NEWS: Selamat / Happy Wedding Uus Death (Bleeding Corpse) and Gina, Bandung, 21/1/2018.

NEWS: Congratulation / Happy Wedding Uus Death (Bleeding Corpse / Death Womb Existence guitarist) and Gina, Bandung, 21 January 2018. 

Sakinah, Mawaddah, Warahmah.

Left to right: Kieran James, with Uus Death, Teguh Prasetyo, Ari Bejo, and Yadi Behom @ SERAK store, Jalan Cihampelas, Bandung, July 2016.

BLEEDING CORPSE Resurrection of Murder line-up. Left to right: Adrian Luk Luk (bass), Ari Bejo (drums), Uus Death (guitar), and Bob Rockiller (vocals) @ Cibinong, 8 October 2011.

Left to right: Glennder Bloodgusher, Uus Death, and Kieran James @ East Bandung, 9 October 2011.

METAL HISTORY: BLEEDING CORPSE (Bandung DM) live @ Cibinong, West Java, 8 October 2011

BLEEDING CORPSE Resurrection of Murder line-up. Left to Right: Adrian Luk Luk (bass), Ari Bejo (drums), Uus Death (guitar), and Bob Rockiller (vocals) @ Cibinong, 8 October 2011.

BLEEDING CORPSE concert review – Live in Cibinong, 8 October 2011

By Kieran James, 13 March 2012

With it now dark outside and the time past 7.00pm we headed back to the BLEEDING CORPSE tour bus in order to return from the Event Organizer’s house to the concert venue. As expected the bus driver now seemed to realize the impossible task that now confronted him and darkness made it far worse. He realized he could not reverse uphill all the way up the narrow road (around 100 metres to the main road) so he painstakingly reversed out from under the tree and then headed along the road in forward direction, away from the way we had come in. However, eventually he would have to turn around to come back unless the roads ahead were linked up somehow with those behind. There are no street lights on minor roads such as this one and so the driver was going to be confronted with a difficult task. He decided to reverse within a small T-junction which had buildings close in around it on all sides as well as trees and passers-by. It took an eternity to turn the bus around, and small movements in each direction were all halted abruptly by people inside and outside the bus shouting “hoy!” At one point I had given up hope that we would ever get out but, in Indonesia, generally things work out fine in the end especially when a major metal band is due to headline a nearby show!

The tour bus leaves Bandung 5am

The main street was much more crowded than it had been earlier in the day and much of the traffic heading in our direction was clearly made up of metalheads on motorcycles heading for the show. We made slow progress in the traffic but we eventually reached the venue. At the interview members of BLEEDING CORPSE had said that they wanted me to see how crazy their fans were. I would soon find out. We parked at the back of the compound which was then full of expectant metalheads and hundreds of parked motorcycles. The band went upstairs and walked through the crowd to the backstage area. I was invited to go with them but I decided it was time for the band to be preparing alone.

Popo (vocalist of DEMONS DAMN) and I stood at the back of the crowd next to someone connected to the organization of the show or who was high up in the metal hierarchy in Cibinong. We watched the last three of the support acts. All bands on the bill were death-metal and only BLEEDING CORPSE were from outside the city. There was a blackened thrash band and a band with female vocals. The aggression, speed, and enthusiasm of the music were exactly what the crowd wanted. Popo later estimated the crowd at around 500 inside the building and another 500 outside. Given that this was a death-metal only event in a provincial city, the size of the crowd will give a clear indication of the rising popularity of the death-metal sub-genre in Indonesia. As expected from a death-metal show, as opposed to just a metal show or just a rock show, the entire crowd wore the black death-metal tee-shirts. The vast majority of the crowd were teenagers. Some looked very young, from the westerner’s perspective, but were probably of junior high-school age. As some of the Bandung metalheads pointed out in interviews, death-metal is a trend, in certain circles and up to a certain point, in Bandung to the extent that many high-schoolers are in bands while primary-school children know what death-metal is (see my interview with Glenn of BLOODGUSH, Bandung, 10 October 2011). Glenn of BLOODGUSH says:

“Bandung death-metal is the biggest death-metal scene in Indonesia ... and in the world [laughs]. Now in Bandung the kids in junior high play death-metal and in primary school the kids will know about death-metal. It is most people [who] like death-metal here in Bandung; it’s bigger than in the other cities. Bandung has a slogan ‘Flower City’; we can change it to ‘Bandung Death Metal City’”.

