.

Left to Right: Corna Irawan, Corna's sister, Oki Haribowo, Roy Agus (DEVO drummer) when Roy's son Jordy was born, October 2011

Left to Right: Oki Haribowo, Kieran James, Sofyan Hadi (DEVO guitarist / vocalist), and Corna Irawan @ Hard Rock Cafe, Jogja, October 2011.

DEATH VOMIT band 1997

DEATH VOMIT band 1997

NEW INTERVIEW: 13TH STEP TO SOFYAN HADI's WORLD (DEATH VOMIT), by Jason Xenophobic

We often know very little about the musicians that make up the metal scene. So think of these questions as taking you 13 Steps closer to knowing the heart and soul of metal musicians - what’s inside their head and what makes them tick. Enjoy \m/

Jason H: Hi how are you, any chance I can throw a few small questions at you if it's no inconvenience?

1 Which do you prefer - whiskey or beer? Beer.

2 What's your view on marijuana? Should it be legalised or not? I don t know, no big deal if it is or not.

3. What is the reasoning behind your opinion? Because I am not a connoisseur of marijuana.

4 Favourite metal show you attend? Virtually all musical events I attended are memorable. It’s difficult to choose which is the most memorable.

5 Who is your favourite non Metal singer? Iwan Fals.

6 And who is your favourite non Metal Band? Pink Floyd.

7 If you could perform anywhere in the world where would it be? In addition to Japan, I love America, Germany and some European countries.

8 If it's not too personal for me to ask, are you religious? Yes.

9 What do you think of the metal situation ATM? Metal now, I think, is in a good place, although I think it did flatline at the end of the '90s. This is what I felt anyway in my city of Yogyakarta.

10 Do you believe anyone can ever be too old to play metal? Will you ever be too old for metal? Until now I had never felt old in this music. There are some people who may feel they are too old and legitimately so. I believe this because some of those people are around me.

11 Have you ever hooked up with your fans? Not fans, rather a friend. I am happy and they often meet for a chat or a cup of coffee.

12 If you could be reincarnated what or who would you like to come back as? Nothing, I don’t believe in reincarnation.

13 Would you like to come back at all? I am quite happy to be myself like this.

@SOFYAN HADI/ Xenophobic Entertainment/ Xenophobic Records Australia 2016

[By Jason Xenophobic and used here with his kind written permission.]

CLASSIC INTERVIEW: Oki Death Vomit talks about the Australian tour 2010

Oki Haribowo (bass/ vocals) of DEATH VOMIT talks about AUSTRALIAN TOUR (Yogyakarta brutal death-metal)

By Dr Kieran James 

Interview at: Yogya train station, 12 October 2011

Kieran James: Oki, do you want to do some interview now because I think we must wait here 30 minutes to collect the train ticket?

Oki Haribowo: Yes, sure, mate.

KJ: What were your goals for the Australian Death Vomit tour?

Oki: We went to Australia not to make money but to make the link so that other bands can go to Australia. We had two aims: to play all the shows and to see the [Sydney] Opera House!

KJ: And you really achieved those two things! I saw your picture at Opera House on Jason’s Facebook. Do you know Metallica had a band pic taken at exactly the same place? It’s on their website, in the 1988-91 pictures section.

Oki: With Jason Newstead?

KJ: Yes.

KJ: Tell me more of your experiences of the Australian tour.

Oki: In Perth [first show] it was a good crowd, in Amplifier Bar, about 300 to 400 people. The other show had around 30-40. In Amplifier Bar we played with Napalm Death and Dying Fetus. We also played at Civic Hotel [Inglewood, Perth northern suburbs]. The next show was in Geelong then in Melbourne.

Oki, Kieran (BUSUK) & Corna (DEVO manager) 

KJ: Where did you get the most excited crowds?

Oki: For me the most excited crowds were when we played in Perth, Geelong, and Brisbane. All the cities we played were excited.

KJ: What were the supporting bands like?

Oki: In Perth, Geelong, and Brisbane we played with death-metal bands. In the other cities [Melbourne and Sydney] we played with metalcore bands.

KJ: Here is a question I think many Indonesian metalheads want to know about: What were the fans like there compared to Indonesian shows?

Oki: I met some people over there and they wanted to buy our merchandise but they wanted to see us play first on the stage. If they like our music they will buy our merchandise. I like that, it’s different from here. Here they buy the CDs for their collections. Us three guys we were very nervous, we play [to] a different culture, a different people. In 1994-95 death-metal was born in Yogya, we use the name Jogjakarta Corpse Grinder for the community like Bandung Death Metal Syndicate. We knew each other from the tee-shirts. If I was using the Suffocation tee-shirt [in the early days] but I had not heard Suffocation people would tell me not to wear the shirt until I had heard Suffocation. It’s different from now; young people [now] will wear every tee-shirt even if they have not heard the music. We call the posers “abal-abal”, it means same as posers.

KJ: Did you meet any of the other bands?

Oki: Yes. I met Grotesque from Perth; they are nice people, in Sydney Daemonfetalharvest.

KJ: Did you notice with some of the crowds there, because it is in a bar, some people headbang up the front then at the back others just stand still watching you holding their beer glasses?

Oki: Over there the people show their respect in a different way. In Australia they stand up with a glass of beer. You cannot smoke over there in the pub, it’s different here. Three of us got the flu in Melbourne. When we played in Sydney our vocalist [Sofyan] wanted to say the title of the song, he coughed, and the crowd were laughing.

KJ: Did you see any Indonesians in the crowds at any shows?

Oki: I saw some Indonesians in the crowd in Melbourne; rich people came to the show.

KJ: How did you first meet Jason [Hutagalung of Xenophobic Records who organized the tour]?

Oki: We met Jason in Solo in Rock in Solo [when we were] supporting Psycroptic [Australia], Burgerkill and [playing with] other Solo bands, in 2009 maybe.

KJ: Did you ask Jason or he asked you to do the Australian tour?

Oki: Jason asked us to play there in Australia, [for] all the cities we played in Australia Jason arranged all.

KJ: Have you got any other special experiences in the tour to share with us?

Oki: I remember in Melbourne it was five degrees, it was really fucking, fucking cold, I never experienced such cold [KJ: and this was spring not winter!] I went walking in a shirt to buy Smirnoff with no shoes, it was really cold.

Oki, Kieran, Corna, Japang, 13 Oct 11

KJ: Were you surprised by Australia?

Oki: It’s all a surprise. We could not think everything before we went there.When we were still here we wondered what was going to happen there. What would the crowd be like? Are they happy with our race, Asian?

KJ: What bands are most influential for you?

Oki: Malevolent Creation, Deicide, most of the old-school stuff, Exodus, thrash-metal, and other genres such as Janis Joplin playing jazz music. My favourite Malevolent Creation albums are Ten Commandments, Retribution, and Stillborn.

KJ: I have Retribution, most of the songs are slow or medium but the few fast ones are excellent.

KJ: Is there any new song you want to talk about?

Oki: We have a new song “Dark Ancients” about the glorious darkness, [and] everything about the hell, everything in the era of the prophets like Mohammed and Jesus.

KJ: What do you think about the black-metal scene in Indonesia?

Oki: All the black-metal people in the bands here, their religion is Islam. I don’t say all the bands but most of them their lyrics are against Christianity, for me it is ridiculous. Like with Glen Benton [Deicide vocalist] he had the real experience with Christianity because his father was a pastor...

KJ: I don’t think his father was a pastor. I think his parents just took him to the Sunday school. His aunt was a witch and that led him in that direction.

Oki: Yes!

KJ: Jason always talks about Funeral Inception; they were strong in opposing the Islamic fundamentalist scene in Jakarta, right?

Oki: Yes. My opinion is [musically] Funeral Inception is like Suffocation from era ofEffigy of the Forgotten to Pierced from Within.

[At this time the interview ends because my number was called so I had to collect my train ticket]

The following conversation was when I was riding on the back of Oki’s motorcycle on the same day, 12 October 2011, also in Yogya:

KJ: What are some problems playing death-metal here in Yogya?

Oki: The problem with death-metal in Indo is money. The people need jobs and it is hard to manage both work and band. Two years ago it was hard for me to leave my job to play [shows] outside Yogya. Now I have a sandwich shop franchise with my girlfriend. I quit the job just before the Australian tour.

Oki at hospital where Roy's baby born, 12 Oct 11

KJ: So you are college graduate? What did you study?

Oki: Yes. I studied in management. After I graduated my parents required me to get a job. They did not understand death-metal! It’s a conservative culture. They will not accept a baby before marriage.

[More Death Vomit interviews are on BUSUK CHRONICLE WEBZINE including “Oki talks about Agung”].  

METAL HISTORY / TRIBUTE: Oki Devo & Man Jasad talk about Agung (1977-2000)

Left to right : roy agus (drum) wearing sonic torment shirt, wawan (guitar) wearing rotten corpse longsleeve, camel (bass) wearing eternal madness shirt, willman (guitars) wearing death vomit logo, agung (vocals) wearing deicide shirt.