This night in Cibinong girls made up around 5% or 10% of the crowd which is more than might be expected at a western death-metal show. Some of them clearly attended in small groups of girls rather than following a boyfriend as is the standard practice in the west. The girls seem to go because they enjoy the moshpit slamming and dancing. At the BLEEDING CORPSE show I managed to edge my way to close to the stage and took pictures whilst around one point five to two metres from the stage. The moshpit area at front and centre of stage stops and breaks up at the end of songs, allowing people to retreat away to the cooler areas near the open windows and other people to go forward to take their place. As such it is possible to edge closer and closer to the stage. The moshpit is made up of a circle pit and people frantically headbanging at the edges of the pit. All of these, apart from me of course, were very young fans. A practice which the Yogyakarta metalheads say is unique to Bandung is groups of young people standing in a semi-circle and raising their bodies up and down in unison; at the top of the cycle they raise their arms and wiggle the fingers like a primary-school child doing the stereotypical impression of a ghost or like someone manipulating hand puppets.

The announcer verbally baited and cajoled the crowd. He was speaking in either Indonesian or Sundanese but I did hear the frequent mention of the band name “BLEEDING CORPSE” so clearly he was aiming to excite the crowd further before BLEEDING CORPSE started playing. The room was around 80-90% at capacity so that in the front half people were quite close together while, in the back half, there was room to stand feet apart with arms folded and even to sit down between bands. With such a large number of people outside I was hoping the organizers were monitoring how many people were inside the hall at any one time as we did not want a repeat of the BESIDE show in Bandung where seven people were crushed to death. The people at the front were clearly the fanatical BLEEDING CORPSE contingent.

BLEEDING CORPSE @ Cibinong, Bobby (v), Luk (b), Uus (g), Ari (d).

For those who do not know Bobby Rock personally, he is a tall, gentle, charming, and peaceable Javanese man (considered an ethnic minority in Bandung) who has recently married the local Sundanese beauty and metal queen Popo. Bobby is gentle off-stage but a ball of aggression and energy on-stage. The BLEEDING CORPSE guitarists attract little attention and Bobby dominates people’s focus with his long hair, bare chest, and forearm spikes. BLEEDING CORPSE plays brutal and fast death-metal of the traditional type which is guaranteed to please a death-metal crowd. However, in all honesty, the songs all begin to sound the same with minimal variation in the vocals. I personally prefer the two faster songs at the end of BLEEDING CORPSE’s debut album Resurrection of Murder where Amenk of DISINFECTED and Man of JASAD do guest vocals on one song each. Popo later told me that the set included a mix of songs from the debut album and from the as yet unreleased second album. The headbanging was frantic and Bobby did a carefully managed stage dive. There is clearly personal rapport and mutual appreciation between Bobby and his fans which clearly extends geographically to Cibinong, three hours out of Bandung. The BLEEDING CORPSE show was a relentless wave of fury and energy, finished with an encore where the band began by standing with their backs to the audience. Bobby’s height is important for BLEEDING CORPSE’s visual image and it allows him to project his energy and will over a greater distance. It appeared to be an easy show for the band to the extent that the fans upfront were all clearly BLEEDING CORPSE devotees and Bobby did not have to win them over to his side during the course of the set as, for example, DEATH VOMIT had to do during that band’s Australian shows. Bobby is a classic front man who reminds me of the best front men from traditional 1980s metal where the front man’s personality, charisma, and showmanship were vital to the band’s whole sound and stage-show. Obvious examples are Udo Dirkschneider from ACCEPT; the late Ronnie James Dio from BLACK SABBATH, DIO, and RAINBOW; Bruce Dickinson from IRON MAIDEN; Rob Halford from JUDAS PRIEST; Biff Byford from SAXON; Klaus Mein from SCORPIONS; and the incomparable and brilliant Dee Snider from TWISTED SISTER. In more recent years I think of Justin Fleming from the Melbourne, Australia power-metal band PEGAZUS. It is impossible to imagine BLEEDING CORPSE without Bobby Rock.

One interesting point to note is that both shows I witnessed this weekend had security teams of ten or twelve people who stood on the stage looking out towards the crowd. They unobtrusively policed the crowds and stopped the crowds from moving on to the stage. They looked serious all the time and did not headbang or join in at all with the music. This alone demonstrates to attendees their official status. However, they wore black metal tee-shirts (plain shirts, not band shirts) rather than security guard uniforms and this was obviously a factor which made them less offensive and irritating to the two crowds. They appeared as “one of us” or as self-policers of the metal scene from within it rather than as outside labourers hired by a faceless corporation.