Interview with Oki (DEATH VOMIT), burger shop, Yogya, 13 October 2011

By Dr Kieran James

Oki, Kieran, Corna @ Yogya, 13 October 2011

Extra comments by: Mr Corna Irawan (Death Vomit band manager).

Introduction: Agung was the former vocalist of Yogyakarta brutal death-metal band DEATH VOMIT. Agung sadly died, like the Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious, of drugs at age 22. On this page I give my interviews with two of Agung’s best mates, Oki of DEATH VOMIT and Man of JASAD. As Oki says, Agung was a real death-metal guy who lived the death-metal life. He brought together the punk, metal, and reggae scenes in Yogya. We hope that there will be a statue of Agung in Yogya one day just as there is now a statue of Bon Scott of AC/DC at the Fremantle waterfront at Perth, Australia. If Agung had known DEATH VOMIT would do an Australian tour he surely would have been very proud.

Kieran James: Oki, can you please tell me, mate, what do you remember about Agung?

Oki Haribowo (bassist DEATH VOMIT): Agung had a good attitude and a bad attitude like some [other] metal people. He was a good vocalist, a good friend of mine, it is sad for me he had to die yeah.

KJ: Do you ever think of him when the band plays?

Oki: No, but sometimes when I’m alone in my room and see his picture sometimes I miss him. Almost every day he listened to his own band Death Vomit. He was a big fan of the vocalist of Dismember [Sweden] [Matti Kärki].

KJ: Was his voice different to Sofyan’s voice?

Oki: His voice was different from Sofyan’s, maybe [Agung’s voice was] like the first Suffocation [album] Effigy of the Forgotten. He always told his experiences of life through the lyrics. The old Death Vomit lyrics talked about his own experiences of life.

KJ: Were people shocked by his death?

Oki: Everyone was shocked when he died. No-one imagined he was going to be dead. He was using drugs but he looked healthy. He always made jokes every day. When we hung around every day and he was there the situation was always good with Agung. There used to be a line between punk and metal, we didn’t know each other well. Because of Agung the punk and metal communities can work together. He was a friend of the metal community and a friend of the punk community.

KJ: So he would have liked my jacket with metal and punk patches on it [laughs]?

Oki: Yes! People from all the genres of music came to the funeral, metal people, punk people, and reggae people. Everyone loved him. Even Man, he is death-metal from Bandung, but he was the closest friend to Agung. Man comes to Agung’s grave when Jasad plays Yogya.

Oki @ Bon Scott statue, Fremantle,

KJ: How do you feel to take his place?

Oki: I never thought about it before [laughs] but maybe I will do my best in the band because the band belongs to Agung too. If I just have fun [in the band] it looks like I have a sin, you know what I mean? We finished high school and I knew he did not want to go to college or working. He wanted to do something totally death-metal. When we launched The Prophecy, we played the song “Gelap” without vocals and we imagined Agung was singing. There was a mic in front of us and we were pretending Agung was there. Agung used to call me a “parasite” because I switched from one band to the next. I remember, when I joined Death Vomit, Agung said words like that so I made a commitment to myself that I don’t want to change bands again.

KJ: Was there any anti-drugs campaign after Agung’s death?

Oki: Maybe not 100% but there was a small campaign. When Agung died Death Vomit made a small sticker. I forget the words but the point was Death Vomit is against drugs. It’s like on the old metal CDs where there was a warning that alcohol and drugs can harm your life. It’s almost like that but we made a sticker. The point was: “Drugs are a danger to your life”.

Corna Irawan (band manager of Death Vomit): The sticker is: “Stop the Madness”.

Oki: “...Drugs are a danger for your life!”

Oki: I see the strong character of Agung in death-metal because of his lifestyle; he had the strong character of a death-metal person.

KJ: Thanks very much for sharing so many things with me mate. I think the fans will really like to hear all these things you tell me. Of course this interview will go into my book.

Oki: No worries, we should finish off our burgers now before we go to Avila recording studio tonight to meet the bands!

Man Jasad with American researcher @ Common Room

Man (JASAD) remembers Agung:

Interview by Kieran James at “The Common Room”, Bandung, 3am, 11 October 2011:

Kieran James: Man, if you have a few minutes can you tell me some more about Agung of Death Vomit?

Man (JASAD): Many of my friends in Yogyakarta passed away from drugs, heroin. When I see Death Vomit perform [today] I see the former singer Agung. I’m luckier than him because I still survive now. I lived in a normal family with mother and father, not like Agung. Agung, from when he was born until he passed away, he never met his parents. I told him not to use drugs but he used more and more, he died very young, aged 22...

KJ: The same age as Sid Vicious...

Man: A lot of good friends of mine in the past were victims of heroin and drugs so I dedicate part of my life to helping drug users and people with AIDS.  If I meet the baby with HIV they are [just] unlucky, born to a mother with HIV.

KJ note: Our conversation on this topic ended here. It was a very busy night at "The Common Room" in Bandung and Man had other people to talk to.

DEATH VOMIT band 1997 (JOGJAKARTA CORPSEGRINDER community)

One night in Jogja. Left to Right: Kieran James (Busuk Webzine), Oki Haribowo (bassist Death Vomit), Ms Nilu (Jogjanews.com), Unknown, Corna Irawan (DEVO manager), 11 Oct 2011

AGUNG REST IN PEACE

CONCERT REVIEW: DEATH VOMIT (INDONESIA) live @ Step Inn, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, 15 September 2010

DEATH VOMIT with tour promoter and financier Jason Hutagalung (XENOPHOBIC RECORDS) (centre, third from left), 2010 Australian tour

My Rating: 92%.

Yogyakarta-based death-metal band Death Vomit made history in the second half of 2010 by being the first Yogyakarta band and second Indonesian metal band (after Burgerkill from Bandung) to play shows in Australian cities. I attended the last concert of the tour, at a hotel called Step Inn in the Brisbane entertainment and nightclub district called Fortitude Valley or just “the Valley”. Death Vomit is Oki Haribowo (bass), Roy Agus (drums) and Sofyan Hadi (guitar/ vocals). 

Death Vomit was the fourth band on the bill for the metal show that night and it was the headline band. Step Inn is the primary metal venue for the sub-tropical city of Brisbane (population 1.5 million). It is a traditional working-class pub (hotel) which has not been modernised and gentrified to cater for the new young professional class in Brisbane. Step Inn shows attract the dedicated death-metal crowd wearing denims and leather and the death-metal uniform, known throughout the world, of black tee-shirts featuring spiky and unreadable band logos. Because it is a pub most of the venue’s revenues are from beer sales. As I entered this night the group of young guys ahead of me, dressed in Cannibal Corpse tee-shirts, were asked to produce photo ID cards. As a matter of habit and reflex I then showed my ID card to the security. Everyone had a great laugh as I am 43-years-old and with turning grey hair! Furthermore young guys in Australia don't wear Obituary tee-shirts (sadly). Because it was a licensed liquor venue only those aged 18 and above can enter so Death Vomit’s guys would have found the audience very different to a typical Indonesian show where most fans are teenagers (for example Bleeding Corpse’s show at Cibinong on 8 October 2011).

Sofyan and Oki with DEVO merch

Death Vomit started playing around 8pm. There was a crowd of around 70 or 80, of all ages from 18 upwards to 40s or 50s. The crowd was different from an Indonesian crowd by being older as heavy-metal in the west now has a 35 or 40 year history and older fans are now aged in their 40s and 50s. A row around three deep of fanatical metalheads was headbanging up the front, as you would see in Indonesia, but then there was a few metres of empty space and a second group of metalheads stood at the back, beers in hands, and just watching the show. This group may have been a little alarming to Death Vomit as they seemed so still like rocks but actually they had to stand still as beer is served in glasses which break if dropped on the floor! 

I could see Death Vomit was nervous; they took time to start their set. The second they started they were brilliant as usual. The band members won over the crowd by their aggressive and yet very cohesive and professional performance. The band does something rare as Sofyan uses death-metal growl vocals but these are echoed by Oki’s high black-metal shrieks. The only way to improve for DEVO might be more guitar solos by Sofyan (or add Ralph Santolla as the fourth band member!!) The three or four Australian metal fans I spoke to after the gig were very impressed by the band. Yogyakarta’s metal ambassadors had passed a major test! Former vocalist Agung, who died aged 22, would have been very proud of his band. Australia waits for more bands from the Yogyakarta back streets and college campuses!

See also the two interviews with DEATH VOMIT (one more to come) posted in "DEATH VOMIT" pages of our website - choose English or Indonesian.

[By Kieran James, first written for Jogjanews.com, 19 November 2011].

Oki Devo @ Roman Catholic Hospital, Jogja, when Roy's son Jordy was born, October 2011

Left to Right: Corna Irawan (DEVO manager), Corna's sister, Oki Haribowo, Roy Agus, October 2011

Left to Right: Kieran James (Busuk Webzine), Oki Haribowo (DEVO bassist), Ms. Nilu (jogjanews.com), Unknown, and Corna Irawan (DEVO manager) @ Jogja October 2011

Left to Right: Oki Haribowo (DEVO bassist), Kieran James (Busuk Webzine), and Corna Irawan (DEVO manager) @ Central Yogya, October 2011. This place can be seen in the intro to Flames of Hate DVD.