At the end of the set, I rejoined Popo who had remained standing with friends in the middle section of the crowd. We headed down the stairs and out to a quieter area to the right of the stairs and away from the front gates of the compound. Soon after Bobby joined us and his transformation from Superman back to mild-mannered Clarke Kent was as complete as it was astonishing. He was now the same gentle, soft-spoken, and charming man as before he had gone on to the stage. Daniel of TURBIDITY was with us none of the young concertgoers even recognized who Bobby and Daniel were or even looked in our direction. We waited a long time until Bobby had completely calmed down from the adrenaline high of being onstage. As we waited, much of the crowd dispersed into the night, tee-shirted slim youngsters on motorcycles heading, satisfied and happy, back to the roads, homes, and cafes out of which they had come a few hours before. This night BLEEDING CORPSE ruled in Cibinong!

[This review is published in my book called Struggle Anger Hate in the Indonesian Underground by Jack Frost which you can buy from Sofyan Hadi in Jogjakarta.]

BLEEDING CORPSE tour bus leaves Bandung for Cibinong 5am              

Roadside stop on the way leaving Bandung as the sun rises, 6.30am

Roadside stop on the way leaving Bandung as the sun rises, 6.30am. (That is Daniel Turbidity on the right side.)

BLEEDING CORPSE vokalis Bob Rockiller stops for food @ 8am

Soundcheck @ Cibinong, 11am - 12 noon

At Event Organiser's house before going to the venue, 6pm

BLEEDING CORPSE tour bus stops for KFC on the way back to Bandung after the show, 3am.

CD REVIEW: BLEEDING CORPSE (Bandung) - "Condemned to Suffer" CD (2014), by Andrew Sick

BLEEDING CORPSE 2016 Condemned to Suffer line-up: Left to Right: Adrian Luk Luk (bass), Ari Bejo (drums), Yadi Behom (vox), and Uus Death (guitar).

Bleeding Corpse (Bandung) - Condemned to Suffer CD (Groupies Merch)

The human slaughterhouse named Bleeding Corpse is f***ing back to spread their butchery with their highly anticipated second shitty act of dismemberment entitled "Condemned to Suffer" after six years without perpetrating any global f***ing massacre! It was really f***ing hard to imagine a more destructive killing as the 2008 debut album, but these insane killers have managed to create a complete f***ing crazy danse macabre with this f***ing puddle of bloody f***ing puke surpassing their first presence in the gore shitty brutality! The workers at this gory slaughterhouse are Yadi Behom on Vocals, Uus Death on Guitars, Adrian on Bass, Ari Bejo on Drums and the butchers are performing a f***ing Sick Brutal Death F***ing Metal totally genius, f***ing raw, dirty and f***ing true to the genre! All murderers of this f***ing shit are perfect, Behom has a f***ing awesome and enjoyable guttural, Uus is only doing great and catchy f***ing riffs in each f***ing songs, big f***ing job of Adrian on Bass with many great shitty parts and finally Ari on drums who is totally f***ing brutal and f***ing sick as f*** with a flawless drumming! The production of "Condemned to Suffer" is brutally f***ing outstanding, damn successful mixing, and sound of a surprising quality, f***ing heavy, disgusting, f***ing nasty and generally good making this f***ing shit sounds like some sickos chopping meat from some sluts while beating their bloody shitty ass with their own f***ing guts! 29 f***ing minutes of non-stop brutality, eight perfect shitty tracks that contain all the elements necessary to create a brutal f***ing disk with only good f***ing songs and making their blasterpiece a f***ing addictive shit! Bleeding Corpse are offering a release which is completely f***ing successful with no boring times, only true shitty brutality in its purest f***ing form and just be prepared for one of the best brutal pieces of extreme metal! "Condemned to Suffer" is a f***ing must for every Brutal Death Metaller in the soul and you're better to kill yourself than to not buy this f***ing shit! F***ing Cult Shitty Brutal Gory Blasterpiece! 10/10. [This review was first published by Andrew Sick of Sick Reviews and is used here with his kind permission.]

BLEEDING CORPSE 2014-16 Condemned to Suffer line-up: Left to Right: Behom (vox), Uus (g), Luk (b), Ari Bejo (d).

BLEEDING CORPSE Resurrection of Murder line-up: Bob Rockiller (v), Uus (g), Luk (b), Ari Bejo (d) @ Chinook's Bar, January 2014.

BLEEDING CORPSE Resurrection of Murder line-up: Bob Rockiller (v), Ari Bejo (d), Uus (g) @ Chinook's Bar, Bandung, January 2014.

BLEEDING CORPSE Resurrection of Murder line-up @ Cibinong, 8 October 2011: Luk (b), Ari Bejo (d), Uus (g), Bob Rockiller (v).

NEW BLEEDING CORPSE INTERVIEW: "Luk Luk is a Bleeding Corpse person not a Kaluman person"

BLEEDING CORPSE 2016. Left to Right: Adrian Luk Luk (bass), Ari Bejo (drums), Yadi Behom (vox), and Uus Death (guitar).

My fourth interview with BLEEDING CORPSE (Bandung Brutal Death Metal)

Interpretation by: Teguh Prasetyo (bassist INTERFECTORMENT band)

Date: 12 July 2016 @ SERAK store, Jalan Cihampelas, Bandung

BLEEDING CORPSE is: Yadi Behom (vocals), Uus Death (guitar), Adrian Luk Luk (bass), and Ari Bejo (drums).

BLEEDING CORPSE discography:

1 Resurrection of Murder album, May 2008, Pieces Records; 1,000 copies CD sold out in six months, Line-up: Bobby (v), Adrian (b), Uus (g), Ari Bejo (d).

2 Condemned to Suffer album, August 2014, Groupies Merch; 1,000 copies CD sold out in one month, 500 copies cassette sold out in two weeks, Line-up: Behom (v), Adrian (b), Uus (g), Ari Bejo (d).

Kieran James (Busuk Chronicles): Why did Daniel join the band in 2012?

Ari Bejo (drummer, BLEEDING CORPSE): Daniel joined because Bleeding Corpse tried to make the new concept with two guitarists. However, he did not fit into the style of play of Bleeding Corpse.

KJ: Did former vocalist Bobby leave because Daniel joined?

Ari: Bobby left not because of Daniel but because he had other activities planned.

Teguh Prasetyo (bassist, INTERFECTORMENT band): Tell us about when Behom joined.

Ari: When Bobby left Behom joined in 2014 [note: this should perhaps be 2012 or 2013].

KJ: Did you record some songs with Bobby for the second album Condemned to Suffer?

Ari: We did not record any songs with Bobby’s vocals, only instrumental versions (unreleased demos).

KJ: Did Bobby write any lyrics for the album?

Ari: Bobby did not write any lyrics for the new album. Behom wrote all the lyrics for the new album.

Adrian, Kieran, Ari Bejo, Uus, Bobby, 8/10/2011

KJ: Cannibal Corpse had a song “Condemned to Suffer”, were you influenced by that song?

Yadi Behom (vocalist, BLEEDING CORPSE): No, they are very different.

KJ: Obscure Musick USA wanted to release your second album but now we hear this will not take place, what happened?

Behom: We had a miscommunication with Corey [Athos]. There was a misunderstanding with Corey. CTS was issued first by Atik from Groupies Merch. Corey and Atik (the album producer) had a disagreement. Now Obscure will not reissue the album due to the disagreement with Atik.

KJ: What was the disagreement about?

Behom: We think it is better to be issued by a local label. It depends on Atik whether the album will be reissued or not. Corey had a concept and Atik had a different concept.

KJ: Is it a good idea to get a reissue by an overseas label?

Teguh: It is not cheap to reissue; it is quite expensive to do a good job of it and sometimes the label can’t afford that. The exchange rate – rupiah to US dollar – makes it expensive for us.

KJ: Are you happy with Groupies Merch?

Behom: We are quite happy with Groupies because Bleeding Corpse wants to just keep making music. Groupies Merch can accommodate that.

Uus Death (g), Yadi Behom (v), Ari Bejo (d).

KJ: Why did you choose Groupies Merch and not Extreme Souls Production (ESP) in the beginning?

Behom: Atik was the first man to contact Bleeding Corpse. Bleeding Corpse was the first Groupies’ release. We decided to join with Groupies because Atik contacted us first. When a band has material ready they want to immediately release the music.

Teguh: Tell us about the recording process.

Behom: Recording, mixing, and mastering took three months in total.

KJ: How many copies did the CD sell compared to the first album?

Ari: 1,000 copies for the second album all sold out within a month. The first album was 1,000 copies too and sold out within six months.

KJ: How about the cassette release for the second album?

Ari: It was released by Bomet Records; 500 copies sold out in two weeks.

KJ: Why does Bleeding Corpse have fewer shows these days than before? Is it because Luk Luk is now very busy with Kaluman?

Ari: Luk Luk prefers Bleeding Corpse over Kaluman if they play at the same time. As you know Luk Luk is a Bleeding Corpse person and not a Kaluman person.

Teguh: Tell us about the album concept.

Behom: The first concept of the lyrical style was helped by Andri Gila. I did not initially feel familiar with gore-style lyrics. I am also in Rottenatomy band which has social and political type lyrics.

Yadi Behom (v) and Ari Bejo (d)

Teguh: What is happening with Rottenatomy?

Behom: The guitar player studies in the school in Germany and we have no drummer now. The band still exists but it is not active. We are waiting for a new drummer who can suit the Rottenatomy style.

KJ: Why do you not write social and political lyrics for Bleeding Corpse?

Behom: No, they do not match the image of Bleeding Corpse.

Ari: About Condemned to Suffer, it is not the same as the first album because we focused more on the harmonies. It feels darker than the first album. We are trying to grow up in our music and experiment. There is a lot of crossing technique.

KJ: Did Daniel play on the second album?

Ari: No, he had already left. All of the arrangements were made by Uus and Luk Luk.

Uus Death (guitarist, BLEEDING CORPSE): We mixed the new-school and the old-school. We got influenced by Black Metal too. Because we are old men we are getting quite tired [laughs] but we are still Florida Death Metal people. I love Florida Death Metal. We are heavily influenced by Florida Death Metal and by Thrash Metal (Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, and Exodus).

KJ: What was the reaction of the fans to the second album?

Ari: The fans’ reaction was very positive. You can see that from the selling out of the album within one month.

KJ: What are the next plans for the band?

Ari: We plan to make an EP next and a music video for a song taken from the CTS album. The song will be “Konspirasi Ajal”. We don’t have any label yet for the EP. We will start to make the material in August 2016.

Uus: I hope that Bleeding Corpse will continue to progress into the future. I hope that I can play in Europe.

Ari: After the EP will start preparing the third album. The reason why we want to make an EP first is that we want to introduce the new concepts and the new songs. The third album will be different from the CTS album; we will change all the guitar effects. We already have the concept for the EP.

Uus: We will stay in the DM roots but with more complex riffing patterns.

KJ: Is your grindcore band Death Womb Existence still active?

Uus: Yes.

KJ: Do you still play songs from the first album Resurrection of Murder at live shows?

Ari: We still play two or three songs from the first album.

KJ: Is there enough money earned from the band activities to support your living?

Ari: We get money from the music but it is not enough for our living. I have a shop [SERAK store, Jalan Cihampelas, about 50 metres from the KFC but on other side of the road] and so does Uus. Behom has an online shop.

Uus: Can you please pray for me to get girlfriend or wife? I hope some girl will read this interview and get interested! I definitely want to get married.

Kieran James and Uus Death

KJ: Do you prefer metal chick or religious girl?

Uus: I prefer metal chick but actually I don’t mind.

Teguh (semi-seriously only): Do you want to be bassist for Digging Up? [Note: Teguh was formerly the bassist for Digging Up.]

Uus: No, because I am already in too many bands.

KJ: What is your message for the fans?

Behom: Just wait for our next release.

Ari: Thank-you for buying our second album.

Uus: Keep up playing your music.

Ari: Just wait for our next release.

Uus: Don’t follow only the fashions, f*** posers. Buy the CDs, get the soul from the songs!

Official Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/BleedingCorpseofficial/?fref=ts

Teaser songs from the second album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUvi87sGJgM 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrd0rkZMhnc

Left to Right: Kieran James (Busuk Chronicles), Yadi Behom (v), Ari Bejo (d), Uus Death (g) @ SERAK store, Bandung, 12 July 2016. 

Left to Right: Kieran James (Busuk Chronicles), Uus Death (g), Teguh Prasetyo (Interfectorment band), Ari Bejo (d), and Yadi Behom (v) @ SERAK store, Bandung, 12 July 2016.

BLEEDING CORPSE Resurrection of Murder line-up: Bob Rockiller (v), Uus (g), Luk (b), Ari Bejo (d) @ Chinook's Bar, January 2014.

BLEEDING CORPSE Resurrection of Murder line-up: Bob Rockiller (v), Ari Bejo (d), Uus (g) @ Chinook's Bar, Bandung, January 2014.